I have had a lot of questions lately like “OMG how did you make 12m on the stock exchange” and stuff like that. So I’m going to write about my very brief experience about the X3AP Stock Market/Exchange.
So as far as I can tell there are two kinds of exchanges (well really there are 3 but I’ll keep it simple). There are long term investments, the Company/Corporation exchange, where you can invest in them over time, and they have hundreds of thousands of shares. Then there’s the “Commodity” type market, which is a very short term, like sometimes a few seconds of holding the stock, short term! In my only playing the stock market for about two real life days, I have had a terrible time with the long term, and a great time (12m profit) from the short term stocks.
At first sight the stock market can be a real shocker. It’s a huge list of just numbers and colors. But just take a minute and stare at it. No really, just stare at it and let it sink in….
It’s very organized. It’s actually all the info you have ever wanted to know about the local economy!
Let’s break it down so you can make money!
Supply and Demand 
As in all X games, the price is always controlled by the supply and demand. Now you can see the S&D of the local market (Hint: this also can help you plan stations to build). So basically this effects the purchase price of your shares. The closer the supply is to the demand, the lower the share price is.
Index
The next few columns is the price range and the index. Really if you want a quick HERE IS THE ANSWER, well… Technically all you need to look at to know how to buy things is the Index. It is a proportion of S&D. If the demand is at 1,000 and supply is at 500. Then the Index is at 50, if D = 1000 and S = 1000, then Index = 100, which is the best time to buy! Of course, then the opposite is to sell when the index is low. Also, if the Supply is greater then the Demand, then the index will go over 100.
Shares and Totals 
This section is just trivial data. Yes most of this is the self explanatory part. First it shows how much shares can be bought or sold at, which has a direct relationship to the Index and the price range. Then if you own any shares it will show at what price and how many shares you own, then how many are available, then your Profit or Loss at the end. Which, can be in the millions if you have purchased enough shares at the right time if the index is low enough.
One thing I’ll mention about the Available Shares column, is that it can go into a negative number…. Which I say is a bug but the original developer says it’s normal. Of course I think this is actually a major flaw in the system. In real life how can you have negative available shares? Shouldn’t this be at just plain zero? Does the NPC market keep buying even when all the shares are gone? Well, I have no idea except it has to be a part that wasn’t that thought out. Of course I’m writing this just a few days after launch of the game.
EDIT: The shares going into a negative number does make sense. I was contacted by a few others and even the stock exchange author (wow, thanks for the read!) and I now understand what is going on. I’m going to role-play and say it’s NPCs making pre-orders for the shares for when I sell them back to the exchange.
Well, thanks for reading and I’ve noticed my site get a few good hits. Thanks for reading and share the link if ya can!
Thanks for taking the time to write this. It does make a great noob start into stock trading.
Nice guide. As for the negative shares, you can have those in real life also. This is what ‘shorting’ is about. I am not certain, however, if you can actually short in the game but that’s how they would explain the negative shares. This is, by the way, what allowed VW to buy Porsche because Porsche was ‘shorting’ VW and it back-fired on them.
This is pretty well written and quite accurate so far!
You can manipulate the market quite easily by turning off your factories. This removes any products they have from the exchange which can shoot the share price up. Sell then turn them on again to bring the products back into circulation to lower the share price and buy stock. Repeat for easy money.
That sounds like a fun article to write! Good idea! I haven’t even thought about trying to control the non-natural products with your own stations!
NIce guide, but i think you forgot to mention, that the goods stock is kinda risky. In my game i had some time fun with buying/selling stocks of Cahoona . And i bought them already WAY lower then index 100 cause the price was already at minimum.
After some time the supply whent from 50% of the demand to 200% of the demand and price stayed at minimum and i think it wont come up again ever.Good thing was, i didnt had stocks at that time…
I whent then to company stocks. Easy money. No risk. Buy at 100 index (cant go higher) and minimum price. Wait , sell at 92/90 (you have to find the lowest it will go) and sell . Wait till index is back at 100. Repeat.
Well, after 3 days play i made more than 3 bil ofcredits thanks to stock exchange… it most surely screwd my game… it is too easy and even more easier to well how to day that… hmm i earned about 2 bil on meatstakes cahoonas alone… like u;ll have to meet the demand.. buld about 6 bakeries L and on setau;ll wait few moments and the supply wll be higher than demande so price would be at minimum..at that point u’ll just have to buy shares all shares, than stop production at your cahoona complex which makes the price go sky high and only thing now u;d have to do s just sell those share previously bought with nsane triple profit.. kinda ugly thng..screws your game… mine sure did
That’s hilarious! Really a good idea, I’ll have to try it.
Not only did this work, it is working well… I can make about 28 million a cycle doing this…
My next move is to dramatically increase both Cahoona production and CONSUMPTION. A lot of factories making lasers, missiles, and shields for instance. When done it should make me about 150 million a cycle at the market. That or I shall make a complex for each Stock Market and run them up, then run them down…10 stock markets? If I go full out into this… I could make 1.5 billion cash per cycle… A little over-powered but could be as funny as heck to buy 1000 Boreas and then send them into Xenon space.
Yes that’s awesome!
I way underestimated the power of this. I built 24 m agnu beef facts, 12 L cahoona facts, 9 L Crystal Fabs, and 2 XL solar plants.
I had been cycling before this big jump and had about 500 mil cash. I was unable to buy all the stocks (by a large margin). 1 hour later all Cahoona’s were sold (I am also cycling agnu beef but it is slower even if higher total profits)
I got 1.2 billion cash back.
I think this complex, when I have enough cash to fully purchase it up (and when I make some missile and weapon facts in Boron Space nearby) I can make approximately 6 billion cash an hour. Yes I said that correct.
The only problem I have so far is that past 100 million in profits from sales it actually slows the computer down for about 1 minute and it locked up when I first tried to deduct all 1.2 billion cash (I had to withdraw it in sections of about 150 mil apiece).
The sadder thing is… looking at the market I should have gone after some product no one makes or uses in the area… Then I would have perfect control over the high and low.
Majaglit and spacefuel would seem to be the two best in my view. Though Nostrop oil would be far more useful…
in the next 5 hours I expect to earn my X thing for trading… I am just going to make so much silly cash once I get my missile and weapons bases up.
Good article on the stock exchange, i used this to get myself into and and have made allot of money since.
i fond i make more dosh in the company trading than the commods.
in company i buy all stock of a listing at 99-100%, initially i was playing the SETA game and clearing 3-600k of each after about 1-2 mins. now that i have a much larger bankroll i find leaving the stocks a while longer much more profitable.
i’ll buy all at 100, leave it for 20-30 mins and instead of it dropping to 92-95% (few 100k profit) i sell once its dropped to 40-60% and make millions. the randomizer scripting must work on different sets of highs & lows, spending 10mins in the 90′s, then dropping to 40% and building back up.
i’d be interested in an article about “fleet commander” as i’m just trying it out as opposed to Wings.
also, i’m trying to look for the new ships? does anyone know their names/races/classes? the game promoted 30/40 new ships and factories but i’m not seeing them
cheers – Daniel.
I am working on a list of new ships and screenshots. but here’s a quick list:
- Phantom
- Sturgeon
- Megalodon
- Drake
- Ocelot
- Tern
- Geochen
- Hayabusa
- Mani
- Kyoto
- Toukon
- I
- Snotra
- Ariadne
- Argon Drone
- Boron Drone
- Paranid Drone
- Split Drone
- Teladi Drone
- Terran Drone
- Maccana
- Griffon
- Guppy
- Panther
- Cormorant
Awesome, some of those are from TC, and I stumbled on the new TPs. I’m capturing some combat vids for a youtube highlite reel on the new ships, ill check these others out too.
Cheers, Daniel
Love your guide, ive just gotton into X3AP (Played X3TC For a long time) Just wondering… how do you make corporation and company shares available to buy?? I cant figure it out or find the info anywhere =/
Cheers
Nice tutorial for stock exchange but i made 60 mil in less that a hour buying shares from companys not corporations of course first i stolen some ships made some missions to make 5 mil creds then i started buy shares from companys if i could i would buy all their shares then you seta and wait for a good price to sell the shares back
for new players in X buy shares from companys with over 90 index is faster to make a profit
It’s so easy making money with Stock Exchange, I’m feeling that I’m cheating
Biological micro-organisms works best on my side, buying at 100+, selling around 80, even sometimes at 50, making millions in a few minutes…
this might be a silly question, you say come and chat on teamspeak on the side, where do i find the server details? i need help with this game, im struggling bad lol.
honestly ive bought and installed lazers and i still cant work out how to shoot
sure! i’m on most of the time i’m not at work.
the teamspeak ip is 50.22.101.218 or just x3ap.com for short.
How do you start trading corp and company shares ? I cant seem to find em on my game
How to start trading corp shares:
1. Find a stock market (Positions in this Entry: http://x3ap.com/2012/01/17/x3ap-stock-exchange-station-locations-and-working-on-entry-requirements/)
2. Dock at it. In the Info-Window of that station you can read the requirements you have to meet to be able to trade there.
3. Open up your Personal Menue, There should be an entry about stock market. After opening that, you can choose between differnt types. Should be self-explaining.
okay im just new to the whole X series, and still are trying to figure everything out, but i am unable to see this part your talking about, its greyed out and i have to fly every where and visit everyplace to build a list on who sells and buys what, but it doesn’t list how much they are selling/buying for! how do i access these higher functions of the game?
Excellent starter guide for the stock exchange. I read your inputs and made 30 million in approx. 3 realtime hours.
I started out doing missions so I had my first 1 million. I wanted some action on the stock market, so didn’t want to slowly grind my way up (although it would be entirely possible). I made my first 5 million following your guide. I then switched to playing the company share market instead. There are a MUCH more shares available thus making bigger profits possible faster. After gaining the first 10mil big money come fast.
My tips on playing the company stock market:
When to buy: Check to see when the Min cr. just about equals the buying price on a stock with a larger Max cr. (for example Min cr. 25 Max cr. 170 Index: 99 Trading at: 26).
When to sell: I buy all stocks if possible and for each million credits I invest, I expect 50 to 100k+ (so a 10mil invest should yield 500k to 1mil net gain). You could easily chance it for bigger gains, this just work for me as a general rule of thumb.
Good luck broking
How does one access the Company Stock Market in the first place? All I can seem to find is Commods. There must be something i’m missing. Haha.