There’s a smell to a busy station market in New Eden — ionized fuel, hot alloys, and human ambition condensed into buy orders. Trading in EVE Online isn’t just spreadsheets: it’s a culture. It’s the Caldari merchant in Jita pushing a crate of faction ammo, the quiet industrialist shipping T2 components out of Aridia, and the desperate explorer selling a single mutaplasmid for a life’s rent. If you want to “always get ISK profit” as often as possible, you learn the market’s rhythms, protect your capital, and pick items with real, repeat buyer demand.
- Actionable: start small, pick one niche (e.g., ammo or PLEX), log trades for two weeks, and learn price cycles before scaling.
How markets in New Eden actually work
The Market is just orders: buy orders (buyers) and sell orders (sellers). Your profit comes from arbitrage (buy at A, sell at B), station trading (buy to your station buy order, sell higher within same market), or value-add (manufacture/components → sell finished product). Hubs like Jita concentrate liquidity and tighten spreads; smaller hubs have sparser order books and larger convenience premiums. Remember CCP’s recent global PLEX changes — utility goods like PLEX are being centralized to increase liquidity, which changes arbitrage opportunities for that specific item.
- Actionable: learn how buy/sell orders, broker fees, transfer taxes, and volume interact; factor fees into every calc.
The golden rule: trade the demand, not the dream
You can’t force a market. Items that consistently sell are staples: ammo, standard modules, rigs, meta modules, boosters, faction ships (in smaller hubs), PLEX (now globally liquid), and consumables like skill injectors and implants. High-margin rarities exist, but they’re low-frequency and high-risk. Your job as a trader is to match supply to real demand and to capture the convenience premium — most players will pay extra to save a trip through hostile space.
- Actionable: pick items with daily sale history, >10–20 trades per day in the hub you operate, and a sell volume that matches your planned cadence.
Table — Best things to trade in EVE Online
| Item category | Why they sell | Typical capital needed | Margin potential | Notes / risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLEX & Utility goods | Everyone needs them; now globally liquid (less hauling). | 500M–5B | Low % but high volume (stable profit). | CCP global PLEX market changed regional arbitrage. |
| Ammo & Charges | Consumable, repeat buyers (PvP & PvE). | 50M–500M | Low–Medium | Fast turnover, low risk. |
| Module spares (meta & named) | Fits & replacements = steady demand. | 200M–2B | Medium | Volume depends on meta; track hot modules. |
| Boosters & Injectors | Convenience & short-term demand | 100M–1B | Medium–High | Volatile; watch patch/seasonal events. |
| Blueprint copies (BPCs) & Tech II components | Industrialists always buying | 500M–10B | Medium | Requires supply-side knowledge; higher break-evens. |
| Faction / Rare rigs & implants | High margin, low volume | 1B+ | High | Long tail; illiquid — hold only if patient. |
| Ships (frigs → capitals) | Demand for PvP & fleet ops | 100M → 100B | Very variable | Requires hauling/insurance; biggest capital risk. |
| Moon materials / Reactions outputs | Industry backbone | 1B+ | Medium | Regional demand can be huge; often null/WH focused. |
- Actionable: use this table to choose 1–2 categories that fit your capital, time, and risk tolerance.
why these EVE items win, and how to trade them
PLEX & Utility Goods — the backbone trade
PLEX is essentially in-game currency; because CCP introduced the Global PLEX Market, liquidity is higher and hauling arbitrage is reduced. This means PLEX is lower-risk to trade (no hauling), but it also reduces fat margins you could exploit. Still, PLEX is an excellent starter product for traders because it’s high-volume and predictable. Buy dips, sell into events or daily demand windows.
- Tips:
- Use PLEX for quick turnover and as a store of liquidity.
- Avoid speculative hoarding unless you have a thesis and a huge bankroll.
Ammo & Charges — repeatability is king
Ammo is metro-rail demand: PvP fleets, ratters, and sellers need a steady supply. The trick is volume and tiny margins. Buy a sell-order stack that other sellers can’t match and you win the buy-to-sell spread by being the “nearby” seller.
- Tips:
- Focus on compact, high-turnover ammo types (tech II ammo for meta fits).
- Keep orders sized to avoid empty shelves; relist twice daily.
Modules, rigs, & spares — the “long tail” convenience plays
Modules and rigs are sticky items. When an alliance forms a new doctrine, prices spike in their staging hubs. A smart trader can pre-position stock in staging systems or sell aftermarket modules in front-line hubs.
- Tips:
- Follow alliance doctrine changes and regional updates.
- Use buy orders to collect undercutters and sell into deficits.
Boosters, Injectors & Consumables — swing with events
Boosters and injectors give high ROI during events, expansions, or after changes to training mechanics. They’re volatile but can be highly profitable if timed.
- Tips:
- Monitor patch notes and event calendars.
- Keep an evacuation plan: big value items attract gankers; use contracts or JF for movement.
Blueprints, Components & Reactions — industrial arbitrage
If you understand manufacturing pipelines, you can buy components cheaply and sell finished goods for a guaranteed margin. Many veteran traders mix station trading with small-scale manufacturing: buy T2 components cheaply and sell T2 modules in hubs at a markup.
- Tips:
- Track material influence; Adam4EVE and other market trackers show where material demand is.
- Factor build time, output, and market queue depth into your ROI.
Tools, spreadsheets & automation
Third-party tools are your telescope. Evepraisal (and its modern API wrappers), Adam4EVE, and EVE Profits give the raw data you need to find spreads, monitor hub liquidity, and appraise haul contracts. The competitive edge is a well-maintained spreadsheet that tracks your average buy price, fees, and time-to-sell — do this religiously.
- Actionable:
- Learn to export market data into Google Sheets or Excel and compute ROI per item (including broker fees & transfer taxes).
- Set alerts for undercuts and threshold price moves.
how to trade depending on your starting ISK
Starter trader (50M–500M ISK)
Begin with ammo and a handful of high-volume modules. Avoid big ships and BPC speculation. Train Trading, Accounting, and Negotiation skills (for broker fee reduction eventually). Station-trade in Jita or a secondary hub and seed with buy orders.
- Steps:
- Choose 3–5 ammo or module SKUs.
- Create modest buy orders and undercut by small increments.
- Reinvent profits weekly.
Intermediate (500M–5B ISK)
Add PLEX & consumables to your repertoire. Start hub-to-hub scans for price spreads (Jita → Amarr / Dodixie / Rens). Consider a hauling alt or courier contracts. Try small manufacturing runs: buy T2 comps and produce 5–20 items, sell with a markup.
- Steps:
- Build a 10-line spreadsheet: item, buy price, sell price, turnover days.
- Use courier contracts or DST + hauler alt to move goods.
Capitalized trader (5B+ ISK)
Scale into blueprints, regional arbitrage, and niche rare items. Use API-driven tools to scan markets every hour. Consider setting up passive income via buyback programs or automated sales on multiple accounts. Use the global PLEX market strategically for liquidity management but do not rely solely on PLEX speculation.
- Steps:
- Automate order posting via approved third-party tools (using APIs).
- Maintain a war chest for sudden opportunities (brawls, doctrine builds).
Trade Risk management in EVE Online
EVE’s market is player-driven and patchable. CCP policy changes (like the Global PLEX Market) can invalidate strategies overnight. Hauling invites gankers; large orders invite snipers and price wars. Diversify across at least two product classes, keep emergency liquidity (10–20% of net worth), and insure big hulls. Join a small trader corp or market channel — insider knowledge matters.
- Actionable:
- Never haul everything in one freighter: split valuable cargo into multiple smaller shipments.
- Keep stop-loss discipline: if an item’s sell window goes beyond X days, cut your losses.
Community tactics & edge plays
Veteran traders on Reddit and corp channels emphasize convenience margins: players will pay a big mark-up rather than travel. Look for "sticky buyers" — stations with players who never leave (CVS, FW plexers, corp staging hubs). Another big community tip is spin-your-orders twice daily: undercut yourself to remain first in line, but keep track of invoiced margins; micro-undercuts win volume at scale.
- Actionable:
- Find one “sticky” station in your region and seed it with supplies others won’t bother to ship.
- Underprice the competition by the smallest step to capture daily sales.
Sample spreadsheet columns
- Actionable:
- Export order history weekly to detect trends.
- Automate baseline calculations (average buy, average sell, and turnover).
Example weekly routine (practical)
- Actionable:
- Stick to a routine so you notice unusual volatility early.
Common rookie mistakes and how to avoid them
- Buying into hype (rare items that never sell): Test the market with a single unit before going all-in.
- Ignoring fees/taxes: Always compute broker and transfer fees into your margin.
- Hoarding PLEX or rare goods expecting a patch that never comes: liquidity beats hope.
- Hauling without scouts: freighter ganks are a fast way to ruin your month.
- Actionable:
- Always log a “trade P&L” and review losses monthly; treat them as tuition.
Scaling ethically: reputation & contracts
Large traders survive on trust. Use contracts for high-value items, leave clear descriptions, and maintain corp or personal contract ratings. If you sell in low-sec/null-sec markets, offer timed buyback or local seed services — reputation is leverage.
- Actionable:
- Use escrow contracts for very high-value transactions to protect both sides.
- Keep a public journal or channel with reputation history.
Trading in EVE is half economics and half social engineering. The best traders are patient: they log trades, learn who buys what and when, and treat the game like a market with mood swings. Use the tools (Evepraisal, Adam4EVE, Element43, Eve Terminal) to remove guesswork; use the community channels to catch early signals. The Global PLEX Market and other CCP changes will shift mechanics over time — adapt quickly and treat strategy as a living document rather than a holy grail.
- Final actionable plan:
- Pick one product category and run it for 14 days while tracking every transaction.
- Build a simple spreadsheet and integrate at least one appraisal tool.
- Scale gradually, diversify into a second product class, and keep emergency liquidity.