Market cycles and trends

[Simaril]

I've begun buying and selling certain items somewhat regularly, and feel like there are some somewhat predictable cycles/trends. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed the same or other trends.

After tomes have reset, on Monday evening there seemed to be a sudden spike in the supply of crafting items you buy with tomes (potash, peacock ore, coke, etc)?



The sudden availabilty of those items may also have caused an increase in demand for 1 star materials such as Hippogryph leather, twinthread, darksteel nuggets, etc???

I'm guessing there may be a spike in demand for materia at the same time since more players have just used tomes to purchase new gear, or found new gear farming tomes???

[dspguy]

Weekend cycles. Some items are better to sell on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Some items are better to wait until Monday to sell. Sometimes you can buy items up on Fri/Sat/Sun and just resell on tuesday.

[Simaril]

Any examples you care to share? Broadly even?

I feel like on weekends 2 star crafted gear is availabe in abundant supply, and the price is low....

[DarkJack]

General trends that follow supply and demand economics, based upon a few facts of the playerbase

1) More people are on in the weekend and they spend a larger amount of time online.
2) During the week people have little time, and they prefer spending that time on "quick" stuff like raids and crafting.
3) Gathering takes time and planning, especially on higher levels. You need to go out to the gathering points, and GP recovers slowly
4) Crafting is much more "instant" because it can be done in town close to the supply, ie the market board.

[DarkJack]

This combined creates the following effects:
1) People spend the "dull" hours of the weekend gathering (ie: mornings). This creates a huge surge of supply while demand remains the same or even slows down a bit. This causes a sharp drop in prices starting friday evening, with subsequent hits on saturday and sunday evening.
2) During the week supply dies down while demand stays constant because lots of people will craft during the week (little time and not many heavy duty content being done). This causes a gradual increase in prices over the week, peaking on Thursday evening.

[DarkJack]

Now not all items follow this trend, but it is a general observation I have made.

In short:
Monday Morning: lowest price point
Monday Evening to Thursday Evening: gradual increase of prices, with small ups and downs
Friday Morning: highest Price point
Friday Evening: first big price hit
Saturday Morning: slight recovery
Saturday Evening: second hit, lower price point than friday evening
Sunday Morning: second slight recovery
Sunday Evening: third hit, market saturation point long since reached, flooded

[Sparky]

Cycles do indeed appear. The same could be said in WoW just before the weekly raid-lockouts lifted. People wanted to stock up on potions, bandages etc, so the activity on the auction house increased to reflect this. The smart ones were the ones who capitalized on peoples' inability to make their own.