A market is a place to trade between assets of different types. In Influence, markets are implemented with the Marketplace building, and trades take place between products and SWAY. The Marketplace is an example of an order book market, which allow trades via matched pairs of orders, specific market actions that participants can take.
In order book markets, there are four types of orders:
|
Limit |
Market |
| Buy |
"I have X SWAY that I would like to buy a product with at a given price, and I am willing to wait until someone who wants to sell them to me at that price comes along, if they ever do. |
“I have X SWAY that I would like to immediately buy goods with for whatever the cheapest price on the market is, if possible.” |
| Sell |
“I have Y units of a product that I want to sell at a given price, and I am willing to wait until someone who wants to buy them from me at that price comes along, if they ever do.” |
“I have Y units of a product that I want to immediately sell for whatever the highest price on the market is, if possible.” |
¶ Things to Understand
- Limit orders “match with” the opposite type of market order. That is, limit sells match with market buys, and limit buys match with market sells. Limit orders are placed, and then time passes until a corresponding market order comes along and matches it. Until there is a match, an actual trade hasn’t happened yet.
- If you’re placing a limit order, you need to be patient, but with the possible reward of getting a better price. You are demanding a specific price per unit of the given product, and there is no guarantee that anyone will ever come along willing to trade at that price. When placing a limit order, if you want the best chance of getting a match, make sure it is the best offer on the Marketplace or whole asteroid. That is, make sure that if you’re limit selling, you’re selling that product for cheaper than anyone else, or if you’re limit buying, you’re willing to pay more for that product than anyone else.
- If you’re placing a market order, you get immediate gratification, but only at the whims of the market. You are offering to pay or accept the best available market price per unit of the given product in order to trade it right now. On the other hand, you may not be able to place your desired order, if there is not enough liquidity (big enough limit orders) available in the given market.
- Users who place limit orders are called market makers. Users who place market orders are called market takers. When a Marketplace’s maker and taker fees are listed, those are fees that will come out of the SWAY or products that that those respective users receive upon a successful trade, and will go to the Marketplace’s owning Crew’s delegated account. Maker fees are invisible (not relevant) to market takers, and vice versa.