Arbitrage

The Arbitrage screen in EVE Mercator shows inter-hub arbitrage: buy an item in one trade hub, haul it, and sell it in another. The calculation covers EVE Online’s five largest hubs — Jita IV-Moon 4, Amarr, Dodixie, Rens and Hek. You pick a direction (from → to, or “all hubs”), and every profitable pairing expands into a “hauler × trade mode” matrix: three hauler classes — the Blockade Runner (hold ~4–5k m³, small volume at low risk), the Freighter (a huge ~1M m³ hold for high-sec) and the Jump Freighter — against two execution modes, Instant and Patient.

For each cell of the matrix Mercator computes profit per trip, the capital required, margin as a percentage, and profit density in ISK/m³ — how much profit each cubic metre of cargo earns. That last metric is decisive when volume is limited: expensive compact goods on a single Blockade Runner run often beat a Freighter full of cheap ballast. Prices and margins are computed after EVE’s fees — sales tax of about 7.5% at Accounting 0 (Fenris Creations cut it from 8% in a March 2025 patch) and a broker fee of about 3% at Broker Relations 0; a full order-to-order cycle eats roughly 14–15% on base skills and about 7% once trained. The “fair value” anchor is the VWAP over region-wide ESI history (up to 90 days).

Two filters cut out the dead weight. The route-risk filter rates the path by security (high-sec → low risk, low-sec → medium, null-sec → high) and lets you show only routes at or below the level you choose. The liquidity gate drops pairings with no real buyers at the sell hub: a route appears only if there is at least one Instant buyer and enough daily volume, otherwise a pretty paper margin would never fill. For a newcomer this yields a safe list of repeatable runs; for a returning veteran it’s a quick read on which hub pairings are actually live right now.

Instant (take now)

A mode where you cross the spread immediately — selling into the existing buy orders at the sell hub. The trade fills at once, but the margin is lower because you take the buyer’s price.

Patient (place orders)

A mode where you place your own sell orders and wait for a buyer. The margin is higher, but it’s slower, carries undercut risk, and adds a broker fee for placing the order.

ISK/m³

Profit density per cargo volume: net profit divided by the cubic metres it occupies. It decides what to haul when the hold is limited — expensive compact goods beat cheap ballast.

Route risk

A rating of the path’s safety by system security status: high-sec → low risk, low-sec → medium, null-sec → high. The filter shows only routes at or below your chosen level.

Liquidity gate

A cutoff that drops routes with no real buyers at the sell hub: a pairing appears only if there is at least one Instant buyer and enough daily volume, otherwise the margin can’t actually fill.