Coming back to trading after a break

For traders who’ve done this before and are back. What to check first, what may have shifted in the market, how to re-onboard fast through Mercator — and what stayed exactly the same.

Do your skills and fees decay during a break?

Skills don’t decay in EVE — your Accounting, Broker Relations and standings are exactly where you left them, which means your fee floor is already lower than a newcomer’s. The logic is unchanged too: buy low, sell higher, spread minus fees, liquidity over a pretty margin. If you knew this, you still know it.

What actually “moved” isn’t the rules but the numbers: prices, which lines are hot right now, and the overall PLEX level. So coming back isn’t relearning — it’s re-calibrating your picture of the market.

What should you check first when you return?

Your standing orders and wallet: things may have filled or expired while you were away. Then your fee skills: if Accounting or Broker Relations aren’t at V yet, that’s the first thing that pays off. And your standings with the station owners of the hubs you trade — they cut the broker fee further.

One gotcha that’s easy to get stuck on: the old Margin Trading skill was replaced by Advanced Broker Relations. If you’re hunting for Margin Trading — don’t, your SP already carried over into the new skill. And the effect changed: it used to cut escrow (how much ISK is locked under a buy order); now it discounts the fee for re-listing orders, up to 80% at V. So it’s no longer a “discount on entering a buy” but “cheap re-pricing”.

In Mercator log in via EVE SSO: you’ll get the “My margin” column and the “My orders” panel on the item card — the app recomputes margin from your real skills and standings, not the baseline. That shows you your true entry floor right away.

What may have changed in the market while you were gone?

Prices and the mix of hot items. What paid 12% a year ago may be oversupplied or shifted — don’t enter from memory. PLEX and skill injectors may have moved tens of percent, and patches and events (nerfs, new ships, wars) rewrite what’s actually turning over now.

So make your first session reconnaissance, not trading: sweep Market sorted by turnover in your hubs and check current prices against what you remember. The Events feed hints at which in-game shifts are moving demand right now.

Fast re-onboarding through Mercator

The fastest way to get your feel back: Market → sort by turnover → the “All” density so you see volatility, spread persistence and days of inventory. Then open the cards of familiar items and read the chart and the “Signals” panel — in 15 minutes the picture clicks back into place.

Not sure where to restart — check “What to buy”: a ready shortlist of today’s top trades by net margin and turnover, so you don’t rebuild a basket by hand from scratch.