Margin trading from zero

Where to start station trading: what buy and sell orders are, how to read the order book, why Jita is the centre of the universe, where the fees go and how to build your first basket of liquid items.

What station trading is

Station trading is buying low and selling higher in one place, without moving an inch. You don’t haul cargo and you don’t fight: all the profit comes from the gap between what people will sell for and what they’ll buy for, in the same hub.

There are two order types in EVE. A buy order is a standing “I’ll buy at this price”: you place it and wait for someone to sell into it. A sell order is “I’ll sell at this price”: you list it higher and wait for a buyer. The game matches opposing orders automatically at the best price — you don’t have to babysit the screen.

The gap between the best buy and the best sell — the spread — is your raw profit zone. But know this up front: it’s the spread before fees. Sales tax and the broker fee take a cut on each side, so your real margin is always narrower than the spread in the book looks.

How to read the order book

The order book is a price-sorted queue of orders. The “best buy” is the highest bid, the “best sell” is the lowest ask; the spread sits between them. Depth shows how many units stand at each price level: thin depth means a couple of large trades will move the price.

On the Market screen the “Buy” and “Sell” columns are exactly that best bid and best ask, and “Spread” is their difference in percent. To see the full depth and both sides of the book, open the item card — it also carries the price history and the cross-hub comparison.

Which hub should you start in?

Jita IV — Moon 4 is EVE’s deepest market: the most orders, the tightest spreads and the fastest turnover. Orders fill in minutes, not days. The other hubs — Amarr, Dodixie, Rens, Hek — are thinner: wider spreads but also less competition.

For a start Jita is easier: you quickly see whether an item works and don’t sit on frozen ISK for weeks. Once you’re comfortable, the thinner hubs and arbitrage between them pay a wider margin for your willingness to wait and haul — there are separate guides for that.

Where do the fees go?

Two fees. Sales tax is about 7.5% at Accounting 0 and is charged when your sell order fills. The broker fee is about 3% at Broker Relations 0 and is charged when you place an order (both buy and sell). Both drop with skills and standings.

At baseline skills a full cycle — “bought via a buy order → sold via a sell order” — eats roughly 14–15%, so a 5%-spread item is a loss before you start. Estimate the floor before you enter. The full breakdown is in “Spread, margin and fees”.

Your first basket

Pick liquid items with steady daily turnover and a spread that survives fees. On Market sort by turnover (that’s the default) and watch “Margin”, “Volatility” and “Days inv”. Start with small capital and track how fast your orders fill.

Don’t chase huge margins early — they almost always mean illiquid stock you can get stuck in. Better 4–5 items at 8–15% margin with fast turnover than one “fat” 60% line nobody will buy. More on that in the risk guide.

First steps, in order

A quick path to start today: 1) pick a hub (Jita) in the top switcher; 2) sort Market by turnover; 3) shortlist 3–5 items where “Margin” is well above the fee floor and “Volatility”/“Days inv” are calm; 4) place your buy order just above the current best bid; 5) once filled, list a sell just below the best ask; 6) watch how fast it fills and don’t put everything into one line.

Coming back after a break? Skills don’t decay — your Accounting and Broker Relations are intact, but prices and the popular lines may have drifted a lot. Start with “Coming back to trading”: what to check first and what stayed the same.