The five hubs: the character of each

Jita, Amarr, Dodixie, Rens, Hek — one trade centre per empire region (the Minmatar have two). Each has its own volume, spread, competition and turnover. We break down the character of each, how a deep hub differs from a thin one, and where station trading is comfortable versus where to source goods for arbitrage. With one item priced across all five.

Why there are exactly five trade hubs

No one in EVE assigned the hubs — they grew on their own: liquidity attracts liquidity, and in each empire region a single trade centre crystallised. That gave one hub per empire — Caldari (Jita), Amarr (Amarr), Gallente (Dodixie) — while the Minmatar have two: Rens in Heimatar and Hek in Metropolis. These five gather almost all of high-sec turnover, which is why Market in Mercator works across exactly them.

Technically a hub is just a station where a critical mass of orders converged. But the concentration is everything: at a hub the order-book price is close to the “real” regional one, and trades fill in minutes rather than days. What follows is how that concentration differs from hub to hub, and how both station trading and arbitrage grow out of those differences.

Jita — the heart of the market

Jita IV — Moon 4 (the Caldari Navy Assembly Plant station) in The Forge region, in Caldari space, is the game’s largest market by a wide margin. The bulk of the universe’s volume flows here, so spreads are the tightest and turnover the fastest: anything sells in minutes, and ISK frozen in orders barely sits.

The flip side is competition. The famous 0.01-isk wars: traders endlessly undercut each other by a hundredth of an ISK to hold the front of the queue. It costs more than it used to: re-listing an order charges the broker fee again (the Advanced Broker Relations skill softens this). Per-item margin here is thin precisely because everyone sees the same deep book. So Jita is the best place to learn (instant feedback, nowhere to get stuck) and the default cheap source for arbitrage, but the hardest hub to win on margin alone.

Amarr — a solid second

Amarr (Amarr VIII (Oris) — Emperor Family Academy) in the Domain region is the second-largest hub and the centre of the imperial south. Liquidity is plenty for comfortable station trading: spreads are a touch wider than Jita’s and competition noticeably softer, so holding the front of the queue is easier.

The Jita ↔ Amarr gap anchors the game’s oldest arbitrage corridor: buy cheap in Jita, haul it over and sell dearer in Amarr. The sell side here is deep enough to offload what you bring, and Amarr doctrines (lasers, armour) often trade richer here. Standings with the Amarr faction and the station owner cut your broker fee specifically here. A natural “second base” for traders who’ve outgrown Jita.

Dodixie — the Gallente hub

Dodixie (Dodixie IX — Moon 20 — Federation Navy Assembly Plant) in the Sinq Laison region is the main Gallente hub and the third-largest. It’s noticeably thinner than Amarr: less volume, wider spreads. Gallente doctrines turn over here (drones, hybrid weapons, Federation ships), serving the Gallente crowd. It works as a station hub for those wanting less competition than Amarr, and as a regular arbitrage destination out of Jita.

Rens and Hek — the two Minmatar hubs

Rens (Rens VI — Moon 8 — Brutor Tribe Treasury) in Heimatar and Hek (Hek VIII — Moon 12 — Boundless Creation Factory) in Metropolis are the two Minmatar hubs. Minmatar is the only empire with two — their space sprawls across two regions. Both are thin, with Hek the smallest of the five. Minmatar doctrines turn over here (projectile weapons, shields, fast ships). The thinnest hubs give the widest spreads and almost no competition, but also the slowest exit — getting stuck is easiest here.

Deep hub vs thin hub: what actually differs

The main axis is order-book depth: how many units stand at each price level. A deep hub (Jita) — tight spread, fast turnover, fierce competition, thin margin, low stuck-risk. A thin one (Hek) — wide spread, slow turnover, almost no competition, high potential margin, high stuck-risk. Amarr and Dodixie sit between these poles.

In practice you trade margin against liquidity. The fat margin of a thin hub is the price of the risk that you sit on stock for days while the market refills and a buyer appears. Before chasing a wide spread, check turnover and days of inventory on Market: a 40% margin nobody buys is worse than a 10% one that fills daily.

Example: one item across all five hubs

Take a popular module (the numbers are illustrative, not live — the shape is what matters). In Jita: best buy 9.6M / sell 9.9M, spread ~3% — tight. In Amarr: 9.7M / 10.4M (~7%). In Dodixie: 9.6M / 10.6M (~10%). In Rens: 9.5M / 10.8M (~13%). In Hek: 9.4M / 11.0M (~17%). The pattern is clear: the thinner the hub, the wider the spread.

You can read this two ways. As a station trader: Hek’s fat spread is tempting, but check Hek’s daily volume first — if it’s a couple of units a day, that 17% is a trap and you’ll just sit on it. As a hauler: buy in Jita at ~9.9M and sell in Hek at ~11.0M — that’s ~11% gross before fees and freight, a real arbitrage if Hek absorbs your quantity. The Arbitrage page computes this across all hubs with fees, volume and route risk, while the cross-hub panel on the item card shows the same five prices at a glance.

Choosing a hub for your style

Love fast turnover and ready to fight for the queue — station-trade in Jita. Want a wider margin with less fuss — take Amarr or the thin hubs, budgeting for a slow exit. Hauling — buy cheap in Jita and sell in the thin hubs.

In practice most people follow one route: learn in Jita, add Amarr as a second base, and keep Dodixie/Rens/Hek as arbitrage destinations rather than turning them into a permanent home. The hub switcher up top swaps the whole market instantly — sort Market by turnover in each to feel its depth, and let cross-hub on the item card point the route. Pick by your scarce resource: short on time → a deep hub and fast fills; no patience for queue wars → a thin hub, wider margin but slower money.