Roman Trade Exchange
Buy and sell shares in Roman trade houses — prices move every 5 minutes on activity, volatility, and pressure.
The Roman Trade Exchange is Imperium's stock market — a Denarius-only speculative market where you buy and sell shares in Roman trade houses and factions. Prices move every five minutes based on server activity, random volatility, and the net buy/sell pressure from every trader on the server. It is a pure Denarius sink and faucet: no premium currency is involved, and the house edge is built into the bid/ask spread. Treat it as a fun side game for spare cash, not a reliable money printer.
How Prices Move
Every five minutes, the exchange recalculates each stock's price using three signals:
- Server activity. More players online pushes the whole market up (a proxy for "the empire is thriving"); quiet periods drag it down.
- Random volatility. Each stock has a per-stock volatility setting (default ±5%) that adds noise to every cycle, so even idle stocks drift.
- Buy/sell pressure. Heavy buying of a stock drives its price up; heavy selling drives it down. This makes the market reflexive — a popular stock tends to keep rising as FOMO buyers pile in, then crash when the sellers cash out.
Because pressure is a signal, a coordinated group can move a thinly-traded stock — but only briefly. Once the group sells, the price collapses, and the spread eats into the profits. The system is designed so pump-and-dump profits are thin and risky.
The Spread (House Edge)
Every trade pays a 2% spread: you buy at the ask (price + 1%) and sell at the bid (price − 1%). This means a stock has to move more than 2% in your favor before a round-trip trade breaks even. The spread is the house edge — it is the only built-in advantage, and it is the reason the exchange is sustainable long-term.
| Trade | What you pay / receive |
|---|---|
| Buy | Pay the ask: current price + 1%. |
| Sell | Receive the bid: current price − 1%. |
| Round-trip cost | ~2% — the stock must rise more than 2% for a buy-then-sell to profit. |
Stocks
Stocks are defined in config.yml under stock-market.stocks, each with a symbol, a display name, a base price, and a volatility setting. Operators can add, remove, or retune stocks without a code change. The default roster is themed around Roman trade houses and factions — expect names evoking grain merchants, legion suppliers, and senatorial trading concerns.
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/trade | List every stock on the Roman Trade Exchange with current price and 24h change. |
/trade list | Same as /trade — show all markets. |
/trade markets | Alias for the markets list. |
/trade buy <symbol> <shares> | Buy shares of a stock at the current ask price (plus spread). |
/trade sell <symbol> <shares> | Sell shares you own at the current bid price (minus spread). |
/trade portfolio | View your holdings — every stock you own, share count, and current value. |
/trade holdings | Alias for /trade portfolio. |
The command is registered as /trade (not /stock), reflecting the Roman Trade Exchange flavor. Your portfolio persists across sessions, so you can buy in today and sell next week.
Tips
- Mind the spread. A 2% move is break-even; aim for trades you expect to clear 5%+ to leave a real profit.
- Don't chase pumps. By the time a stock is being broadcast in chat, the early buyers are already selling into you.
- Watch server activity. A busy weekend pushes the whole market up; a quiet weekday morning is a buy window.
- Treat it as entertainment. The exchange is a Denarius sink by design. Only trade money you're happy to lose.
- Hold for cycles. Five-minute price ticks mean a single day sees hundreds of cycles. Patience beats panic-trading.