Tradelands Economic Update – October 3, 2023
This month features an abridged version of our typical economic report due to the Burkeland Royal Games dominating the headlines. The month of September had $1.19 Billion in economic activity. This is consistent with the previous month as well and is expected to continue until the Halloween Release.
Onyx Overpriced Again
Once again, sellers for Onyx are attempting to price this gemstone above its true market value. Despite the upward movement of Onyx prices on the Price Guide, we warn that this is almost certainly a bubble and players should be cautious if attempting to purchase items at this price.
The history of Onyx pricing begins many years back when the only place to obtain it was through two rocks underneath Freeport. Since then, Cannoneer’s Key has added new rocks, and with strong enough drop percentages that it is no longer the rarest gemstone in the game. However, benchmark prices (the ones you will find on my price guides) were established before the introduction of Key to the game. Additionally, demand for the item has remained almost non-existant for most of its lifespan.
This year has seen a change in this though, because it is now a key component to obtaining Maple. As a result, it has a purpose in the supply chain economics of Tradelands. This has created demand for Onyx, but at the same time has set the maximum threshold for which the item can sell. That is, at $3,000 per piece. The reason for this is that any price higher than $3k effectively means Maple farmers will lose money at this stage of the Supply Chain. In fact, to reinforce this point, we showed in June how the Onyx buy price was at $3.4k per piece, meaning it has actually lost $400 per piece in value in just three month.
Net of all this is to say that Onyx sellers are too high. Normal price correction mechanics don’t work on this market because if it’s importance to the supply chain.
Woods Reintroduced
On September 27th, the exclusive woods were reintroduced to the market. This caused the JSI index to experience a slight correction at the end of the month. Additionally, because these are purchased using Premium Tokens, there has been a significant increase in buyer demand for tokens even though they are still not impacting the overall prices of the market.
There are two additional points worth noting about the release of the exclusive woods:
- Last time the woods were released it was just prior to some expensive new items being added to the game. The woods went off-sale before the items were released. This may be a repeat trend rather than a one-time occurrence.
- Blood Oak was NOT re-released along with the other exclusive woods. This indicates that it may be placed on a different rotation going forward.
If both of these end up being true, it means that exclusive woods will start adding some unpredictable elements to the game. This is dangerous as it starts leading to cases of insider trading by players who are familiar with the upcoming release schedule. We will start paying closer attention to this and alerting the market to the best of our ability.
