The Stock Exchange
How shares are priced, what trading costs, how long you must hold, and the limits that keep the market fair.
The Stock Exchange (City → Stock Exchange, from level 15) lets you buy and sell shares in the companies of Vesper City. You always trade with the exchange itself, never with another player.
How prices move
Every 30 minutes each company's price takes a random step, up or down. Some companies swing more than others, and each is slowly pulled back towards its own base price, so no price runs away for ever. Nothing in the game promises a profit: a price you bought at can fall, and stay down.
News and staff events can move a price at once, and a crash can hurt everyone holding what fell. The newspaper reports the big moves.
What trading costs
- Broker's fee: 1% of the value on every buy and every sale. The Stock Exchange landmark in Financial District and the premium broker from the Gold Shop lower it.
- Waiting: shares you buy can't be sold for 24 hours. Each purchase has its own clock, and your oldest shares are sold first.
- Early sales: shares sold within 7 days of buying cost 2% instead of the normal fee.
- Big orders move the price: the more you buy or sell at once, the more you push the price against yourself.
Limits
- You can have at most $50,000 per level invested at cost.
- There is a maximum number of shares per trade.
- Selling at a loss, or being hit by a crash, costs some happiness.
Dividends
Some companies pay a dividend every week to the players who hold their shares. Each company's page shows its dividend and its price history.
See also Bank for keeping cash safe, and Districts and travel for the landmark that cuts the fee.