The player gains access to the stock market  

Local Stock Exchanges

Natural

Other Wares

Corporate and Company Indexes

Corporations

Companies

...

market through Stock Exchanges.   Local Stock Exchanges are limited to the sectors encompassed by the Stock Exchange while Corporate Indexes are universal based on if the headquarters has been found and the location of trade ships owned by the corporation.   Company Indexes are completely random.   All transactions at the stock exchange have a 2% charge for both buying and selling meaning the price needs to hit at least 4% to make a profit.

Local Stock Exchanges

• Range between an Index value of 200 and 0
• An index of 100 represents a stock value of the minimal price for the ware
• An Index of 50 represents a stock value of the average price for the ware
• An index of 0 represents a stock value of the maximum price for the ware
• Index value = (Supply/Demand)*100 (therefore an index of 200 = a Supply of >2*Demand)
• Supply = the sum total of the ware on all ships in the Stock Exchange region that is not equipped and in storage on selling stations (stations that both buy and sell included) in the Stock Exchange region
• Demand = the sum total of all capacity for the ware on all buying stations
• Share Price = Minimum Price+[(Maximum Price-Minimum Price)*{1-(Supply/Demand)}].  
  • Example1: Disintegrator Rifles in a Stock Exchange Region with only a Pirate Base and no other stations demanding the ware and 6 in stock on the pirate base.   The share price would be 19,945+[(33,959-19,945)*{1-(6/(20)}] = 19,945+(14,014*0.7) = 19,945+9810 = 27,955 credits
  • Example2: Energy Bolt Chainguns in the Grand exchange region with 4 on the Military Outpost in Merchant Haven and 2 on a Rapid Response ship.   The share price would be 129,984+[(172,304-129,984)*{1-(6/8)}] = 129,984+(42,320*0.25) = 140,564 credits
• Shares available for purchase = 2*(unequipped ware number in Stock Exchange region)
• Wares only show on the stock exchange if an NPC station demands the ware (player equipment docks and trading ports do not count) or there is a factory producing that ware
• Wares being produced in a Stock Exchange region with no demand will flip between and index of 100 and 200 with a single copy of the ware but always have the minimum share price

Natural

Stocks based on hidden quest related wares (players will be familiar with them from the main plot and random missions of X3: Reunion, X3: Terran Conflict, X3: Albion Prelude).   Supply is based on (number of ships or 0.5*station number if no ships are present in the sector)*stock exchange region sector y offset integer*Ware string length (which explains increased volatility for stock exchanges that occupy the south of the X-universe).   Demand is station count*font length for the ware.   The maximum price for the ware is equal to the Font Length for the ware and the minimum price is equal to the string length of the ware.   This makes changes in stock price random but quantitative based on ships entering and leaving the Stock Exchange region and ships spawned and destroyed.   Due to the completely random nature of their creation, shares of these wares are often volatile.

Other Wares

Stocks based on wares produced by factories and spawned on Rapid Response ships.   NPC stations consume wares (even trading stations slowly deplete stocks) and ships transporting them get killed draining wares from the economy while factories produce them and rapid response ships spawn with them.   This means that the availability of wares can be predicted based on the number and distance of suppliers compared to consuming stations.   It also means enemy activity can cause sudden spikes in certain wares by triggering fleets of Rapid Response ships full of that ware to jump in.   As the player can purchase and remove wares from the presence of the Stock Exchange region it is possible manipulate the stock market for several wares.

Profit able to be earned in this part of the stock market is equivalent to 2 times the profit that could be earned by trading the ware (and the player gets to keep any wares of that type owned).

Corporate Indexes 

Value is based on wares in owned stations and ships and the value of owned ships.   If the total value of the corporation exceeds 120,000,000 then there is a flat deduction of 100,000,000 added to the value used for stock exchange calculations meaning corporations with multiple capital ships will see an increase in stock value if a few assets are destroyed putting them back under the threshold (Duke's, Jonferco and OTAS).    The current trading price for the corporation is the total value/200,000 however, the index calculation is delegated to trade ships owned by the corporation.   Each newly spawned trade ship belonging to the corporation assumes the current trading price of the corporation ±(100-150) random value as the maximum and minimum share price.   The number of shares available for purchase are (Ʃmaximum - minimum share price*125) of each trader owned by the corporation.   The index of each trader is ((current corporation trading value - minimum trader trading value)*100)/(trader maximum - minimum share price).   There is then some strange totalling system using an array to get the (average???) value seen in the stock exchanges.   The number of owned ships in the X-universe can be seen under Owned Ships on the headquarters for the corporation while stations are always built in the same place.   The loss of ships combined with the depletion of wares from stations reduces the value of shares.   By the player intentionally destroying assets of the corporation it is possible to manipulate the index values.   Due to the nature of the calculations used, trade ships spawned in good times will always give a bad index during heavy losses while those spawned when the corporation has nothing will always give a high index meaning a first in first out policy is best for stock manipulation.

Company Indexes

Company indexes are purely based on an array of names with a semi-randomised array of maximum and minimum stock prices.   The number of available shares is (maximum - minimum share price)*2000.   The trade index is ((current trader trading value - minimum trader trading value)*100)/(trader maximum - minimum share price).   Changes in current trader trading value are based on two random number generators with the first ranging from 1-5 determining how far the index shifts while the second determines if a positive, negative or no change occurs.   As the player has no control over these stocks it is no better than gambling so may the profitss be with you.

Stock Market Manipulation

The stock market can be profitable but unreliable so whereas luck is good, control is better.   As the stock index of wares in local stock exchanges is in part dependent on those held in the holds of ships, it is possible for the player to induce an artificial increase in supply by flying a ship into the stock market region even if there is no intent to sell the wares to meet demand.   It is then possible to further increase monopoly of supply by purchasing all available copies of the ware in the Stock Exchange region.   This enables the player to leverage stocks by flying a ship through a single gate into a Stock Exchange region to fully reduce the price of stocks (index of >100) for a specific range of goods before flying the ship back through the gate to increase the prices (ideally an index of 0) for a large profit margin.   As the number of stocks available are dependent on the number of the ware in the region having a TL full of the ware(s) can easily generate numbers of stocks worth tens of millions to over a billion credits profit per transaction.   By overtuning the ship used for stock market manipulation with Pandora Tunings, this process can be performed several times per minute not only making the player extremely wealthy but also gaining Trade Rank at insane rates.

Factors favouring wares for stockmarket manipulation are:

• Low but existent demand (very hard to leverage goods like Sunrise Flowers where demand is in the 10,000s requiring several full TLs to leverage)
• Demand for the same ware in adjacent Stock Exchange regions (allows the player to cut a profit each time the ship is ordered)
• A large difference between the maximum and minimum price (means more profit per share)
• A small volume (means more can be put on a single ship generating more shares)
• Few nearby suppliers (CLS MK2 can negate but Construct Station missions can be counterproductive)(this makes the Grand Exchange and Gaian Star Stock Exchanges good for manipulation)

Recommended wares for manipulation:

• Space Fuel (produced at a rate of 375/h by factories so it is easy to fill a TL but not found in the Grand Exchange and Gaian Star Stock Exchange regions allowing the player to cut both ways)
• Disintegrator Rifles (spawned pirate bases can introduce demand so by late game most stock exchanges will want this and it only needs 20 to leverage while NPC factories are few and barely able to supply their local area while player owned ones produce 3.75/h)
• Terran EMP Rifles (only produced in the Terran sectors so none ever reach the Strong Arms HQ in the Patriarch's Conclusion Stock Exchange region and has a high leverage value with player stations able to produce 1.9/h)
• Recon Drone (only demanded in Queen's Retribution Stock Exchange region but has high leverage value and low cargo volume with only 2 NPC factories in existence and a production rate of 3.6/h)
• Energy Bolt Chaingun (only needs 8 to leverage and Grand Exchange is always low while the ware itself has the highest leverage to volume ratio)

Recommended ships:

• Atmospheric Lifter (large cargo and good speed but needs to be Boarded to obtain)
• Aran (if used as a player ship and overtuned can be quite fast while the capacity for 30 TS+ ships and even other Arans gives this ship near unlimited storage)