Grand Exchange (2024)

Grand Exchange
Released		26 February 2015 (Update)
Members		No
Location		Varrock
Number of tellers		4 bankers; 4 clerks
Poll booth		Yes
Deposit box		Yes
Teleports		Varrock Teleport, Ring of Wealth, Spirit Tree
Music		The Trade Parade
Map
Advanced data
Type		building

The Grand Exchange, commonly referred to as the GE, is a trading system for players to purchase and sell tradeable items in Old School RuneScape. It was released on 26 February 2015 following a content poll where it passed by 76.3%, narrowly passing the 75% threshold. Members get eight Grand Exchange slots, each of which may be used to either buy or sell items; however, free players are limited to three. Additionally, free players may only purchase free-to-play items, and not members' items. In the event that a member lists a sell offer and then their membership expires prior to fulfillment, the trade remains active and the item will sell when the price rises. No restriction exists on selling items, regardless of memberships status.

Traders do not need to advertise, meet each other, or even wait at the Grand Exchange for trades to finish, because coins and items from fully and partially finished trades can be collected at any bank or deposit box. Additionally, players will receive a message in their chatbox when the status of a trade offer is updated. This trading system resembles a real-life electronic asset exchange and has since replaced the trading post and the older marketplaces in Varrock and Falador.

Ironmen that use the Grand Exchange are redirected to a unique interface that allows them to purchase bonds while disallowing them from buying or selling any other item. There is also a loot chest, which non-ironman player-killers may use to cash in loot keys from players they killed.

Location[edit | edit source]

The Grand Exchange is located north-west of Varrock and east of Edgeville, both of which are located just south of the Wilderness. There are many ways to get there, including the following:

• Walking (with or without use of the Varrock Teleport spell).
• Using the tunnel north-west of the Grand Exchange (requires 21 Agility).
• Using a canoe station (requires 12–57 Woodcutting) to travel to the Champions' Guild station, Barbarian Village station, or Edgeville station and walking north, walking east, or using the tunnel, respectively.
• Teleporting to the Champions' Guild using the Chronicle, and then heading north into Varrock.
• Using the spirit tree north-east of the Grand Exchange (requires completion of Tree Gnome Village). Using the Ardougne cloak's teleport takes you somewhat close to the Khazard battlefield spirit tree which can take you directly to the GE.
• Using a charge on an amulet of glory, or fairy ring code DKR (requires access to the fairy rings from partial completion of Fairytale II - Cure a Queen), to get to Edgeville and then using the tunnel.
• Using the Varrock Teleport spell from the Standard spellbook, a Varrock teleport tablet, or a POH Varrock portal in a Portal Chamber (requires 25 Magic, and 50 Construction to build a portal).
• Using the Varrock Teleport option in a Portal Nexus (requires 25 Magic and 72 Construction to build a Portal Nexus and add Varrock Teleport respectively)
  • If you have completed the Varrock medium diary, The Grand Exchange will be automatically added if Varrock Teleport is already added. This is a separate option from the Varrock Teleport.
• Using a charge on a ring of wealth.
• Using a skills necklace to teleport to the Cooks' Guild then running slightly north.
• Taking the cart from Keldagrim; you can use the Blast Furnace minigame teleport, which is near the carts.

Operation[edit | edit source]

Exact details on the internals of the Grand Exchange are not publicly known. However, some parts of its operation are understood through experience.

Players interact with the Grand Exchange by making buy and sell offers for items, at prices of their choosing. Trades succeed when one player's buy offer is greater than or equal to another player's sell offer. The actual price a successful trade occurs at depends on which side made the offer first:

• If a buy offer is made and lower sell offers already exist, then the trade succeeds between the lowest sell offer, and the buyer gets gold back.
• If a sell offer is made and higher buy offers already exist, then the trade succeeds between the highest buy offer, and the seller gets more gold than their offer.^[1]

If multiple buy or sell offers exist at same price, older offers are loosely prioritised over newer ones when matching.^[1]

Guide prices[edit | edit source]

When creating a trade offer, the initial price is set to a guide value. This guide is automatically updated based on the trade history of the item and is intended to represent its approximate market value.

While Jagex has never published the Grand Exchange's exact pricing algorithms, guide prices are generally governed by the laws of supply and demand:

• If an item's demand is higher than supply, then its price will increase.
• If an item's supply is higher than demand, then its price will decrease.
• If an item's demand matches its supply, then its price will not change.

The prices of items are updated based on their recently traded prices and volume. For items with low trade volume such as partyhats, their prices update every few days or even once a week, and can be inaccurate. Jagex can also intervene and set the prices themselves, and they reserve the right to intervene when they believe price manipulation is occurring on an inexcusable scale, or when items that appear more expensive than their actual value are used for scamming. The Grand Exchange Market Watch contains up-to-date information on the prices for various items.

The guide prices are also a basis for Death's Coffer sacrifices and Items Kept on Death mechanics.

Item sets[edit | edit source]

Most armour sets and the dwarf multicannon can be assembled into sets to save space. They behave like ordinary items except that they cannot be worn or used until disassembled. Only the Grand Exchange clerks and bankers can assemble or disassemble sets, and they will do so an unlimited number of times for free.

Ultimate ironmen may not assemble items into sets.

Pricing experts[edit | edit source]

Around the Grand Exchange are six pricing experts who show the current prices of various items.

• Brugsen Bursen can be right-clicked to search for an item's guide price.
• Farid Morrisane shows the prices of ores, bars and gems.
• Relobo Blinyo shows the prices of logs.
• Bob Barter shows the prices of herbs and potions. He also decants potions into full and empty vials. He can decant potions even if they are noted.
• Murky Matt shows the prices of runes. He also "decants" charged items into full and empty charges.
• Hofuthand shows the prices of certain weapons and armour.

Additionally, James can be found outside the Grand Exchange main entrance, and gives information about membership bonds.

Buy limits[edit | edit source]

The buying rate is restricted to a certain quantity every 4 hours. Some items have a connected limit, meaning that you can only buy a certain amount of either item, or a mix of the two up to a particular point. For example, if the player has reached the limit on 4-dose Prayer potions, they cannot buy Prayer potions of fewer doses. However, there are no restrictions on selling items.

Volume[edit | edit source]

Volume is a measure of the quantity of items that have been traded on the Grand Exchange. This number is not directly available in-game, but can be viewed on the official Old School RuneScape Grand Exchange website database. Items that commonly have high daily volume are supplies like runes and ores, as well as ranged weapons like arrows, darts and cannonballs.

Non-tradeable items[edit | edit source]

Some items cannot be traded using the Grand Exchange, but can still be traded using traditional player-to-player trade. For example, burnt foods cannot be traded with the GE service, and have no in-game value.

Other items with a similar property include partially charged jewellery (games necklace) or equipment (black mask), half-eaten food items (slice of cake), recipe items (uncooked cake), currency (platinum tokens) and Castle Wars bandages.

New account trade restrictions[edit | edit source]

New free-to-play accounts have trade restrictions in place until the account's logged in time surpasses 20 hours of game time, 10 or more quest points are acquired, and reaching 100 total level.^[2] Such restrictions include a block from selling certain items on the Grand Exchange. This restriction is in place to help prevent botted and black-market goods from entering the economy, as many of the accounts are caught and banned before they can be logged in for 20 hours in total.^[3]

Restricted items[edit | edit source]

Item		GEPrice
	Oak logs	72
	Willow logs	89
	Yew logs	230
	Raw shrimps	142
	Shrimps	25
	Raw anchovies	66
	Anchovies	57
	Raw lobster	82
	Lobster	167
	Clay	84
	Soft clay	114
	Copper ore	37
	Tin ore	36
	Iron ore	159
	Silver ore	43
	Gold ore	163
	Coal	144
	Mithril ore	102
	Adamantite ore	1,000
	Runite ore	11,074
	Cowhide	187
	Vial	3
	Vial of water	2
	Jug of water	48
	Fishing bait	2
	Feather	2
	Eye of newt	3
	Wine of zamorak	894
	Air rune	4
	Water rune	4
	Earth rune	4
	Fire rune	4
	Mind rune	2
	Chaos rune	62

A quick way to reach the quest point requirement is to complete the following quests:

• Romeo & Juliet (recommended) (5 points)
• Goblin Diplomacy (recommended) (5 points)
• Sheep Shearer (1 point)
• Cook's Assistant (1 point)
• Rune Mysteries (1 point)

Convenience fee and item sink[edit | edit source]

Most transactions on the Grand Exchange are subject to a 1% tax, or convenience fee, capped at a maximum of 5 million coins per item. The money from this tax is then collected by Jagex; most is removed from the game, while a small amount is used to purchase select items from other players and delete them from the game to regulate their price. Both of these features were implemented on 9 December 2021 in the (unpolled) Grand Exchange Tax & Item Sink update.

The 1% tax rounds down to the nearest whole number, so items sold for below 100 coins have a tax of less than one coin, and so have no tax obligation. Note that this means the seller receives 99 coins if they set the price per item to 99 or to 100, but in the latter case, the buyer pays a single additional coin to the tax. This generalises to all transactions with a price that is an exact multiple of 100: the seller receives 199 coins if they set the price per item to 199 or to 200, and so on. This is rarely significant, as single coin difference is irrelevant for all but the cheapest items, but it does mean that undercutting a sell offer for any exact multiple of 100 coins is effectively free.

Items regulated via item sink[edit | edit source]

The following items are periodically purchased from other players by Jagex using funds from the convenience fee; they are then deleted from the game to better control market supply and prevent item devaluation. This is the most prominent example of an in-game item sink.

Exempt from tax[edit | edit source]

The following items are exempt from the convenience fee:

• Old school bonds
• Chisel
• Gardening trowel
• Glassblowing pipe
• Hammer
• Needle
• Pestle and mortar
• Rake
• Saw
• Secateurs
• Seed dibber
• Shears
• Spade
• Watering can (0)

Ironman mode[edit | edit source]

The Grand Exchange is accessible in a limited form to Ironman accounts. Ironmen are allowed to use the Grand Exchange to purchase bonds via a special interface that does not permit them to buy or sell any non-bond item in the game. They are also not allowed to sell bonds.

Music unlocked[edit | edit source]

• The Trade Parade

Changes[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

	Grand Exchange transaction completed

• A short jingle plays when a buy or sell transaction is completed on the Grand Exchange, which contains the beginning melody from The Trade Parade accompanied by flutes and other whimsical elements.
• On the buy/sell interface, if an Old School RuneScape Mobile user on Android tries to input a custom value, the numeric keyboard will display. This keyboard curiously contains a negative "-" sign as an option, but it does nothing when pressed.
• A player can "Buy all that you can afford" by right-clicking the [...] button and selecting the "All" option.
• Concept art shows that the roof of the Grand Exchange was originally intended to be accessible and have a spire in the center.

References[edit | edit source]