How to Trade

This contains all the information you need. 

In the top left hand corner is the period, and the amount of trading time remaining in that period. You also have your player number, your bank balance and the number of units you are currently holding. Profit for this period indicates your earnings from trading in the current period. This will change if you buy or sell units.

The table below is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT. It shows the value of each unit to you. The number you are currently holding is highlighted.

In this example, the person has 6 units. The 6th unit is worth $10. If she were to buy a 7th unit, it would be worth $8 to her.

This section will also show any trades that have been completed, and will indicate if they were profitable (shown in GREEN), or unprofitable (shown in RED).

Trading

The screen allows you to trade with other players.
To buy or sell units, you can either make a bid to buy or an offer to sell, or you can accept bids or offers made by other players.

Make an offer to sell or a bid to buy
To make an offer to sell, enter your desired price in the ‘Offer Price’ box, then click on ‘Send Offer to Sell’.
The offer will be sent to the market. Note that your unit will not be sold until another player accepts your offer. You continue to hold the unit until your offer is accepted. When the unit is sold it is deducted from your holding, and the sale price will be added to your projected profit. If a unit remains unsold at the end of the period, it remains in your holding and you will earn its marginal value.

To bid to buy an extra unit, enter your desired price in the 'Bid Price' box, and click on ‘Send Bid to Buy’.
If another player accepts your bid, you will successfully buy that unit, it will be added to your holding and the price will be deducted from your projected profit.
If your bid is not accepted by the end of the period, you will not buy the extra unit.

Remember that each offer or bid is for one unit only.
Bids and offers will expire after 15 time units.
If you enter a new bid or offer it will replace any existing bid or offer you currently have in the market.

Accept an offer to sell or a bid to buy
Alternatively you may choose to accept an offer or bid made by another player.
At the top right of the screen are the offers made by other players which are currently available.
If you wish to buy at one of the prices shown in the 'Offers to Sell Currently in Market' box, click on 'Accept Lowest Offer'.
This will automatically select the lowest price available, and you will buy the extra unit at that price.

The ‘Last Price Traded’ box indicates the price of the most recent trade in the market. In the lower table are the bids to buy made by other players.

If you wish to sell a unit you can accept a bid to buy currently in the market.
Click on 'Accept Highest Bid' and you will sell a unit for the highest available price.

Current bids appear black in the tables.
If your bid or offer is accepted by another player, or you accept a current bid or offer, it will turn green before disappearing.
If a bid or offer is accepted by another player it will turn red before disappearing.
Note that a bid or offer can only be accepted once.

Once you accept an offer or bid, your holding and profit for the period will be updated.

Once the period ends you can no longer make nor accept offers or bids.
The screen is updated to show your earnings from the period, which is added to your bank balance.
The screen also indicates when the next period will begin.

*** End of instructions ***

If you understand the experiment please press (Alt-Tab) to go to the log-in screen.

Otherwise please review the previous pages.

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