So what exactly determines gold prices.

Never really had a firm understanding about this.

 

The market supply and demand influence the price

 

Demand and game circumstances. E.G If there is a game breaking bug to make billions, cash will go down. It doesn't go too far down though as demand will rise a little knowing cash is cheap and will go back up slightly.

 

Demand and supply, if a gold reseller is low on stock, he will offer slightly higher prices. This will also result in slightly higher selling prices, and vice versa.

 

Ah, makes sense.

 

A few things determine gold prices:

Inflation of in-game economy - Gold's value VS items in-game. If items cost 10% more gold than they did 1 week ago, all other things equal, gold prices should decrease (since gold has less buying power ingame).

Active exploits - Think Corp Glitch, Duel Arena Glitches, etc. These allow certain users to gain very high amounts of gold, often with the intent to sell immediately. These users are extracting value from the Runescape economy at an abnormal rate, so gold prices will drop to compensate.

Runescape's Popularity - More active users = increased demand for gold, almost always at a rate which outpaces the increase of supply. When the population rises, prices do as well. This can be seen for double-exp weekends, major content releases, and overall growth in the game itself.

Ban Rates - Ban rates will often vary over time. Some periods involve near 0 ban rates, while other periods involve increased ban rates. Often after the release of major content, ban rates decrease, as it becomes more difficult and costly to separate gold sellers from regular users. Keep in mind that bans often only affect gold sellers (not buyers). High ban rates increase the cost of gold for the end consumer.

Of course these are just a few reasons that gold prices will rise and fall. Keep in mind that in this complex environment, many of these factors are pulling in opposite directions at the same time, and are combined with many other smaller factors. Without access to inside information, such as the release of a new exploit, or new game content, it is nearly impossible to predict with any certainty the price direction.

 

Interesting read, thanks R2

 

Like everyone said. Supply and demand dictates price. Things that increase supply, lower price. Increasing demand raises the price. All the things that create these scenarios affect the supply and demand and therefore the price.

 

In my opinion the gold prices depend on the seasons for example in summer it will allways go up , demand obv , new item added to the game and glitches wich abused for example the corp glitch decrease the price drasticly.

 

Basically R2 said it all. I think that the gold price changes on different levels of the chain as well. Whether that be a community such as sythe or a independent website.

 

This was very interesting to read.
''Of course these are just a few reasons that gold prices will rise and fall.''
I honestly can't think of any other reasons from the ones you've listed.
Perhaps new items or new content such as a new skill being introduced may change the market is some way but I'm not sure

 

Yeah precisely, new money making methods are an example of this.
Also profitable scripts being released to the public increase the amount of gold in the game - meaning that it has less value.

Just my two cents!