Unbalanced Trade
Because all trades must be 'balanced', you may be unable to complete a trade unless the value of the items you are exchanging is approximately equal. The bar at the bottom of the trade window will show you how balanced the trade is. The closer the arrow is to either end of the bar, the greater the wealth one of you will earn from the trade.
[image: Trade balance information]
You are able to earn or lose a limited amount of wealth from trading in a fifteen minute period. This starts at 5,000 coins' worth for all players. This can be raised if:
* You have completed a number of quests
* Both you and your trade partner have been on each other's friends' list for a month or more
If both you and your trade partner have been listed on each other's friends' lists for a month or more, your trade limit will be x2; for two months or more, your trade limit will be x3; for four months or more your trade limit will be x4. BOTH players must have been on each other's friends' lists for this period to receive the maximum trade multiplier. For example, if Player X has been on Player Y's friends' list for two months, while Player Y has been on Player X's friends' list for one month, they will be considered as friends for just one month. They will receive a x2 multiplier to their trade limit.
Your trade limit can increase up to a maximum of 40,000 coins on free worlds or 240,000 coins on members' worlds. Please see the table below if you wish to find out your trade limit for any particular trade.
The amount you can earn or lose is recalculated every minute, whether you are logged into RuneScape or not, to ensure that you will always be able to trade up to your maximum value every fifteen minutes. Your trade partner's previous earnings or losses, as well as their trade margin from quest points, may reduce the amount you can trade with each other. The amount you can earn is connected to the amount you can lose, so you can complete a number of trades in quick succession.
For example, if Player A has a trade margin of 6,000 coins and earned 1,500 coins from a trade, they could then complete another trade that lost them 6,000 coins. If they did so, they might immediately trade again to gain 2,000 coins. In this example, Player A has gained 500 coins overall and can trade again to earn another 5,500 coins.
