Trade hubs

Hello everyone, Tauza here with another quick update for you. Today I will briefly update you on trade hubs.

Trade Hubs are centers of trading in a region of space, usually found in a solar system with many gates that serve as a main pass-through center. Volumes of goods traded in trade hub systems far exceed goods traded in other systems in the region, marked by high availability of goods in one place. The volume of goods increase customers to the system, attracting more sellers, increasing volume, and stabilizing prices. In busy regions such as The Forge, a large fraction of trade takes place at the hub, such as Jita.

The convenience of "one-stop shopping" is such that buyers are usually willing to pay a slight premium just to get the items at the hub rather than elsewhere in the region (this can usually be seen by examining the sell orders of an item). However, in low-population regions where the hubs are not as developed, there may be no premiums charged on goods and often the range must be increased on buy orders in order to reach more sellers.

Trade hubs are created in certain locations for a number of reasons, including location (choke points, proximity to mission hubs or different regions) and available facilities (research facilities, manufacturing lines etc). These factors cause players to use particular stations and systems over others, and once a station is known as a trade hub then players are more likely to use it, cementing its status.

There is a complete list at http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Trade_Hubs