Grand Exchange

For the wiki's database, see RuneScape:Grand Exchange Market Watch.

Grand Exchange
Released		26 February 2015 (Update)
Members		No
Location		Varrock
Number of tellers		4 bankers; 4 clerks
Poll booth		Yes
Deposit box		Yes
League region		Misthalin✓
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. However, if a player has been logged out for several days, any unfulfilled offers will pause until they log back in.

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. 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.

██████ : Transaction outstanding
██████ : Transaction completed
██████ : Transaction cancelled
██████ : Transaction partially completed

Due to its location and economic importance, the Grand Exchange is one of the most popular locations in the game world. It is usually the most populated area on the map outside of bosses and minigames on themed worlds, which sometimes causes issues with loading player avatars due to the large number of people in one place. As such, it is often considered the game's public square on any given server, and both standard accounts and ironmen regularly use the Grand Exchange for social interaction with other players.

Transportation

One of the towering pillars at the entrance of the Grand Exchange.

Location on World Map
Wilderness
↑
Edgeville	←	Grand Exchange	→	Varrock Palace
↓
Cooks' Guild

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:

• Using the Varrock Teleport spell from the Standard spellbook, or a Varrock teleport tablet.
  • If you have completed the Varrock medium diary, a Grand Exchange teleport option will be automatically added to any Varrock Teleport method.
  • Using a POH Varrock teleport with either a portal in a Portal Chamber (requires 50 Construction and, 25 Magic), or a Portal Nexus (requires 72 Construction and, 25 Magic.)
• Using a charge on a ring of wealth.
• 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 a skills necklace to teleport to the Cooks' Guild then running slightly north.
• 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.
• Taking the cart from Keldagrim; you can use the Blast Furnace minigame teleport, which is near the carts.

Operation

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.

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

Guide prices

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

Main article: Item set

The options available for any set within the Item sets interface.

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

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

Main article: Grand Exchange/Buying limits

Making a 'Buy' offer

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

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

Main article: Grand Exchange/Non-tradeable items

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

Main article: Account § New account trade restrictions

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. 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.

Restricted items

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

Grand Exchange tax examples from top to bottom:

• Status of an existing offer where tax is charged, below the 5m cap.
• Setting up a new offer where tax is charged, below the 5m cap.
• Setting up a new offer, where tax is charged, above the 5m cap.

Most transactions on the Grand Exchange are subject to a 2% 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. The tax was implemented on 9 December 2021 in the (unpolled) Grand Exchange Tax & Item Sink update. The tax was initially set at 1%, and increased to 2% on 29 May 2025 in the (unpolled) Yama CAs & More! update.

The 2% tax rounds down to the nearest whole number, so items sold for below 50 coins have a tax of less than one coin, and so have no tax obligation. Note that this means the seller receives 49 coins if they set the price per item to 49 or to 50, 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 50: the seller receives 98 coins if they set the price per item to 99 or to 100, 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 which has been placed at any exact multiple of 50 coins is effectively free.

Items regulated via item sink

The following items are periodically purchased by Jagex (from players) using funds from the convenience fee; they are then deleted from the game to better control market supply, keep old content relevant, and prevent item devaluation. This system works by deleting a static, Jagex-specified number of that item from the market every week and will only spend fees collected from the G.E. tax to accomplish this goal.

This is the most prominent example of an in-game item sink.

Since the Item Sink Launched

This is a small sample of the impact of the Item Sink since launch provided by Mod Ash on 29 May 2025.

This list is not exhaustive and the values are current estimates not historical.

• 5.4k spectral shields 157,727,827,800
• 5.4k arcane shields 624,310,048,800
• 2.9k volatile orbs 110,097,340,000
• 1.8k harmonised orbs 362,827,481,400
• 1.8k eldritch orbs 396,578,595,600
• 399 twisted bows 643,064,875,782
• 3.6k ancestral hats 217,122,141,600, 2.5k tops 316,436,652,500 & 2.5k robes 227,714,832,500
• 2.1k kodai wands 150,880,052,400
• 5.4k bulwarks 75,746,361,600
• 38k bandos godswords 764,578,012,000
• 13k armadyl godswords 108,271,020,000
• 13k saradomin godswords 382,909,631,000
• 18k zamorak godswords 347,681,214,000
• 3.7k ancient godswords 149,193,283,300
• 10k zamorak spears 12,204,030,000
• 204k tentacles 61,750,800,000
• 253k occult necklaces 115,508,162,000
• 54k blowpipes 579,763,386,000
• 17k lightbearers 76,712,024,000

Total: 5,881,077,772,282

Exempt from tax

The following items are exempt from the convenience fee:

Ironman mode

The Grand Exchange interface for Ironman accounts.

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. Ironmen are however not allowed to sell bonds.

Changes

Date	Changes
29 May 2025 (Update)	The tax rate for new Grand Exchange offers has increased to 2.0% (up from 1.0%). Burning claws are added to the item sink list. The following items are removed from the item sink list: Saradomin sword Warrior ring Seers ring Bandos boots Sarachnis cudgel Hydra's claw Kraken tentacle Trident of the seas (charged) Occult necklace Torn prayer scroll Kodai insignia Additional low-value and early-game items have been exempted from the tax.
23 May 2024 (Update)	Players may now set their own +x% and -x% values in the Grand Exchange by right clicking the button to alter the value.
14 June 2023 (Update)	Buy offers can now use the coins from the player's bank as payment; coins in the player's inventory take precedence if present, and any more coins required if the player has insufficient funds in their inventory are taken from the bank. Players can now list members' items on the Grand Exchange regardless of membership status or world.
13 December 2022 (Update | poll)	A 'Buy all that you can afford' button has been added to the Grand Exchange. A warning message has been added when placing a sell offer that is lower than 10% of the guide price.
9 December 2021 (Update)	All transactions on the Grand Exchange are now subject to a 1% tax. Additionally, certain items are now purchased from the GE by Jagex using said tax money and deleted from the game to regulate their price.
6 October 2021 (Update | poll)	Ironmen can now use the Grand Exchange to purchase (but not sell) bonds.
8 April 2020 (Update | poll)	The last item searched will now be remembered until players search for a new item, or log out.
10 March 2016 (Update)	A missing tile of mud in the Grand Exchange has been added.
26 November 2015 (Update | poll)	A button has been added to the top-left of the Grand Exchange interface which allows you to quickly access your Grand Exchange history.
5 November 2015 (Update)	The Grand Exchange interface now truncates text more appropriately so that item names do not extend outside of their box.
6 July 2015 (Update | poll)	Members now have access to 8 Grand Exchange slots and free-to-play players have access to 3 Grand Exchange slots.
21 May 2015 (Update)	Some blue patches on the parts of the Grand Exchange have been removed.
19 March 2015 (Update)	Additional item sets have been added to the Grand Exchange. You can now create sets of the following items by talking to the Grand Exchange clerks: God book page sets, Blessed Dragonhide sets, Partyhat set, and Halloween mask set
12 March 2015 (Update)	Increased buy rate limits for a number of items on the Grand Exchange.
5 March 2015 (Update)	Loading times should no longer be increased after searching on the Grand Exchange.
27 February 2015 (Update)	The following tweaks and additions were made based on feedback after release: Resolved the issue of an offer not disappearing after completing. Pie shells are now tradeable through the Grand Exchange. You will now be returned to the index panel, the screen where you can see all 6 of your offer slots, after setting up a new offer. Offers now have a right-click 'Abort' option. There is now only one 'offer' option when selecting an item to sell; this option will automatically select all of a stackable item. A collect-all button has been added to the collection interface on Bank booths. When on the search-item-by-name screen, pressing Enter now chooses the first item in the list. Random events no longer appear at the GE. Many items' buy limits have been increased; they will be increased further in future updates as the system stabilises.

Trivia

	Grand Exchange transaction completed

Concept art for the Grand Exchange's original 2007 release, showing it with an accessible roof and a spire.

• 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.
• Part of the Grand Exchange tax is used towards a subsidy for the pet insurance bureau ran by Probita.
• Concept art shows that the roof of the Grand Exchange was originally intended to be accessible and have a spire in the center.