Why were my linden dollars worth less last nite?

Ok, I feel really dumb asking this question, but how do you know WHEN to sell your linden dollars on SLX? I sold the same amount last night, as I did last week, but it was significantly less in US dollars last night. I mean ALOT less! So, my question is, did the linden buck drop dramatically, or is there a specific time you can sell where it's worth more?

The Linden Exchange and SL Exchange operate in a fashion similar to RL currency exchanges. There is no time to predict when prices will be favorable for trades in either direction. (If there were, all you'd have to do is trade some Euros for US Dollars, wait until the Dollars are worth more than you bought them, and trade them back for Euros. You'd be a millionaire in a few weeks. )

The short answer: No. There's no way to predict it, but you can always check what the price is right now. If the price isn't favourable, just hold the currency until you like the prices better, then trade.

The LindeX was the other way round for a while last night - more US$ for your L$ than normal.

As Victor said, you have to keep checking, and wait until the exchange rate is good.

If you choose SLX's "Linden Dollars per $1 US Dollar" or "US Dollars per $1000 Linden Dollars" instead of "the best price I can get immediately," you won't have to worry about guessing when to come back to sell.

I was just going to ask if SLX let you do Limit Sells like you can on LindEx, which lets you control exactly how much you sell for. I don't know anyone who does Market Sells on LindEx.

Wow, shows you how much I know, I always chose the best price..hmmm..so choosing the other options, gives you more for your buck?

Yes, and "Estimated Proceeds" will immediately provide what I have found to be a very accurate estimate. Only choose "the best price I can get immediately" if you're in urgent need of the cash.

I never use the limit sells

always go for the market value LOL
then again it is not like I am selling large amounts at a time... usually 5K when I have it (on lindex) to convert to cash to help cover tier costs... (which lately with sales being so bad, is rare)

Ive meant to come check out your fishing hole, Rha, been so busy lately..lol..me waves

Well, it is a gamble. The price might go down further if you wait it out. But there is usually a predictable cycle of highs and lows, on a daily basis - and you can check the graphs on the site.

You can only make money on SLX/LindeX if you are able to buy low and sell high, and, when the difference between the two is more than the commission charged by the exchange. This is rarely the case on a daily basis.

But if you spot a longer trend or cycle, and you invest a lot of money, you can make a small profit. Watch the price change during scheduled downtimes for SL, this is when people use SLX (in greater numbers) to do shopping, and buy/sell Lindens.

Yeah, at 5K, the difference between what you'd get with the immediately available price and any reasonable limit-sell price would only amount to a few cents.

And if you are in urgent need of the cash, consider using the SL Exchange website instead, which is practically instant. I've waited a week for LindEx to transfer funds, and have never waited more than 5 minutes on SLEx. I *usually* get a significantly better exchange rate on slexchange as well.

Yes, i usually always use SLex, is there a better place to sell than that?

I calculate 59 cents, the difference between selling 5K at 266L$/US$ yielding $18.13 and selling 5K at 275L$/USS, yielding just $17.54. This is about a 3% difference.

The prices are from the LindeX. The 266L$ is one more than the current best sell order (best from the buyer's perspective), and hence likely to filled by the next market buy order. The 275L$ is the best current buy order (best from the seller's perspective), and would be filled immediately. The LindeX calculator shows $17.55 as the yield from a market sell order, but I'm guessing that the difference is due to the way the JavaScript calculations are done for the two separate fields.

I always hear that SLExchange offers better exchange rates, but Honestly, I can't seem to wrap my brain around their 'points' or whatever system that is they use. I can never tell what is the best price and what I'm going to get. At least on the Lindex, I'm given a dollar amount which is usually right on the money (no pun intended).

This is not true. If you look at the Lindex, the first significant volume on the buy side is at $275, and the first significant volume on the sell side is $264. This $11L spread is no coincidence. It's the exact amount that you need to make a profit over the 3.5% selling fee. If you are doing significant volume, the US$0.30 buying fee becomes negligible. When there is adequate volume in market orders, you will always see an $11L spread between the main volume buy and sell orders. If you've got a couple thousand US dollars, you can flip it from lindens to dollars and back once or twice a week. It's between 0.4-0.5%, but that compounds everytime and can turn into a huge return by the end of the year.

It will be an $11L spread at current price levels. If the exchange rate were closer to the 350L$/US$ level, the spread would be more like $14L.

More precisely: The highest high-volume sell price, in L$/US$ will be one less than 96.5% of the lowest high-volume buy price.

*waves back* oh I will be sending you a PM shortly, follow up to something to do with tuedays

Well you can actually predict when to sell your L$. Skidz made a tool for it.

Skidz Partz - SLExChange Market Watch

"When selling lindens on SLExchange its hard sometimes to know what to set the price at. I have been watching and trying to determine the best way now for a long time. What I have noticed is that if anyone is selling lindens for more than you than those lindens must sell first. So, I wrote an application that show just that, how many lindens have to sell prior to me selling my lindens."

http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=594432

Yup - you have to do the math and watch the market if you wanna make money - as I said - it can be done.

If I'm understanding this correctly, it doesn't tell you anything about when to sell your L$. It helps you estimate how long it will take for your L$ to actually sell, if you were to place a limit sell order at a given price. It does this by telling you how much has to be sold first at poorer prices for the seller. Of course, there's much more involved than that.