Market Discussions

It's a lot harder than it needs to be, that's for sure.

But the real issue is that whenever someone has put together an exchange, very little demand has materialised for it's services.

Both.

Look around the forums and you will see very few people trading in shares and similar investments. It's not the lack of an exchange that prevents people from involving themselves in this market. It's the lack of a market that prevents people from setting up an exchange.

The exchanges that have existed for any length of time have been labours of love and few in number. When one dies there are no competitors waiting in the wings to pick up their business.

Compare this to the popularity, success and profitability of EVE gambling sites.

I think those problems are a long way from being relevant to the question of why there are no successful exchanges.

Stock dilution isn't even going to be on the list of concerns for most potential investors. Few sizeable public investments have reached the stage where it's actually relevant and those that have just deal with it in one way or another.

A great many player made tools have overcome any potential platform issues and have achieved popularity. A stock exchange isn't going to have any more serious problems to deal with than a gambling site in this respect.

Let me add "Why bother?"

What kind of upside is there for the "common man / woman / pilot" in EVE ?

None, and the current game mechanism for "stocks" is only part of the issue.

Most pilots who join a good corp can get a better return on their pooled (ISK) assets, with friends they trust and who share the risk.

Many others who are, to put it bluntly, " independently wealthy " are well past the stage of needing someone else's financial vehicle to amass their next billions. So, again, no upside.

If I wanted to invest in a corp, holding their "stock" is the last thing I'd want as any sort of way to influence their performance and encourage their honesty.

I'm more of a "Collateral" person, and I do so at a percentage rate of market value that is beneficial to me. Stocks, in their current game incarnation, have no value to me and are thus "worthless".

Equity exchanges won't work until someone creates a semi automated accounting system derived from the API transactions with workflow for manual chart of account categorization on "generic" API transactions.

A debt exchange is much more likely.