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Market Making

Fruit Market Making Game

Market Making Game ~4 min Free Guided tutorial
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Overview
The Fruit Market Game drills the core market making loop: value fast, compare to the quote, act. Two bags of apples and oranges sit in front of you, and the real value of the market is all apples times all oranges across both bags. The market quotes a bid and an ask around that value. Every 15 seconds the bags update and the prices move, so you recount, recalculate, and decide: buy, sell, or stay out. Your first click matters most, because your profit depends on your speed and accuracy.
Example: pricing the basket
Two bags of fruit sit on screen and their contents keep changing. The market quotes a bid and an ask on the settlement value, which is total apples times total oranges, and you hit whichever side is wrong. A market event can double or wipe out a fruit at any moment, so the fair value moves under you.
Here Apple Inflation is live, so the nine apples count double and the basket is worth about 162.
Game Phases
1
Count the bags Two bags, each with apples and oranges, both visible. Add up the apples across both bags, then the oranges. Those two totals are your raw material for the valuation.
2
Calculate the real value Real value = total apples x total oranges. The calculation is simple, so speed is your edge. When a market event is active (inflation, deflation, an empty bag, rounding) apply it to the counts before you multiply.
3
Compare to bid and ask The market pays you the bid and charges you the ask. Value above the ask means buy, value below the bid means sell, and anything in between means no edge, so skip the market.
4
Trade early, then let it decay Your first correct trade locks in the edge times the share of the market window still left, and every next trade pays 85 percent of the previous one. Wrong-direction trades always cost the full amount, so calculate first, then commit.
More Practice