A trade portal is an object where many items can be bought and sold in exchange for currency. Prices reflect supply and demand, with higher amounts of local influence and smaller amounts of universal influence on prices. They were introduced in version 1.5.
At any given moment at a given trade portal, items will sell there for 25% of the buying price at the same portal at that moment. As prices change and vary between trade portals, there can be trade portals with vastly different prices, allowing a profit to be made. Prices also change over time, so a price may go up or down as time passes. Buying items raises prices while selling items lowers prices.
A trade portal appears similarly to a portal, except with a golden tint. The trade portal's base block corresponds to the level of the trade portal, and is identical to the corresponding level for a portal.
Where Found[]
A trade portal can be crafted at a portal for one portal, one gold coin, and 50 time crystals. A trade portal may also be found when a cave troll is revealed (even in worlds started before version 1.5). Trade portals found near cave trolls will have different price offsets than a newly-crafted trade portal.
The trade portal has three options when tapped: Remove, Buy, and Sell.
A blockhead cannot buy, sell, or otherwise use the interface until they have walked to the trade portal. At that time, the trade portal interface (shown to the right) will open.
The icon menu across the top, immediately below the window title, can be scrolled left and right. Selecting an icon will display the trade menu associated with it: Blocks, Food, Tools, Clothing, Mined Materials, Miscellaneous, Advanced Items, and Coins (exchange). (See above for a detailed list.) The final icon is for Upgrades.
The trade menus can be scrolled up and down. Each line shows the item (and quantity), cost (in gold and copper coins), and a button to sell or buy based on what was chosen when the trade portal was tapped. The buy/sell button will be green if the using blockhead has the necessary items in its inventory.
Tapping a buy/sell button executes that exchange once but does not close the interface. To close the interface, tap outside its window.