L$ Exchange Data Update
Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 12:15 PM by: Lawrence LindenGiff Constable of the Electric Sheep Company helped me pull together additional GOM data, so I’ve created a new graph that includes volume data from before October of 2005.
Please click the image below to zoom in:
Here’s the source data:
Cheers,
Lawrence
January 4th, 2007 at 12:21 PM
Shouldn’t the axis for rate be flipped? ($700 rate on top, not bottom)…
Would make correlation more apparent …
January 4th, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Bucky: The way the data is displayed, higher means more valuable. L$100 per USD is more valuable in real money than L$500 per USD.
January 4th, 2007 at 1:15 PM
What happened in October-05 that caused the sharp rise in value?
January 4th, 2007 at 1:42 PM
[...] Linden have released further trend information on the Linden exchange rate since 2003. It seems the Linden performs against the US dollar at around the same rate as the NZ dollar. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. [...]
January 4th, 2007 at 1:58 PM
…aren’t you supposed to stay inside the lines when coloring?
January 4th, 2007 at 2:51 PM
Color inside the lines?! This from an inhabitant of a space where people fly, and teleport, and walk around as dragons and cutesy-poo furry cartoon animals? And place their homes 1,000 meters up in the air?
My friend, ANYTHING on or concerning SL is coloring inside the lines. : P
January 4th, 2007 at 3:15 PM
In looking at the source, there are some strange either typos or something is wrong and skewing the data:
Date Open High Low Close Average Volume
12/24/2004 257 252 2222 254 258.04 1090000
4/2/2005 239 67 100000 236 237.1 1372000
10/1/2005 261 261 500000 290 301.71 126515
2/8/2006 283 280 2821 281 285.71 5674073
4/2/2006 297 293 2000 296 294.62 7020497
4/26/2006 302 300 2762 301 301.47 8005220
5/4/2006 299 298 71312 299 302.7 7353253
5/5/2006 299 298 3000 299 299.54 8484468
5/10/2006 304 304 2000 305 305.85 6692582
5/19/2006 314 314 78615 316 318.23 10354763
Any thoughts as to this? Sorry but my years of picking nits in rl has extended to SL
January 4th, 2007 at 3:38 PM
LindeX launched at the beginning of October. In this dataset the last date I used the data from Gaming Open Market was 9/29/2005. LindeX data begins on 9/30/2005.
January 4th, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Argus, that’s the correct data.
January 4th, 2007 at 6:00 PM
once again thanks Lawrence.
January 4th, 2007 at 6:13 PM
It is difficult to interpret this image without some kind of legend that explains the colors and some some explanation of which curve fits to which axes.
January 4th, 2007 at 6:19 PM
Chris, I think thats when GOM announced it was closing. People panicked causing the exchange rate to tank. Soon after the LindeX was implemented restoring confidence and causing the exchange rate to recover.
January 4th, 2007 at 7:52 PM
Perhaps it doesn’t make sense to plot the L$/US$ exchange rate on a linear scale?
If L$ / US$ goes to 0, we can buy the universe. On the graph, it’s tantalizingly within reach. I call dibs on Saturn.
January 4th, 2007 at 11:15 PM
Lawrence, How could the following compute?
Open at 239 High 67 Low 100000 Close 236 Average 237.1 and Vol 1372000?
4/2/2005 239 67 100000 236 237.1 1372000
Those numbers I cited are the ones where it just does not compute. Please just tell me they are typos and I’ll go back to polishing my nails;-)
January 5th, 2007 at 1:34 AM
@Something Something
People want to think in US$ and a linear scale however the best representation for a linear graph is L$/US$, which because of decimals will be much harder for most to read.
January 5th, 2007 at 1:53 AM
So the influx of thousands of unverified players haven’t really made any impact to the exchange rate at all, the only big peaks being Linden-induced panics through badly made and timed announcements.
Presumably, there should be a higher demand - ie lower exchange rate - as the amount of people wanting game cash increases due to an increasing resident number.
Unless, of course, they’re unverified so they can’t affect the Lindex at all because without payment details they can’t use it.
I still haven’t seen any real data that proves unverified freeloaders, in general, add anything to the economy - and the graph above only adds to that thought.
I’m not talking, of course, about unverified alts who are ‘fed’ financially by the main account - but it’s difficult to trace how many of those there are.
Broccoli
January 5th, 2007 at 4:27 AM
The scale (whatever way up you use) should be a logarithmic scale. That way a 10% movement at one rate is the same size as a 10% movement at any other rate. Both exchange rates and volumes can use a log scale.
January 5th, 2007 at 4:53 AM
Well, you have the raw data, so why don’t you make a graph yourself?
January 5th, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Argus, what don’t you understand about those numbers?
January 5th, 2007 at 10:37 AM
Yes folks, please do feel encouraged to make better graphs.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:13 AM
Hi Lawrence,
What I don’t understand is how a low for the day could exceed the high and be considered low.
Open at 239
High 67
Low 100000
Close 236
Average 237.1
Vol 1372000
In my world 67 is lower than 100000. What is it in the Second Life world? All of the stats I cited are out of whack with regard to the high cited being actually lower than the low cited. Typo in the data source?
January 5th, 2007 at 11:44 AM
Argus,
L$100,000 per US$1.00 is lower than L$67 per US1.00 because you get fewer L$ per US$. More L$ per US$ means that the L$ is worth less.
Cheers,
Lawrence
January 5th, 2007 at 11:48 AM
I’m actually impressed by the exchange rate. Though there’s been some craziness in past months and years, the graph shows that it is slowly but steadily increasing - despite the drastic increase in the amount being made. Usually, an increase in the amount of currency would lower the value (Inflation, people!) but the Linden seems to be doing so well that this isn’t the case.
January 5th, 2007 at 12:21 PM
Broccoli: keep in mind that the money supply keeps growing as well. A stable exchange rate means that money supply and money demand are in balance.
There are three major ways that new money enters Second Life: signup bonuses to new residents (the free money given at registration if you supply payment info, and the bonus for becoming a premium member), member stipends, and money sales by Supply Linden. There are other minor money sources, such as Linden-sponsored competitions and money spent by Lindens for in-world products. (I believe they get stipends for personal expenses much as premium members do, but if LL wanted resident-produced products for a public build they would probably just create money to buy them.) There were others in the past, including dwell payments and instructor payments.
Money exits the economy as well. Fees for uploads, meeting place listings, and classified ads return money to the Lindens. Money sitting idle in the accounts of residents who no longer use Second Life may be technically part of the money supply, but doesn’t have any real effect on the demand for money. At present, money is entering SL more quickly than it leaves, which is appropriate for a growing economy.
January 5th, 2007 at 2:12 PM
Ah, thanks, Lawrence. It just seemed such a huge swing that I questioned the source data. I did not realize that it was quantity of Lindens for dollars US that was being tracked. I will go back to polishing my nails now and wishing I had purchased Lindens at the moment it would have given me 100,000L for every $1.00 USD. Anyone have any idea why that happened and who bought at that rate? TIA
January 5th, 2007 at 8:59 PM
i just want to know what would happen to all us sl’ers if it shut down for good
January 6th, 2007 at 5:02 AM
who knows perhaps finding a cure for cancer or the remedy for many of the world problems, and before you respond with something witty and degrading yes i no longer play. or have an account but i frequent these to see the nonesense and have a good laugh.
January 6th, 2007 at 7:03 AM
@Narouto Obviate -
You’d lose everything you put into it. Literally.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:12 PM
is there a place to pull a current (and continuously updated) version of this data?
March 28th, 2007 at 2:04 PM
I second Juro’s request…
December 14th, 2007 at 3:42 AM
Fascinating site and well worth the visit. I will be back=
February 1st, 2008 at 11:41 PM
It\’s a great and valuable site!d
June 25th, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Open this post and read what I think about that:,