The Best OSRS Flips
There is no permanent list of "best flips" on the Old School RuneScape Grand Exchange. Any specific item you would list here goes stale within hours. What is stable is the framework for deciding what "best" means for you. Once you have that, the flip finder does the picking.
Six variables that decide the answer
1. Your bankroll
An item with a 4M margin is worthless if your bankroll cannot fill even one of its two-per-cycle buy limit. A 20k margin on a 500-limit item is genuinely better for a 500k merchant. The best flip is the one your GP can actually take.
2. Buy limit
Every item has a 4-hour cap. Real profit per cycle is margin × buy limit, not raw margin. A "big margin" item with a limit of 2 often pays less per cycle than a "small margin" item with a limit of 1,000. See the buy limits guide.
3. Volume
A spread is only useful if the item trades. If it takes eight hours to fill your buy offer and another eight to fill your sell, your effective rate of return is dismal even if the per-unit margin looks strong. High five-minute and one-hour volume is what turns a spread into GP.
4. Tax after 2%
The 2% Grand Exchange tax, capped at 5,000,000 GP, changes the answer especially at the mid-range. A 3% gross spread is only a 1% flip after tax. Always read net-of-tax margin. See the GE tax calculator.
5. Fill speed
Same margin, different fill time, different flip. An item that fills in five minutes at margin is a different product from an item that fills in five hours. Fill speed depends on volume and on how far below (or above) the mid-price your offer sits.
6. Risk
A stable 800k margin that has held for a day beats a volatile 4M margin that showed up an hour ago. The margin you take is only as good as the margin you can still get when you sell. GE IQ flags each item as stable, moderate, or volatile so you can choose your risk explicitly.
How to actually pick, in order
- Filter to items you can buy the full limit of at your current bankroll.
- Sort by profit per cycle, not raw margin.
- Cut anything with volume below the level you have patience for.
- Read the stability signal. If you are new, prefer stable over volatile even if the number is smaller.
- Fill all your slots, not just the one "best" pick.
Live picks right now
We do not hardcode a leaderboard on this page because the answer would be wrong within the hour. Instead, use the tool. Today's top flips shows the 15 highest-scoring items right now, refreshed hourly. The full GE IQ flip finder ranks every tradeable item on every refresh.