OSRS money making on the Grand Exchange
There are dozens of ways to make gold in Old School RuneScape, from bossing to skilling. This guide focuses on the side GE IQ knows best: making money on the Grand Exchange, where you trade the market instead of grinding content. No high stats, no quests, no combat required.
The main ways to make money in OSRS
Money making in OSRS broadly falls into three groups. PvM and bossing have the highest ceiling but need gear, stats, and game knowledge. Gathering and processing skills give steady, predictable gold but are gated behind levels. Market methods, the ones on this page, need almost no requirements: you make money by trading the Grand Exchange itself. That is why flipping is the most common starting point for players who want gold without a grind.
Flipping: the lowest-requirement money maker
Flipping is buying an item below its going rate and selling it higher, pocketing the spread after the 2% GE tax. It works from level 3, needs no quests, and scales with your bankroll rather than your stats. Start on high-volume staples where offers fill fast, keep flips small and spread across slots, and grow the bankroll by cycling capital many times a day rather than chasing one big win.
New to it, start with the beginner flipping guide, then see today's top flips and the category guides for runes, potions, and herbs.
High Alchemy
High Level Alchemy converts an item straight into coins. If an item's alch value is higher than its Grand Exchange price plus the cost of a nature rune, you profit on every cast and earn Magic experience at the same time. It is one of the few methods that trains a skill and makes gold together. The catch is that buy limits cap how many items you can buy to alch, and the margin per cast is usually small, so it is a steady earner rather than a fast one. Work out any item with the high alch calculator.
Other Grand Exchange methods
Beyond straight flipping, a few market plays exploit price gaps the Grand Exchange has not closed:
- Decanting potions. The same potion at (1), (2), (3), and (4) doses trades at separate prices. Combining or splitting doses can pay when the gap is wide enough after tax. See potion flipping.
- Set flipping. Armour and weapon sets sometimes trade as a single item at a spread against the sum of their pieces.
- Buy-limit arbitrage. Spreading orders across many items so no single 4-hour buy limit caps your throughput.
How much can you realistically make
Honestly, it depends on your bankroll, your time, and the market on the day. A small bankroll cycling high-volume flips makes steady, modest gold. A larger bankroll can move real numbers per day but runs into buy limits and thinner liquidity at the top end. No method is guaranteed, the market can move against an open order, and anyone quoting a fixed GP per hour is guessing. Treat every number, here or anywhere, as an estimate to verify, not a promise.
Common money-making mistakes
- Ignoring the 2% GE tax. A spread that looks positive can be flat or negative once tax is applied on the sale.
- Chasing hype late. By the time a price spike is obvious, the easy gold is usually gone.
- Parking capital in illiquid items. A wide margin means nothing if the item never fills. Volume matters as much as spread.
- Trusting stale numbers. The Grand Exchange moves fast. Check prices live before you commit.
How GE IQ helps
GE IQ is a free flip finder that grades every Grand Exchange margin A to F on live, tax-aware data, filters by your bankroll, and shows what is actually worth your slots right now. Pair it with the flip calculator and the high alch calculator to check the math before you trade. No signup, no account, and the market side of OSRS money making is all free.