How trading works
After you click Start trading, the runner works on a schedule. Understanding the cycle helps you read the dashboard and event log.
SteamMarketRunner is an independent automation runner for your own Steam accounts, not a Valve-approved tool or a way to remove account risk. You remain responsible for strategy settings, Steam wallet exposure, account restrictions, and market losses. Start small and review audit logs after live actions.
The account header shows the runner state:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Trading | runner is active for this account |
| Idle | runner is stopped; no new orders/listings are placed |
| Blocked | trading is paused due to a problem |
| Setup | account is not ready yet |
One runner tick
Every ~5 minutes, the runner performs one tick. Steps are ordered, so a listing created at the beginning can be confirmed in the same tick.
- Session check — verifies the Steam web session. If it expired, the runner tries to reconnect automatically before blocking the account.
- Sell analysis — calculates sell prices and creates listings for items with SELL enabled and available inventory.
- Buy analysis — calculates buy prices, checks balance and order-book depth, and places buy orders for items with BUY enabled.
- Confirmations — accepts Steam Guard mobile confirmations. This runs after buy/sell, so new listings can become live immediately.
Steam can return success while the listing still waits for a mobile confirmation. The confirmation step accepts it, so the event log may show “sell listing created” followed by “confirmations accepted”.
Schedule
| Cycle | Frequency | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Runner tick | ~5 min | session check → sell analysis → buy analysis → confirmation |
| Steam sync | ~10 min | refreshes inventory, listings, and wallet balance |
| Health check | ~10 min | keeps session and wallet fresh even before trading starts |
| Maintenance | ~1 hour | repricing, canceling bad orders, removing old listings |
When an item participates
The runner does not trade every tracked item automatically. Conditions must match:
- Buying — BUY is enabled, a buy price is calculated, balance is available, and the order book passes depth checks.
- Selling — SELL is enabled, an available non-held copy exists, and a sell price is calculated.
- Maintenance — hourly tasks can reprice listings, cancel stale orders, and remove old listings according to strategy settings.
Prices and eligibility are recalculated automatically as fresh market data accumulates.
Why an item is not trading: where to look
The selection engine may skip an item. The reason is visible in two places:
- Status column on the Market tab. Each item is Ready, Skipped, Watching, or Trading. Hover the status to see the engine verdict and reason.
- Diagnostics block on the System tab. If the whole account is blocked, it shows account-level reasons such as expired session or live-mode safety gate.
Common item skip reasons:
| Reason | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sell price is not calculated yet | market data is still warming up |
| All copies are under Steam market hold | inventory exists but cannot be listed yet |
| No marketable asset for listing | no free sellable copy exists |
| Already listed | an active listing already exists |
| Insufficient wallet balance | not enough funds for the buy order |
| Open buy order already exists | another order is already placed for the item |
| Strategy filters reject the item | profit, liquidity, trend, or depth guard failed |
For an item-level issue, hover the Market status. For an account-level issue, open System → Diagnostics.
Runner states and recovery
The runner moves between states and usually recovers automatically.
Health chips in the account header explain current conditions:
- Buying paused — Steam reported full inventory or low funds. Buying pauses, selling continues, and the pause expires automatically.
- Steam cooldown — Steam temporarily limited the account. The runner waits and resumes automatically.
- Blocked — the Steam web session could not be restored. Open System and fix credentials/maFile/proxy.
- No sync — Steam has not been reached recently; the next sync should refresh data.
Why skipped buying can be correct
SteamMarketRunner is intentionally conservative with money:
- An order is counted only when Steam actually confirms it.
- Sell listings use the seller-received net price, not buyer-paid gross.
- Unknown wallet balance is treated as zero, so buying is skipped instead of risking uncontrolled exposure.
Stopping trading
Stop trading moves the account to idle. Existing Steam buy orders and active listings remain on Steam; the button does not cancel them. You can remove them manually or let maintenance handle them. Resume with Start trading.