The Ultimate Alva Flipping Guide for POE2: Mastering Supply and Demand

Countless currency-making guides for Path of Exile 2 will tell you what to flip with Alva, but almost none of them teach you the fundamental principles behind why certain items are profitable. They give you a fish, but they don't teach you how to fish.

This guide is different.

Today, we're not just giving you a list of items to flip. We're giving you a powerful, repeatable strategy for identifying profitable opportunities yourself. The secret lies in understanding a core economic principle: Supply and Demand. By learning to read the market, you can consistently stay ahead of the curve and generate massive profits.

The Core Principle: Reading Supply vs. Demand

The Alva trade market interface is a goldmine of information if you know how to read it. Your goal is to find items where the demand to buy is greater than the supply available for sale at a given price point.

Scenario 1: Supply Exceeds Demand (What to Avoid)

When an item is "over-supplied," it means there are far more sellers than buyers. The "Available to Trade" section is flooded with listings, often at very similar price ratios.

An in-game screenshot of the Alva trade market for 'Aberrant Catalysts'. The 'Available to Trade' list is long, with over 10,150 units available at a low ratio, indicating supply is much greater than demand.

In the image above, you can see a massive quantity (10,150+) of Aberrant Catalysts available for sale at a low ratio. This is a clear sign of a saturated market. Trying to flip this item would be slow, and the profit margins would be razor-thin. This is a market to avoid.

Scenario 2: Demand Exceeds Supply (What to Target)

This is where the profit is. A market with high demand is characterized by a long list of "Competitive Bids" (players who want to buy) and a very short list of "Available to Trade" (players who are selling).

An in-game screenshot of the Alva trade market for 'Fertile Catalysts'. The 'Competitive Bids' list is long with high stock, while the 'Available to Trade' list is very short, indicating demand is much greater than supply.

Look at this market for Fertile Catalysts. There are thousands of units wanted in the "Competitive Bids" section, while only a handful are available for immediate sale. This "supply vacuum" means you can buy the item at a lower price and quickly sell it for a higher price to the players who are waiting. This is the market you want to target.

The Two Golden Rules of Flipping

Once you've identified a promising item, you must operate by two core principles to ensure your flips are successful.

1. Maximize Gold Profit

Flipping items through Alva always incurs a Gold cost. Your goal is to minimize this cost while maximizing your return in valuable currency (like Exalted Orbs). A good benchmark, especially in the early to mid-league, is to aim for a return of 5-10 Exalted Orbs for every 10,000 Gold spent on fees. If a flip doesn't meet a similar ratio, it might not be worth your time.

2. Ensure Quick Sell-Through

Currency stuck in items you can't sell is dead currency. The goal of flipping is to rapidly increase your liquid wealth. Therefore, you should only trade in items that you can sell quickly—ideally within a few hours. A faster sell-through means you can reinvest your earnings into the next flip, compounding your profits much more rapidly.

The Flipping Method: Keep It Simple

To protect your margins and save your sanity, stick to simple trade paths.

e-for-e (Exalt for Exalt): Buy with Exalts, sell for Exalts.
d-for-d (Divine for Divine): Buy with Divines, sell for Divines.

Avoid complex paths like buying with Exalts to sell for Divines (e-for-d). These multi-step trades introduce extra Gold costs for each transaction and require you to spend more time managing different currency types. Simplicity is speed, and speed is profit.

A Real-World Example

Mastering this method takes practice. The more you observe the market and execute flips, the more proficient and profitable you will become.

Here's an example from two weeks into a league. I identified an opportunity with omen-of-sinistral-alchemy ("omen-of-sinistral-alchemy" in the image), buying them in bulk at a ratio of 1:2.5 (300 omen-of-sinistral-alchemy for 750 Exalted Orbs, which implies 1 omen-of-sinistral-alchemy for 2.5 exalted at the time). After acquiring a stock, I was able to consistently sell them at a ratio closer to 1:4.

A screenshot collage showing a successful bulk trade of Scarabs and the Alva market interface for them, indicating a profitable price difference.

By identifying the supply/demand gap and sticking to the principles, this simple flip generated significant returns.

This methodology is your key to unlocking consistent currency generation in Path of Exile 2. Study the market, stick to the principles, and practice constantly.

Happy flipping, exile!