Trade guy, please fix the tradesite Annul valuation.

Everything I search for on trade acts like annuls are cheaper than dirt making me specify Ex/C/Div to find the real prices.

Some uniques have so many 1 annul listings that the tradesite refuses to scroll any further.

An annul is nearly half a divine, 13 chaos, or 130 exalted orbs.
Yet the trade site lists things priced in annuls before things priced at even 25 exalts.

I second that, it's really annoying and I don't get why there isn't a regular exchange rate update between the in-game currency exchange and the trade site. That should just happen automatically.

What is this type of manipulation?

It is a combination of several market manipulation tactics, mainly:

Pump and Dump: This is the most common form of manipulation. The manipulators (an individual or a group) hoard a large amount of an asset (in this case, Annulment Orb) when its price is low. They then start creating artificial demand by:

Offering extremely valuable and sought-after items ("meta" items, "chase items") for sale but only accepting Annulment Orb as payment.

Spreading rumors, creating posts on forums and social media to create the impression that Annulment Orb is about to become an important currency.

Trading with each other to create fake trading volume, making others believe that the market is active.

When other players see good items being sold with Annulment Orbs, they are forced to buy Annulment Orbs to trade. This pushes the price (pump) of Annulment Orbs skyrocketing, as you see “semi-divine”. Once the price has peaked, the manipulators will “dump” all of their Annulment Orbs to make huge profits in stable currencies like Divine Orbs or Exalted Orbs.

Cornering the Market: By hoarding large amounts of Annulment Orbs, manipulators are trying to control a large portion of the supply of this currency. Once they control the supply, they can set their own prices. Anyone who needs Annulment Orbs for crafting purposes or to buy items that are “pinned” with Annul Orbs will have to buy them at sky-high prices.

What is the Motive for Manipulation?

Besides the obvious goal of making huge profits, there can be a few deeper motives:

Accumulating Purchasing Power: The primary motive is almost always profit. By buying Annulment Orbs cheaply (e.g., 100 Annuls = 1 Divine) and selling them when the price is inflated (e.g., 2 Annuls = 1 Divine), they can multiply their capital by 50 times. This huge amount of Divine Orbs allows them to buy any of the most powerful items in the game and dominate the economy.

Controlling High-End Crafting: Annulment Orbs have a unique and irreplaceable use: they remove a random modifier from an item. When crafting high-end items, it is common to have a bad modifier mixed in with the T1 (highest) modifiers. Annulment Orbs are the only hope of “saving” that item. If a new crafting meta emerges that requires constant Annulment Orb usage, whoever controls the supply of Annul Orbs will control the most expensive crafting segment.

Market Destabilization: Some groups of players may do this to cause chaos, create opportunities to scam less experienced players, or simply to demonstrate their power in the game.