Unlike many of the methods of making Bells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, buying and selling Turnips requires players to already have a sizable bank account to invest with. This makes it an activity that’s best for players who’ve already built up their island, as the more Bells that players spend, the more profit they’ll make if they sell on a good day or the more they’ll lose if they sell on a bad day.
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Buying Turnips in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Every Sunday, between 5 am and 12 pm, a Boar called Daisy Mae will wander players’ islands, selling Turnips from Sow Joan’s Stalk Market. It was Joan who sold Turnips in previous Animal Crossing titles and has now passed the business on to her granddaughter Daisy Mae.
Daisy Mae will sell her Turnips at a random price each Sunday, somewhere between 90 and 110 Bells. There’s no limit to how many Turnips players can buy, so players willing to take the risk can spend their entire Bells fortune on Turnips if they want. Whether they’ll be able to make a profit on those Turnips depends on how well the Stalk Market performs that week.
Selling Turnips in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
On every day except Sunday, players will be able to sell their Turnips to Timmy and Tommy in Nook’s Cranny. It’s very important to do this before the next Sunday, as any Turnips purchased the week before will rot if players still have them on Sunday morning.
The Stalk Market gets complicated because the price for selling Turnips can vary massively, from as little as 9 Bells to as much as 660.
Apart from Sunday, there will be two prices for Turnips at Nook’s Cranny each day. The first price will be available between the shop opening and noon, and the second will be available between noon and 10 pm. Players should study these prices carefully and pick the best time to sell their Turnips for the maximum profit. It’s worth noting that changing the clock to time travel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons has no effect on Turnip prices, and time-traveling backward in time will rot any purchased Turnips.
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Stalk Market Patterns in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The Stalk Market follows four basic patterns, which can help Animal Crossing players decide whether to sell their Turnips or to wait for a better day, at the risk of losing everything if the Turnips rot next Sunday:
Random Pattern - The Random pattern lives up to its name, with the price of Turnips increasing and decreasing unpredictably throughout the week. The maximum profit is around 140% of the base rate, with the peak normally occurring within the first few days. Decreasing Pattern - The worst pattern of all, in the Decreasing pattern, the price will start at 80-90% of the base rate and then only fall from there. Players should be careful not to sell too quickly, as it’s easy to mistake the lucrative Large Spike pattern for a Decreasing pattern. Large Spike Pattern - The Large Spike pattern starts off much like the Decreasing pattern before having a massive increase lasting for a day and a half, sometime in the first 2-3 days. Successfully predicting a Large Spike pattern can lead to profits as high as 600% of the base rate. Small Spike Pattern - Although not as dramatic as the Large Spike, the Small Spike Pattern will often guarantee players a decent return on their Turnip investment if they correctly identify the Spike, which is a day-by-day increase lasting for exactly two and a half days.
Depending on the pattern of their previous week, players are more likely to see a different pattern in the following week. A Small or Large Spike week is most likely to be followed by a Random, while a Random or Decreasing week is most likely to be followed by a Small or Large Spike.
Predicting the Stalk Market can be tough, and even the most experienced player may end up waiting for a spike that never comes. Fortunately, there is a solution for players who are nearing the end of the week and are facing a loss on their Turnips: Visiting a friend’s island will allow players to sell their Turnips at their friend’s price rather than their own.
This means that a group of two or three friends working together can reduce the risk of selling at a loss to almost zero, so long as they keep an eye on their prices and sell on whichever island offers the best profit each week.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on Nintendo Switch.
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