The Trade limit is a mechanism in the trade system that prevented players from making trades considered to be too "unbalanced", that is, where one of the two players involved in the trade gave much more than they received according to the item's value in the Grand Exchange. This limit only affects new accounts that have never subscribed to a RuneScape membership in the past, and is limited to a 25k limit disparity between trade and grand exchange values.

There is still a trade limit to players who have never been a member before. They can not make a trade where they give away more than 25,000 coins, to prevent players from buying/selling gold. This was introduced on 22 November 2011 to combat Gold farming. The limit only affects accounts created after this limit was introduced, which have never had membership, however this trade limit is lifted once the player obtains membership and the limit will never come back once membership is activated on the account. The limit will never be removed until the player subscribes. Some players have criticised about this limit, saying that it is unfair to require the purchase of membership in order to remove a trade limit.