Stock Market changes or a Bug?

Quote from Alexander Apollo

I have been playing a couple of games over the last 12 months and one thing I have noticed which has changed is the stock market.

Just started a game today and the market is full of SELL offers at 1 coin per unit. Why is this ?

COAL SELL 1 / BUY 4.6

OIL SELL 1 / BUY 5.3

GAS SELL 1 / BUY 4.8

The next 2 other so-called Best Offers are also 1 coin per unit, while the SELL average price for OIL for example 5.6 coins.

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The 1 coin sell offers market provides itself "for the desperate" so to speak. To give players at least some ability to sell in case no AI's or players are buying.

The 4-5 coin buy offers are all from AI and other players already. There are market generated offers "for the desperate" too, but they are more expensive, so get drowned under cheaper ones.

You are overestimaning "change" by the way. It looks like the case of classic "Didn't notice before, therefore they are changing stuff!!!".
Only thing that has changed during past 12 months that would alter the behavior you desribed in ANY way is that sell offers are floored at 1 and is not trying to artificially raise price to 1.1 and 1.2 just to look different.
But something tells me that you would have same issue if sell offers went 1.2, 1.1 and 1.0 as much as if all were 1.0, 1.0 and 1.0.

Quote from Alexander Apollo

The market is corrupted because it is forcing me to make an offer rather than selling at a fair and average price to the market itself.

With players of different time zones and playing styles, sometimes players who want to trade resources cannot wait until other players want to or are ready to purchase.

You can make your own offer and wait until someone takes it too.
The market does not become 'corrupted' just by being at the stage where prices, supply and demand is less convenient for you.

Quote from Alexander Apollo

Then there are crazy deals that come up when I am writing this thread, the market puts up a deal of 3 units of oil for 4.6 coins.
These micro deals are stupid and do not allow for any real monetary gains.

Market is not an entity that is creating all offers. Any player can put any offers they deem fit.
That includes 3 units of oil for 4.6 coins.
What also might have happened is that player put 1000 oil, but someone bought 997 of it. For example.

Market provides bad 'last resort' deals, size of which is scaled in a way that 3 units of anything is too small to be spawned by market itself. (you can sell at 1 coin or buy overpriced). Rest is done by nations on the map.

"These micro deals are stupid and do not allow for any real monetary gains." - That is not issue of how market works, but rather how it's used. As I basically said, it's NOT some kind of minigame designed for your convenience.

Quote from Alexander Apollo

Maybe I am missing something, like where are the fun elements in the market and the focus on economic strategy with such an unbalanced market system?

You are likely playing:
1. A smaller map with less resource transfers altogether.
2. A lower activity map.
3. Just any map on 1st day, before everyone has started trading.

Market is just a market. All the 'unbalanced' part seems to come from frustration that no one wants to buy your energy for more than 1 coin per unit at the moment.
Energy being low value is norm for the first days of any new game, due to people not needing much of it before railways (days 5+) and mechanization (days 8+). Hence low price based on low demand.