What Low, Mid, High and Confidence mean on a Cargado market rate, plus the 12-week chart, extended markets and currency.
A market rate on Cargado is a band built from carrier bids on the marketplace, not a rate card. Every lookup shows three numbers and a confidence label, and knowing what stands behind each one tells you how far to trust it.
Rates come from vetted carrier bids on the Cargado marketplace over the trailing 12 weeks, and they update every week. They are not a survey and not bought from a third party. Each lookup is priced by trailer category, between the market your origin sits in and the market your destination sits in.
The Rate range card shows the latest week:
The app shows a total per load, rounded to whole units, with fuel included. See Does the market rate include fuel? The Excel add-in and the API also return per-mile figures.
History: Trailing 12 weeks plots Market (p50) as a line, with the band from Low (p25) to High (p75) around it. Use it to see whether a lane is tightening or loosening before you quote. A week without enough data is left blank on the line. If a lane has fewer than four weeks of data, the chart does not appear.
Next to the range you will see Strong Confidence, Medium Confidence or Lower Confidence. The label comes from the lane's margin of error: how far the true median could sit from the median Cargado observed. It is calculated per lane from the number of bids and how much they vary, from at least 3 unique carriers. Hover the label to see the margin of error as an amount and as a percentage.
When a market does not have enough data on its own, Cargado can use an extended market: the market plus the markets around it. The lane header then shows (extended market) after the market name. Read that rate as a wider-area approximation and check its confidence label. View market boundaries opens a map of the areas used.
You can price a lookup in USD, MXN or CAD. The app suggests one based on the lane, such as pesos for a lane inside Mexico, and you can change it. The Excel add-in always returns USD.
If no week in the window has enough data, you see We don't have enough data on this lane instead of a guess. That means too few recent bids, not that no carrier runs it. See Why is there no market rate for my lane?
Start near the Mid. Quoting below the Low usually means few carriers take it. Quoting near the High covers the load faster and gives up margin. Weigh both against the confidence label: a wide margin of error means the true market could sit well above or below what you see.
Important: Market Rates is a guide built from real recent bidding, not a guarantee of what any one carrier will accept.
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