Chios was also one of the first cities whose inhabitants used some currency in their trade exchange and it fast became one of the biggest commercial centres of the antiquity. The archaeological finds help us understand that Chios was the centre of currency exchange coming from several cities. The main source of wealth for the island Chios was the transit trade through which the coveted products of East reached the markets of the mainland of Greece and those of the western Mediterranean. During the 7th century B.C. Chios had joined a league of commercial cities, such as Miletus, Eretria, Aegina and Paros. The collaboration of Chios with Miletus is believed to have influenced greatly the first steps of the Greek world and is considered to be one of the first coalitions of cities. The exotic products that were imported in Chios as well as the discovery of some chian pots from the Black Sea to Egypt and the Marseille show the importance and the effectiveness of the chian trade.

The Ariousios Wine, oil, ceramic and other metal products were the most famous products that Chios traded in. The extremely high price of the wine can easily prove that it was considered to be of very high quality; one amphora of that chian wine in Socrates’ age was sold for 100 Attica drachmas, when people were hardly paid one drachma for one day.
The bottles, called amphorae, were distinguished for the colour of their clay, their form and for the seals they had in their hands. Many of those amphorae were found in some cities of the Black Sea, in the temple of Aphaia Athena in Aegina, in Athens, in Corinth, in Pella, in Avdira (Ancient city of Thrace), in Naucratis of Egypt, in Alexandria, in Antioheia of Syria, in Samareia and Caesarea of Palestine, in Salamine and in Paphos of Cyprus, in Syracuse, in Minor Asia (Smyrna, Pergamos, Knido), in the coastlines of the Adriatic Sea. All of them prove the commercial relations of Chios with the known world of that period.
During that period there was a great number of slaves in Chios, the majority of whom mainly arrived in the island from the Minor Asia and Thrace. Herodotus also mentions the story of Chian Panionios who used to sell slaves in the open markets of Ephesus and Sardis.

Therefore, the period of the archaic years was decisive in the development of Chios, resulting in Chios becoming one of the most commercial and richest countries of the Ancient Greek world. Since then Chios had had an extremely powerful commercial fleet through which it had developed financial relations with several regions around the Mediterranean Sea. Besides its commercial fleet, it also had a powerful martial fleet for reasons of protection, which added power and authority to the island.