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Good question! This is definitely one of those "the market decides" kind of things. It's not that each gene has an individual permanent set value - it's that certain genes tend to be more desirable for more players so you'll see a relative increase in expected price for a horse carrying them, because there's more demand.

Think about it as if you were going to a flea market/rummage sale. All sorts of antiques and debris dredged up from grandmother's garage or old storage units, yeah? But none of those things are going to have a "set price" that everyone in the world will agree on, precisely because those items are unique to a certain extent, and partially because their value depends on the number of people who desire it. If you find the right thing, you can sell it to the right person for a higher price than what you bought it.

Certain things are almost universal among the majority of collectors - like the item being in good quality (i.e. **star/**gold, as opposed to failed/showable only) but even those might change with really specific collectors. Maybe you found a guy who wants baseball cards only if they have a crease in one corner, or someone who likes collecting used bottlecaps but not new bottles.

Other things are going to vary. A nice record player in great condition with all the features in the world has no value to someone who collects fine china or stamps, and even if a person collects records they might only want one or two record players. Then you have things like obscure items - plenty of people collect dolls, but not a lot of people collect pizza boxes, so dolls generally sell for a lot more than pizza boxes, even nice ones.

So it is with things like DP and ice 19 and nexus. They happen to be relatively popular because a lot of people like them, so they usually sell for more than things like, for example, roan, but if someone is exclusively breeding blue roans, then those genes are worthless to them while roan is much more valuable.

As for what to price a particular horse... that's what makes it so hard! But as a general rule of thumb, you're never going to see the same price for a lined horse as you will for a GMTable rank special, because that rank special can be changed into anything the owner wants it to be. The only time you'll usually see really big numbers for lined horses is if they're ***star/***gold, because that triple star means they've been boosted, which is a significant monetary investment - a 5% boost costs 2.5 million hbs. Snagging someone's middle aged horse they're done with, that's already been boosted and that fits your lines, for only 1 million is a steal! Of course, that's if it fits your lines. As we've established, demand determines value. ;)

Haha, I'm glad I could make it clear! It's definitely really a fascinating market to watch, I think someone could write a whole economics thesis on it! :))