As Firm 2 buys credits it reduces abatement and its marginal costs fall, as Firm 1 sells credits it has to engage in more abatement and its marginal costs rise. As long as the marginal costs are different the firms have an incentive to trade. In this case, the firms should trade until Firm 1 is abating 80% of its pollution and Firm 2 is abating 20% at which point marginal costs are equal and there is no further incentive to buy and sell.

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Firm 1 % Abatement MCA Firm 2 % Abatement MCA
10 10 10 70
20 20 20 80
30 30 30 90
40 40 40 100
50 50 50 110
60 60 60 120
70 70 70 130
80 80 80 140
90 90 90 150
100 100 100 160