Markarian 1018 is a post merger product of two colliding galaxies indicated by the presence of its disturbed galactic envelope, tidal tails and a faint loop of light surrounding it.

[8] The appearance of Markarian 1018 is known to shift from a bright to a dim state when observed in X-rays as well as both optical and ultraviolet models detected by Hubble Space Telescope, Sloan Digital Sky Survey and GALEX.

[7] This makes the galaxy the first known change looking[clarification needed] AGN to undergo two transitions in a full cycle.

Further evidence also points out the hot medium properties of Markarian 1018 clearly remains the same while a warm component is found to cool down to a temperature of ~ 0.2 keV, suggesting the cooling process plays a major role in weakening the accretion disk's magnetic fields and the cause of ultraviolet dimming.

It underwent a flaring period in which the galaxy showed an outburst; its magnitude level rising by ~ 0.25 U-band per month until early 2017 according to confirmation from Hubble and Chandra X-ray Observatory.

While much of its optical spectrum and primary X-ray flux remained constant, its 6.4 keV iron line strengthened through increased emission.