Trade

Lore & Background

In the vast sprawl of the Frontier, no two stations share the same commodity prices. A system rich in agricultural output will flood its local market with Food and Textiles, driving prices down, while a distant industrial hub starved of raw materials will pay a premium for exactly those goods. This imbalance is not random; it reflects the real economic pressures of a galaxy where travel time, political borders, and local industry shape what is cheap and what is scarce. Traders—whether independent pilots or those contracted by station authorities—exist to smooth those imbalances, moving goods along the arteries of interstellar commerce.

In Their Own Story

The docking clamps release with a soft hydraulic sigh, and the Anvil settles onto the gantry at Oort Station 7. Through the cockpit glass, the station's rotating habitat ring catches the light of a dim red dwarf, painting the hull in shades of rust and amber. You pull up the trade interface. Textiles: 1,240 cr per tonne. Cheapest you've seen outside the agricultural belt. You load twelve tonnes, the cargo bay filling with the faint whir of containment fields locking in. The jump to the next system will take four minutes of compressed time, but the price differential on the other side—Consumer Tech at a 340% markup—will put enough credits in your account to service the hull damage you've been ignoring for three weeks. You engage the FSD. The stars smear into lines. The galaxy, for a pilot, is just a series of price tags separated by light-minutes.

Reader's Guide

Start by picking a ship with a generous cargo hold—the Anvil Mk II, Krait Mk II, or a Hauler-class vessel all put a lot of tonnes on the market. Equip your cargo bay with the appropriate containment modules if the mission requires them, and make sure your fuel tank has enough range to reach your target system without a refuel stop.

Your daily loop is simple: scan the trade interface at your current station, identify a commodity trading well below its average price, load as many tonnes as your hold allows, then jump to a system where that same commodity is trading at a premium. Sell, collect your credits, and repeat. The margin per tonne is your profit; the number of tonnes is your multiplier.

For trade missions specifically, accept a contract from the station's mission board, load the exact cargo listed, fly to the destination, and deliver. You'll earn credits plus reputation with the issuing faction, which gradually unlocks higher-tier contracts and access to restricted trade lanes.

Endgame trading is about route optimisation. You'll be stringing together three- or four-leg journeys across multiple systems, timing each transaction to the market's fluctuations, and sometimes coordinating with other pilots to move bulk commodities. The goal is to build a credit surplus that funds a larger ship, better FSD range, and ultimately the freedom to trade anywhere in the galaxy without worrying about fuel or hull integrity.

Did You Know?

• The in-game economy is dynamic: every purchase and sale you make at a station shifts that station's local prices in real time, so two players at the same station can see slightly different prices depending on what they'v
• Trade missions and free trading are distinct: missions are structured contracts with a set origin and destination, while free trading lets you buy and sell any commodity at any station with a trade interface, giving you
• Commodity prices are influenced by the local system's industry and population—agricultural systems tend to flood the market with Food and Textiles, while industrial systems demand those same goods, creating natural trade
• Building reputation with a faction through repeated trade missions can unlock access to trade routes and contracts that are otherwise unavailable, making trading a long-term progression path rather than just a credit sin