So this is the fastest way I find to make money in ED thus far. I didn’t know about rare commodities trading until about a month into play and I really wished someone would have told me sooner. In any case, I figure I would post this to help out any newcomers that are interested. I’ll start with some basic Q&As to give you some basic information on “Rare” trading.
1. What is a Rare Commodity?
A rare commodity is a commodity that is only available in ONE unique port. Thus, this by definition means that it is only available in ONE star system.
2. Why should I trade in “rares”?
These commodities are relatively cheap to purchase(they usually range a few hundreds to 3-4K per piece), but their profit margin is crazy high. The only caveat is that you have to travel far away to sell them. The further away, the more profit you make.
3. How far do I need to travel to sell them?
In theory, the further away, the better. However, the sweet spot is about 125-130 light years. After that, the price may increase, but travelling further will only increase by a few hundred credits per unit. So travelling from 125 light years to 300 light years may not be worth the effort.
4. What kind of profit are we talking about?
When I say high profit margin, I really mean it. Let’s say you buy the rare commodity “Leestian Evil Juice” in the system Leesti. The cost to you is 462 credits per ton. You go to a system 125 years away and it will sell for 14,000-15,000 credit per ton!
5. What is a good starting route for “rare” trading?
For beginners, I suggest a route I called the Lave Loop. I’ll explain what it is and then I’ll explain the advantage of it.
The Lave Loop is a trade route that goes from the star systems Lave (Lave Station, “Lavian Brandy), to Leesti (George Lucas Station, "Leestian Evil Juice" & "Azure Milk"), to Uszaa (Guest Installation, “Uszaian Tree Grub”), to Orrerre (Sharon Lee Free Market, “Orrerian Vicious Brew”), to Diso (Shifnalport, “Diso Ma Corn), to CD-75 661 (Kirk Dock, “CD-75 Kitten Brand Coffee”), to Coquim (Hirayama Installation, “Coquim Spongiform Victuals”) than back to CD-75 and then back to Lave.
The reason of this route is simple. The distance between Lave, Leesit, Uszaa, Orrerre, and Diso is small. Those systems are usually max, 8 light years apart. So travelling from one of those systems to another is quick, cheap, and you can pick up a lot of commodities (Please Note each commodity has a MAX limit per player. This means you have to sell the before the market restock them for you). Also, the George Lucas port in Leesti has TWO rare commodities that you can take advantage of. If you have a small ship, I would make one loop from Lave to Diso, then fly to CD-75 then to Coquim. Sell all your goods at Coquim. Then fly back to CD-75 and then to Lave and repeat. CD-75 here is mainly use a rest station. It is too far to jump to Coquim directly from Diso as 1. Small ships can’t make that jump and 2. Plotting the route takes too long as the computer takes forever to plan a route beyond 80 or so light years.
If you have a large capacity ship like a Type 6 or an Asp, you can make two loops from Lave to Diso before flying to CD-75. This will let you maximize the amount of rare goods you can sell at Coquim.
If you have a small ship (cobra or hauler), just do one loop from Lave to Diso before heading to Coquim.
If you do it right, a big ship will usually make about 1-1.2 MILLION credits PROFIT per round trip, and a small trip will do half of that.
Bigger ships (Type 7 and above) tend not to be able to take advantage of this route as they max out on their Rare allowance before their cargo hull is filled.
Here is the route planned out:
http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route=51,52,72,62,23,16,19,16,51&name=Lave Loop
It also tells you what to buy and what to sell at each locations
Let me know if you have questions.
1. What is a Rare Commodity?
A rare commodity is a commodity that is only available in ONE unique port. Thus, this by definition means that it is only available in ONE star system.
2. Why should I trade in “rares”?
These commodities are relatively cheap to purchase(they usually range a few hundreds to 3-4K per piece), but their profit margin is crazy high. The only caveat is that you have to travel far away to sell them. The further away, the more profit you make.
3. How far do I need to travel to sell them?
In theory, the further away, the better. However, the sweet spot is about 125-130 light years. After that, the price may increase, but travelling further will only increase by a few hundred credits per unit. So travelling from 125 light years to 300 light years may not be worth the effort.
4. What kind of profit are we talking about?
When I say high profit margin, I really mean it. Let’s say you buy the rare commodity “Leestian Evil Juice” in the system Leesti. The cost to you is 462 credits per ton. You go to a system 125 years away and it will sell for 14,000-15,000 credit per ton!
5. What is a good starting route for “rare” trading?
For beginners, I suggest a route I called the Lave Loop. I’ll explain what it is and then I’ll explain the advantage of it.
The Lave Loop is a trade route that goes from the star systems Lave (Lave Station, “Lavian Brandy), to Leesti (George Lucas Station, "Leestian Evil Juice" & "Azure Milk"), to Uszaa (Guest Installation, “Uszaian Tree Grub”), to Orrerre (Sharon Lee Free Market, “Orrerian Vicious Brew”), to Diso (Shifnalport, “Diso Ma Corn), to CD-75 661 (Kirk Dock, “CD-75 Kitten Brand Coffee”), to Coquim (Hirayama Installation, “Coquim Spongiform Victuals”) than back to CD-75 and then back to Lave.
The reason of this route is simple. The distance between Lave, Leesit, Uszaa, Orrerre, and Diso is small. Those systems are usually max, 8 light years apart. So travelling from one of those systems to another is quick, cheap, and you can pick up a lot of commodities (Please Note each commodity has a MAX limit per player. This means you have to sell the before the market restock them for you). Also, the George Lucas port in Leesti has TWO rare commodities that you can take advantage of. If you have a small ship, I would make one loop from Lave to Diso, then fly to CD-75 then to Coquim. Sell all your goods at Coquim. Then fly back to CD-75 and then to Lave and repeat. CD-75 here is mainly use a rest station. It is too far to jump to Coquim directly from Diso as 1. Small ships can’t make that jump and 2. Plotting the route takes too long as the computer takes forever to plan a route beyond 80 or so light years.
If you have a large capacity ship like a Type 6 or an Asp, you can make two loops from Lave to Diso before flying to CD-75. This will let you maximize the amount of rare goods you can sell at Coquim.
If you have a small ship (cobra or hauler), just do one loop from Lave to Diso before heading to Coquim.
If you do it right, a big ship will usually make about 1-1.2 MILLION credits PROFIT per round trip, and a small trip will do half of that.
Bigger ships (Type 7 and above) tend not to be able to take advantage of this route as they max out on their Rare allowance before their cargo hull is filled.
Here is the route planned out:
http://eliteraretrader.co.uk/?route=51,52,72,62,23,16,19,16,51&name=Lave Loop
It also tells you what to buy and what to sell at each locations
Let me know if you have questions.
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