a lot of commodities generate massive profits in the right economic states. a classic is selling basic medicines to stations in outbreak. grain to stations in famine. medical diagnostic equipment to service or military economies in boom. etc. pp.
before introducing state depending profits, only commodities with a high purchase price could generate a lot of profit - imperial slaves and palladium for exampel. basically maximum profit was a percentage of the purchase price. now for exampel grain (at 36 cr/t) can generate 2000 cr/t profit .... that's 700 times its purchase price. the potentially most profitable commodity is insulating membrane by the way, which you'll rarely read in trading guides. people are fixating on imperial slaves and palladium for old times sake.
states can change daily, which is why i can understand if people still do "normal bulktrading" - as you might have fixed routes, and don't want to scout in the time you have to fly your ship.
but to get the dimension right - before state depending trading, 1500 cr/t profit a-b-a was a good route. now you'll easily find routes with 3500 cr/t profit a-b-a. when i was doing elite in trading, i never flew a route below 4100 cr/t profit a-b-a. the best route i had for some days was 6100 cr/t a-b-a, and it never showed up on any third party tool. and i don't even do slave trading.
here is a list i made for myself - it isn't complete, and it isn't fuly correct as i stopped updating it (for exampel medical diagnostic equipment sells best at military and service econmies in boom), but it gives you a general idea what to watch out for. start scouting!
http://i.imgur.com/PsOnCeX.png?1
