Is early trading worth it?

I am making 20k credits in my hauler, tbh it seems very slow. Should I do other stuff such as missions/bounty hunting until I can afford a better ship?
 
Best way to make credits in a small ship like the hauler is, imo, rare commodity trading. This will get you to a Asp, Viper or Cobra pretty quickly. Then you can seriously think about starting bounty hunting.
 
I am making 20k credits in my hauler, tbh it seems very slow. Should I do other stuff such as missions/bounty hunting until I can afford a better ship?

You might want to look into trading rares - it's a good way to make money when your cargo hold is not very large.
 
Yep, rares trading will boost you on your way, at least until Type 6/Asp levels, where it can become a tossup between rares and lower margin but higher volume items like superconductors.

Type 7 and above is where conventional trading becomes the leader again (in cr/hr).
 
I am making 20k credits in my hauler, tbh it seems very slow. Should I do other stuff such as missions/bounty hunting until I can afford a better ship?

I got much bigger returns fetching cargo for credits in missions myself. You can earn 50-150k a mission dealing in slaves or Palladium for example. Just today I earned 200k in a couple of hours this way.
 
On a good trade route you can make 20k per trip, thats worth it. Add in missions which pay >1kcr per t cargo. Also helps faction building.
 
I am making 20k credits in my hauler, tbh it seems very slow. Should I do other stuff such as missions/bounty hunting until I can afford a better ship?
Is this just raw trading or are you also taking transport missions? When I started I would look for trading missions that wanted me to take stuff from the current station to another. They often pay well for minimal cargo space and you don't have to pay for the goods. Then filled up the rest of the cargo hold with goods I can sell at the trading mission target system to get any extra cash.
Just don't spend all your creds filling up in case of a mishap. You need to be able to recover from accidents or death.
Also avoid the missions where they want you to supply a commodity for them. It can often be hard or almost impossible to find and these can cost you.
 
Also avoid the missions where they want you to supply a commodity for them. It can often be hard or almost impossible to find and these can cost you.

Thats not really true. Just do them when you know where to get the stuff. They are usually the best paying missions for a long time. I usually do those bulk-wise. For example run a trade route between a high tech and a refinery station and collect all fetch-food missions. Then when you have enough do them all at once. After that go back to the normal trade route.
 
> Type 7 and above is where conventional trading becomes the leader again (in cr/hr) <

Here's my observations:

A maxed out Asp with 80 cargo hold trading rare commodities makes ~1.6 million credits/hr.
Commodities cost are fairly low with a minimum of risk.
It is a fast, manuverable well armed ship.
This route includes the occassional 10 minute wait for rares to resupply allowing time
to check out the ED Forum, eat, whatever.

A maxed out Lykon Type 7 with 208 cargo hold trading standard commodities makes ~1.6 million credits/hr.
Commodities cost are very expensive with a high risk typically a 5:1 ratio between cost versus profit.
It is a slow, poor manuvering with less weaponry one will probably never get on target.
It requires constant flying.
 
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A maxed out Asp with 80 cargo trading rare commodities makes ~1.6 million credits/hr.


Where do you find 80 tons of rare cargo in 1 hour?

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Also, 80 tons gets you about ~1.2-~1.3m, so to hit 1.6m you're looking at doing that in about 45 mins INCLUDING travel time to selling station.
 
Where do you find 80 tons of rare cargo in 1 hour?

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Also, 80 tons gets you about ~1.2-~1.3m, so to hit 1.6m you're looking at doing that in about 45 mins INCLUDING travel time to selling station.

Search a bit and you can find a loop of rare-item stations that will put you at about 70-80t at a time. Just keep trucking, and sell a few here, buy a few there. Never under 35t in cargo, always making credits.
Others have already done the hard part, you just have to Google/Bing/Ask for it.
 
> Where do you find 80 tons of rare cargo in 1 hour? <

No, It is an 80 ton cargo hold...not 80 tons/hour. I get more like 130 tons/hr by flying to 12 different systems and not always doing a 10 minute wait if I already have most of them. I updated my OP with the word HOLD.
 
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> Type 7 and above is where conventional trading becomes the leader again (in cr/hr) <

Here's my observations:

A maxed out Asp with 80 cargo trading rare commodities makes ~1.6 million credits/hr.
Commodities cost are fairly low with a minimum of risk.
It is a fast, manuverable well armed ship.
This route includes the occassional 10 minute wait for rares to resupply allowing time
to check out the ED Forum, eat, whatever.

A maxed out Lykon Type 7 with 208 cargo trading standard commodities makes ~1.6 million credits/hr.
Commodities cost are very expensive with a high risk typically a 5:1 ratio between cost versus profit.
It is a slow, poor manuvering with less weaponry one will probably never get on target.
It requires constant flying.

Well my point was more that above an Asp you are generally better off with regular commodities, the higher up you go the truer it becomes, although I concede the Type 7 could be a border case, it's definitely the case in the Type 9.

Though I have to admit, your experience of the 7 seems diametrically opposed to mine:
-I'm currently making 2.5m/h trading a 30LY run between two ports at an average of 1000 Cr/t each way
-The value of my rebuy plus hold is approx 2.5m, a reasonably upgraded Asp could easily reach that in hull alone.
-I've been interdicted four times, evaded three and boosted away from the other (a Python)
-I've never fired a shot in anger from it and I'm now a few hours trading from my Type 9 (I could already buy a Python)
-The only Type 7 I've lost was to a boost button accident
 
Search a bit and you can find a loop of rare-item stations that will put you at about 70-80t at a time. Just keep trucking, and sell a few here, buy a few there. Never under 35t in cargo, always making credits.
Others have already done the hard part, you just have to Google/Bing/Ask for it.

I'm currently running rare goods between two locations; the first area has 6 sources of rare goods, the second area has 7....I'm in a 40T cobra and I don't always manage to fill it from those 6-7 systems.

So 80 tons? Don't see that...
 
> Well my point was more that ... <

Oh sure no debate just my experience seemed to be even with my ships.

My Type 7 does 845/t and 1139/t profits with a 208 cargo for ~412k profit round trip in 15 minutes. So you have better profits as to make 2.5 million would be 625k every 15 minutes. Also I was interdicted once but flew away no problem.
 
>My Type 7 does 845/t and 1139/t profits with a 208 cargo for ~412k profit round trip in 15 minutes. So you have better profits as to make 2.5 million would be 625k every 15 minutes. Also I was interdicted once but flew away no problem.

2500/t round trip with 12 minute round trips is 2.6m per hour. That's definitely achievable.

I like how we've gone from what can be made trading in a Hauler to what can be made trading in a Type 7.
 
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> Well my point was more that ... <

Oh sure no debate just my experience seemed to be even with my ships.

My Type 7 does 845/t and 1139/t profits with a 208 cargo for ~412k profit round trip in 15 minutes. So you have better profits as to make 2.5 million would be 625k every 15 minutes. Also I was interdicted once but flew away no problem.

Honestly, I think it's as much about turnaround speed as anything else, a 35LS SC trip can be worth about 100Cr/t extra in terms of extra runs vs a 1000LS SC, station menu process down to a tee etc , it's very much the nerdiest form of speed running imaginable :)
 
But it's not a race! You're supposed to enjoy the experience. Just go about your business (trying not to make a loss!) and every now and then jump in your freagle and do other stuff, and before you know it you'll have the cash for an upgrade or another ship or whatever.
 
> But it's not a race! <

Sure it is...If that's how one wants to enjoy playing the game. We race ourselves.
Getting a hi-speed trade run down to the fastest time shaving off seconds with some impressive flying into a station can be a lot of fun and fulfilling. :)
 
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