Making $5m per hour from Trading

[Javert]

Hi All,

I've noticed many posts from people claiming they are making $5m per hour from trading.

If you assume you can get about 3 to 4 runs per hour on a good run, this means you would have to be making nearly 3000cr per tonne profit on a round trip on a Lakon 9 with max cargo capacity, constantly on the same route.

I've rarely seen any runs where I made anything close to that - 2500cr per tonne is about the best I've seen, and even then it tends to start reducing if you run the route multiple times. I've seen higher than that but mainly where the station was much further away which means you would do less runs / hour.

And all that's before you take into account running costs as well.

Are these folk exaggerating or am I just no good at finding good trade routes?

 

[777Driver]

Hi All,

I've noticed many posts from people claiming they are making $5m per hour from trading.

If you assume you can get about 3 to 4 runs per hour on a good run, this means you would have to be making nearly 3000cr per tonne profit on a round trip on a Lakon 9 with max cargo capacity, constantly on the same route.

I've rarely seen any runs where I made anything close to that - 2500cr per tonne is about the best I've seen, and even then it tends to start reducing if you run the route multiple times. I've seen higher than that but mainly where the station was much further away which means you would do less runs / hour.

And all that's before you take into account running costs as well.

Are these folk exaggerating or am I just no good at finding good trade routes?

Hundreds of thousands of trade routes out there. find one and start hauling. 2800 cr per tonne is what I'm doing at the moment, but only because I like the area I'm in and don't really need the money. When I was saving for big ships 3000T would be minimum.

Am hauling with an Anaconda 416T cargo space. Works out about 4.5 million an hour and I'm pretty laid back with trading, take cigarette breaks and read the forums when I'm docked.

Hauling 500T in my old T9, hardcore back and forth would net me 6 million+ per hour

The good times are over, people would share routes, lots of luxury goods areas. Glad I made my money when I did.

 

[Whiterose]

Its your game, you play it how you want to. If you are happy with what you are earning per hour then just ignore the others. I only make about 1M per hour, but that doesnt bother me as I do Bounty hunting and missions to alleviate the grind. Sometimes I only make 100Cr per ton, but that doesnt bother me as I fly from a to b to c to d. I tried the a to b to a system but got bored.

 

[Retorrent]

I don't know about 5m per hour but I have route that all I sell is rares at two different stations and I can pull about 1.5m to 2m in about an hour. Its a rough estimate because my route time varies due to waiting on repawns for the rares which takes about 10min. Some times I luck out and get max rares in one go other times I may only get 3 or 2 and have to wait on the respawn to max out. This route below I use to run with just the small hauler and it pulled in some decent creds not sure how much it is now due to rare spawn rate nerfs in past patches but I am sure it will still make money.View attachment 15866

 

[technion]

I don't know about 5m per hour but I have route that all I sell is rares at two different stations and I can pull about 1.5m to 2m in about an hour.ney.

I don't get it. I flew from Eravate to empire space, and had to visit three different rare selling stations just to fill my hauler, due to the amount of limited supply. Then I flew back to Eravate and and made just over 200,000cr, which took an hour and a half.

When people start talking 1m+ cr, I always understood they were in much larger ships, just moving much more than a limited supply of rares.

 

[shadowwar]

The most I can pull in on a round trip per run is just over 200,000. I can get in maybe 4 runs an hour so I make just under 900,000 an hour. I have an Asp with 120 T of cargo space. I could make it 128 T but I want some shields on my vessel.

I don't even know what RARES are! Can any kind soul enlighten me. I'm trading in Precious metals and Tea or coffee!

 

[Poplin]

If you assume you can get about 3 to 4 runs per hour on a good run, this means you would have to be making nearly 3000cr per tonne profit on a round trip on a Lakon 9 with max cargo capacity, constantly on the same route.

When I was seriously trading I was managing 6 runs in an hour, but that's also part of picking your route and distances from the star.

 

[Axelsson]

Rare trading will max out at much less than 5MCr/h for sure. Last I did it I had my ASP still and was getting about 1.5MCr/h with multiple system route (13-14 systems in total I think to get that 80T filled most of the times). Regular trading is what gives the best of course when you have atleast the T-7 I would say. In Anaconda (416T) I usually get 5 round-trips per hour (I'm not that fast, I don't go in boosting and so on) and often end up on about 12000-15000 Cr/T*h, which gives 5-6MCr/h.

 

[Toris]

I get 2624cr pr tonne round trip where I usually trade, 10-15 min per round trip. It's a decent trip. Just need a T-7 or something to earn more from it.

 

[mistohise]

Remember that most people talking about 5M credits or more an hour will be in T7s or bigger, hauling massive quantities of goods, probably on a unicorn run where they have the perfect storm of trading available. (Yes, these routes still exist.)

It's fairly easy to hit 1M/hour in a T6 doing regular trades. You just need the stations to be near the stars to cut travel time and interdictions.

Rare trading is inefficient once you have ~100 cargo space.

 

[Eagle Eye]

Rares max out at around 1.5M Cr / h regardless of ship. I use a 452T Anaconda, ferrying 2.3k Cr/t roundtrip, 6 trip/hr on a good day, that's 6.2M Cr per hour. The last few days has been bad though, it's only 2k Cr/t, but that's still 5.4 M Cr /h. this is on a barely viable route (2k Cr/t is pretty much the minimum for a route to be worth it). This was a very good area, 3k+/t but the last station supply/demand reshuffle screw with 2 of the stations (there are 5 stations that I rotate, all similar profitability) so profit drops like a rock.

I am just too lazy to move since I got all the ships I want atm. Other traders are moving to greener pasture (very popular area this, used to be 1k ships around, now 600 left and dropping daily) so today profit starts to recover. i'd be happy with 2.5k/t really...

 

[Heater]

I am doing 1.8 million an hour right with an Asp (94 tons) at a distance of 25.8 LY so the runs are there, you just have to find them.

 

[tagos]

The most I can pull in on a round trip per run is just over 200,000. I can get in maybe 4 runs an hour so I make just under 900,000 an hour. I have an Asp with 120 T of cargo space. I could make it 128 T but I want some shields on my vessel.

I don't even know what RARES are! Can any kind soul enlighten me. I'm trading in Precious metals and Tea or coffee!

Rares are YELLOW coloured goods available in some stations. Their sell cost is determined by distance you haul them. Up until a T7 they are probably the best thing to trade in. The hotspot for buying them is around Lave but they are all over the place. Without trying too hard you can make 250k per hour in an Asp.

 

[Frozen-Steel]

1m in a T6 is on the low side. That's not to put any more pressure on people still searching out routes.
If you learn how to use the galaxy map with population to estimate Supply/Demand and what economies offer/seek what commodities, I'm fairly certain I could find several 1-2m routes withing 20ly of any part of civilized space for a T6. When I'm asked, I usually tell people to work rep first, use it as an excuse to visit different systems for missions and then remember profitable trades.
And true, once you get a T7, it really starts paying.

 

[Frenesis]

i'm in a type 9 with 468 cargo space best fsd and all D components to be "light" now, yesterday i was doing my usual 2300cr/ton and i have find a better route accidentally just doing a bulletin board mission, now i get 2800cr/ton, i need to do 3 jumps instead of 2 but now i'm trading with 2 safe system (lots of security vessel).Thats is funny because the week before i have search a routes like this for 4 or 5 hour with no results at the end i was thinkig how much money I could make without wasting time serching the "excelent route" and and I returned to my usual route XD

 

[Retorrent]

If you look at the grahic I put in my post each one of those stations sells rares, in the comod list in station they are yellow highlighted. The green arrows point to the station you should sell the rare at. So for example the rare in Fisher station you would sell to Andrade Legacy. So just by looking at the green arrows you can see that there are only 3 stations you sell at in the whole route. The black arrows repersent the route you take. The longest jump between each one is no larger then 97 ly something you could easily do in a hauler.

Make sure to have a good size fuel scoop so that way fuel cost don't eat into your profits, you lose some cargo space but rares don't take up much room if I remember right I didn't max out cargo on the hauler because I wanted a fuel scoop and shield. Not sure what the Cr per hour is on that route I posted because it has been some time since I ran it in a small hauler.

I just as a note I did not make this route myself I got it off of Reddit and it worked well for me I don't want to take credit for someone else work.

 

[Malak'kai]

The most I can pull in on a round trip per run is just over 200,000. I can get in maybe 4 runs an hour so I make just under 900,000 an hour. I have an Asp with 120 T of cargo space. I could make it 128 T but I want some shields on my vessel.

I don't even know what RARES are! Can any kind soul enlighten me. I'm trading in Precious metals and Tea or coffee!

Try Commander Thrudd's trading tool.
It's the only trading tool I use when I'm not hunting bounties.

 

[Space Time]

The Trade Hump... something to get over...

Hi All,

I've noticed many posts from people claiming they are making $5m per hour from trading.

If you assume you can get about 3 to 4 runs per hour on a good run, this means you would have to be making nearly 3000cr per tonne profit on a round trip on a Lakon 9 with max cargo capacity, constantly on the same route.

I've rarely seen any runs where I made anything close to that - 2500cr per tonne is about the best I've seen, and even then it tends to start reducing if you run the route multiple times. I've seen higher than that but mainly where the station was much further away which means you would do less runs / hour.

And all that's before you take into account running costs as well.

Are these folk exaggerating or am I just no good at finding good trade routes?

The Trade Barrier...
The trade hump is the first barrier that needs to be overcome by all our players, both new and old. Yet once a player obtains the large cargo ship that satisfies an income that fits the players available play hours, then other missions that have less value can be taken on without such heavy risks involved for replacing what can be lost on more dangerous missions. If you have made the sacrifice in hours spent obtaining a large cargo ship, then the player can afford that combat dream ship and free up time for playing with others, "which is not a very hourly cash making proposition for a player's time spent with interacting with others".

Breaking the Trade Barrier...
I recently obtained the trade ship I will remain with, "the Python", as it can land anywhere and is only a little less cargo capable than the Lakon Type-9 Heavy. I parked it in a trade area where I can make enough cash to justify my play time in and I am now about to buy my second ship for a combat role. Once I obtain that ship and peach it out, then I will go after a shuttle ship in the form of an ASP, so I can make easy jumps between my combat ship's favorite parking place and the Python's location.

Mission Sectors and Being Flexibly Mobile ...
If my trade route for some reason dries up, then I can then move it, or maybe I will find an even better trade route for it and park it there. The combat ship's sector area may become a less favorable hunting ground, so I may need to move it, yet it's the shuttle that makes such a system work. The solitary ship owner does have to overcome the trade hump though, if they are to get themselves into such a multi-ship situation, or accept a much slower way to making money.

5M. an Hour?... look for 2M. (plus a little)... it's more realistic of a find...
I truly doubt that anyone is making 5mil an hour... but if they are, then great for them, but all that means is that they have reduced their needed "support $" trade time and are enjoying more time looking for further play time in missions that may not have making money as it's purpose.

Just have a plan and plan to make trade #1 for the other missions better success...
Space Time

 

[rennarda]

I did the full route of every known rare location in an Asp with 80t cargo space, and only once did I run out of space and have to skip a stop. Total profit for the trip was probably about 5M, and it took a good few hours of gameplay. But it was fun, and I'll probably run it again in the near future.

Have done the A-B hauling on short run trade routes that turn huge profits, and if that's what floats your boat then fine. But I'm not here to spend my spare time grinding so I can trade up to the next biggest widget and get caught up in perpetual upgrade cycles.

Been spending some time bounty hunting before setting off trading again: My Asp will take down anything up to an Anaconda, and I keep an Eagle if I fancy a change of pace.

 

[Retorrent]

I did the full route of every known rare location in an Asp with 80t cargo space, and only once did I run out of space and have to skip a stop. Total profit for the trip was probably about 5M, and it took a good few hours of gameplay. But it was fun, and I'll probably run it again in the near future.

Have done the A-B hauling on short run trade routes that turn huge profits, and if that's what floats your boat then fine. But I'm not here to spend my spare time grinding so I can trade up to the next biggest widget and get caught up in perpetual upgrade cycles.

Been spending some time bounty hunting before setting off trading again: My Asp will take down anything up to an Anaconda, and I keep an Eagle if I fancy a change of pace.

A to B hauling becomes more profitable once you can get into the bigger trading ships, I tried it in my T6 and it was still more profitable to run a rare trade circuit instead of the regular commds.