Always check the bulletin board before you sell. Sometimes someone wants a couple of tons of something which you may be carrying and are prepared to pay way more than average.
Last edited:
So what's the hidden secret to trading?
- Thread starter Butter of Sorrow
- Start date
Be resistant to grind.
I did trading in rare commodities for a bit in a Cobra and then in an Asp Explorer. I figured I could make about the same with a nice palladium loop in that one, and was able to do between 4-6 round trips per hour at ~450k per trip or so. (Depending on how often I'd get interdicted and/or killed; I couldn't outrun all of them.) However, you spend most of your time looking at the hyperjump animation, adjusting speed during supercruise, and docking.
I just couldn't do it after the first 2-3 hours. It was too mind-numbing.
Elite Dangerous is mostly geared towards space combat and, possibly, exploration. Trading can be quite profitable, but it's not precisely diverse.
I did trading in rare commodities for a bit in a Cobra and then in an Asp Explorer. I figured I could make about the same with a nice palladium loop in that one, and was able to do between 4-6 round trips per hour at ~450k per trip or so. (Depending on how often I'd get interdicted and/or killed; I couldn't outrun all of them.) However, you spend most of your time looking at the hyperjump animation, adjusting speed during supercruise, and docking.
I just couldn't do it after the first 2-3 hours. It was too mind-numbing.
Elite Dangerous is mostly geared towards space combat and, possibly, exploration. Trading can be quite profitable, but it's not precisely diverse.
Use the trading tool website, find a station that sells imperial slaves, then use the tool to find a station that buys them. That's as easy as it gets. Its generally 2k to 3k profit per ton on slaves if you find a decent route. I make about 3 million per 20 mins in a 404 ton capacity anaconda
ED has released so server data that you can download via a couple of APIs - My own database averages out similar target systems based on size allegiance, government etc with a manually applied weighting for economy. from that it "suggests" cargo to carry with you, The suggested cargo is usually within the top 3 for profit and very rarely do I make none as said it is buy low sell high so it is usually picking commodities that are below average cost
Perhaps - but as I say Im building my database for me. I know rares are there Im just finding them myself and finding the best place to go myself. I like to know HOw something works the best way to do that is DIY
Fair enough. My point was that link has functional forms for the price/distance relationships - you'd still need to find the rares, collect the data, plot the graphs, calculate coefficients and verify results yourself.
Had a quick look at this link on my mobile. Now I'm at my PC and it doesn't seem to work - just a blank screen. I'm using IE v11.
Trading really is a grind and a half, but if you can take it there's a lot of money to be made. And I have no issues with trading in Imperial Slaves...they're (for the most part) willing, so I'm just helping them get to their next job. Or, in my current route, hauling prisoners from the Emperor's Dawn wars out of Patreus space back to Achenar for trial (makes good RP reasons as well as good profits).
Well if that's the case and there seriously isn't anything in particular that I have overlooked then what the hell even is the point of trading if bounty hunting and smuggling is more safe and profitable? (which still doesn't seem to make sense)
I mean sure, 9 million hourly income with an Anaconda does sound nice at first, but then you'll remember that an Anaconda costs like around 150 million so I would imagine it would seem like a rather petty amount at that point, considering the risk of cargo loss in addition to the rebuy cost.
It just seems that it's rather poorly balanced and not worth the effort if you ask me. Then again if everyone else thinks it's fine then you guys can have all your fun space-trucking and I'll just stick to smuggling and bounty hunting then.
A lot of people have been very upset about trading having been more profitable than other careers over the past 12 months. Trading profits have in many cases decreased with the launch of Horizons and I don't think anyone is sure whether there has been a deliberate rebalancing or whether the introduction of planetary economies and players trading massive volumes in Cutters are to blame. I suspect a mix of all these factors. Having said that, there are still decent routes out there.
Your feelings demonstrate that whatever FD do, they can't please everyone.
Last edited:
Aye, that seems to be the sad truth. Everyone has their own opinion, can't do anything about that.
Personally even if trading would be more profitable than smuggling or bounty hunting I wouldn't stop doing either. Nice to have a change of pace every now and then and they still pay relatively well anyway.
The Mining Lance.
The Mining Lance is the secret.
The Mining Lance is the secret.
I'm the same, I like to mix it up. I don't do that much trading, but I do like to have a decent route I can turn to when I need a cash infusion, and I do find back and forth trading quite relaxing and enjoyable, as long as I don't do it too much. I do find looking for routes (without using the online trading tools) a lot of fun.
I find that the Missions on the bulletin board give me a guide as to what I should be carrying. Usually whatever they want me to move is trading high at the place I'm going. When you have a route, rinse and repeat until you're so bored you can't take it any more.
Personally, I find trading a bit dull, so what I do is take missions or whatever takes my fancy and when I know what i'm doing I load up any remaining cargo space for a bit more cash. However, don't do this if you're off on an assasination mission as the loss of agility can be a problem and if you blow up, you lose the cargo.
Personally, I find trading a bit dull, so what I do is take missions or whatever takes my fancy and when I know what i'm doing I load up any remaining cargo space for a bit more cash. However, don't do this if you're off on an assasination mission as the loss of agility can be a problem and if you blow up, you lose the cargo.
Yeah, I like trading to break things up a bit. The two ships I use for it currently (Python and Clipper) are both set up with 200 tons of room and they bring in an OK profit (back when I had my Python as pure trader it was 280 cargo). Sometimes I don't want to do any combat or missions and just enjoy takeoff/landing and a bit of travelling. I love the barebones mechanics of piloting a ship and trading kind of does just that for me.
I am trading. Right now.
Its .14 light years to Katzenstein Dock.
I am travelling at 1568 times the speed of light.
It will take me 35 minutes to get there.
(you can check this)
When I get there I will make 235,000 euros or isk or whatever. Thanks to the guys and gals at Fdev for that great trading mission. I shall use the time to drink campari and send Ian Bell emails.
Its .14 light years to Katzenstein Dock.
I am travelling at 1568 times the speed of light.
It will take me 35 minutes to get there.
(you can check this)
When I get there I will make 235,000 euros or isk or whatever. Thanks to the guys and gals at Fdev for that great trading mission. I shall use the time to drink campari and send Ian Bell emails.
Just sorted out my trade route for my new connda
Imperial Slaves 2745 profit per ton
Gold 2000 profit per ton
Beryllium 1339 profit per ton
each one has a 5 jumps between each other
Imperial Slaves 2745 profit per ton
Gold 2000 profit per ton
Beryllium 1339 profit per ton
each one has a 5 jumps between each other
This. Sort sell low, buy high. No easier way to find a route. For me 70ly, 6 jump route @ 3550cr one way in my 728 Clipper nets me $2.5 million, which can be done in 10 mins, assuming no interdict-annoyances. I can only stand to to this about 4 times before I do something else, so that's $10 million my first hour of play. I'm happy with that.
I'm not even Elite yet - watching the peg move 1% every 5 million is certainly depressing.