Trading & Economy

Trading is the backbone of your career. Learn to read the markets, find the spreads, and maximize your credits per turn.

The Three Commodities

Equipment is bulky. Each unit takes 2 cargo holds, so a 40-hold ship carries only 20 units of equipment versus 40 units of fuel or organics.

Port Types & Pricing

Different port archetypes have different price ranges and buy/sell spreads. The spread is the gap between what you pay and what you receive when selling at the same port.

You make money by buying at one port and selling at another that values the commodity more highly. The spread only hurts you if you buy and sell at the same port.

How Prices Are Calculated

Prices use a logistic curve based on the port’s current stock level. When a port is fully stocked, prices are at their lowest. When a port is nearly empty, prices are at their highest. Daily price noise adds variance depending on port volatility.

Volatility levels:

• Low: prices barely move, stable and predictable
• Medium: normal variance
• High: significant daily swings with higher potential reward

Buy vs Sell

Every port has a buy price (what you pay) and a sell price (what you receive). The sell price is always below the buy price at the same port. The spread percentage determines how large that gap is. A small port fee applies to all trades and is shown in the trade confirmation breakdown.

Port Availability by Territory

Port types vary significantly by territory.

You cannot buy or sell standard commodities in pirate space. Pirate sectors are for contraband and services.

Trading Strategy

Basic Route

1. Find a producer port that sells your commodity cheap
2. Find a consumer port that buys expensive
3. Fill your holds at the producer
4. Sell at the consumer
5. Buy something on the return leg if you can

Maximize Profit Per Turn

More holds means more profit per trip. The Cargo Compressors tech upgrade adds 20% capacity permanently. A warp drive lets you cover longer routes in fewer turns. Federation ports are stable but lower margin. Outer rim ports have more variance but bigger swings when conditions are right.

Equipment has the highest price ceiling but costs 2 holds per unit. Run the math before committing your entire hold to equipment.

Example Run

Ship with 40 holds, Agri port to Federation Port:

• Buy organics at Agri port for 100 cr/unit, 40 units = 4,000 cr spent
• Sell at Federation Port for 280 cr/unit, 40 units = 11,200 cr received
• Profit: 7,200 cr minus port fee of roughly 1 to 2%

With Cargo Compressors installed (48 holds): roughly 8,640 cr profit on the same route.

Cargo Lots and Cost Tracking

Every purchase creates a separate cargo lot stored with its own cost basis. If you buy 10 equipment at 5 cr and later buy 10 more at 10 cr, you have two lots in your hold.

When you sell, the game shows you the full breakdown before you confirm:

Sell 20 Equipment @ 12 cr?

Lots:
  10 @ 5 cr/unit (cost basis)
  10 @ 10 cr/unit (cost basis)

Avg Cost:    7 cr/unit
Subtotal:    240 cr
Est. Fees:   ~7 cr
Est. Total:  ~233 cr
Est. Profit: +93 cr

Lots sell in FIFO order, lowest purchase price first. This maximizes your reported profit and matches standard trading accounting. If you sell a partial quantity the cheapest lot goes first. Selling 15 of those 20 units would consume all 10 from the 5 cr lot and 5 from the 10 cr lot, leaving the remaining 5 at 10 cr still in your hold.

The result dialog after the sale shows actual tax, port fee, and total profit from the confirmed trades, broken down by lot.

Contraband Lots

Contraband purchased from the Black Market is stored as a separate lot from regular cargo of the same type. If you buy normal equipment and then buy black market equipment, your hold shows them as two distinct groups:

⚙️ Equipment      10 units   avg 50 cr
⚙️ Equipment 🔴   10 units   avg 80 cr   Contraband

Tapping either row expands it to show the per-lot breakdown. Contraband lots are highlighted in red and marked “sells first.”

When you sell, contraband lots are always sold before regular lots regardless of price. This minimizes the time you are carrying hot cargo through federation space. Within each group lots sell cheapest first as usual.

The sell confirm dialog flags each contraband lot clearly:

Lots:
  10 @ 80 cr/unit 🔴 contraband
  10 @ 50 cr/unit

Federation ports scan your cargo on docking. If you are caught carrying contraband the goods are confiscated and a fine is applied. See the Smuggling guide for detection rates, cloaking devices, and how to minimize your risk.