Simple and efficient guide to commodity trading for beginners and Intermediates.
The Basics
The basic in-game guide can be accessed by pressing TAB > DATA > GUIDES AND TUTORIALS > COMMODITY TRADING.
Each system has an approximate demand range for each commodity – Low, Normal, or High demand. Within each system, each location will have a slightly different demand. When hovering over a commodity, the total range (below) represents the minimum demand price to the maximum demand price across all systems. the colored range indicates the minimum demand price to the maximum demand price within the current system. The white arrow marks the demand price at the current location.
Recommendations are indicated in the top left corner of each commodity with a red, orange or green symbol (as below). Green is good. Red is bad.
If a commodity in your inventory has a green recommendation then you should sell it.
If a commodity in the shop has a green recommendation then you should buy it.
Early Game
Disclaimer: I’m not saying this is the only way to do it but this seemed to be the easiest way to earn credits in the early game.
Commodity trading starts to take off once you get access to the Union system. Commodities have a fixed value in each location. We can leverage that to know the best places to buy and sell. Whenever you’re at a shop follow the below Buy/Sell recommendations. You shouldn’t need to do endless hauling but you may need to do a quick stop-off to the other system when your cargo gets full.
note: At this stage don’t bother buying other commodities besides those listed below. Just sell any residuals in Ceto. The amount of credits you make per stack is not worth your time when better options exist.
Mid Game
Disclaimer: I’m not saying this is the only way to do it but this seemed to be the easiest way to earn credits in the mid-game.
Once you have access to the Zharkov system it’s time to change it up a bit. The below table shows the best systems to buy each commodity and the ‘ideal’ systems and locations to sell them. This ‘ideal’ system is aiming to maximize the demand selling price while also trying to minimize how many different stops you make to sell goods. The less running around you have to do to sell commodities, the better. Each commodity is only listed once in the sell section unless it’s an “Optional”.
“Optional” If you have an inventory full of this commodity, you’re already at this system, and you’re looking to clear your cargo out then you can sell it here. It will still be a high-demand price. I wouldn’t bother going out of my way to go into this system to sell this commodity.
By this point in the game, you have a way to buy all commodities at low demand and sell all commodities at high demand. I don’t think there is a requirement to change this formula for the rest of the game. There are other systems where you can buy and sell commodities late-game but this provides a core guide. You may have a better way of trading late game. I encourage all thoughts in the comments below.
note: I wouldn’t bother buying Clothing, Ramen, or Liquor. Just sell them in Khaït. If you don’t have access to Khaït then sell them in Zharkov. The amount of credits you make per stack is not worth your time when better options exist.
Potential Profit and System Demand
Each commodity will have a certain maximum quantity you can stack into one cargo slot of your inventory. The below helps identify the most profitable commodities (higher potential profit per stack) as well as the approximate demand in each system.
Value Per Stack
The below shows the total value of each commodity stack in each shop within Ceto, Union, Zharkov, and Khaït. Each commodities value is highlighted in red (low value) to green(high value) within each system. This can help identify the best shop in each system to buy or sell commodities.
