It is pretty obvious that there is a robust trading system involved with a lot of money riding on the right deal at the right time. Thus far, I've figured out that prices in green are higher than the system average, but am having a hard time figuring out what the red, red with an exclamation point (!), and white are all about. Originally, I thought the red were out of stock, but desired. Nope. THen maybe it was that the price was well below the system average. SOrt of, though not always. SO now I'm stuck trying to decode the trading ssytem a little.

Can anyone help?

green is higher than system average, red is lower than system average. not particularly precise. it would have been nice to have a number showing what you'd bought it at.

exclamation points denote prices connected to a dynamic event at that location.

word to the wise, doing missions is more practical than trading, especially later on. trading is not one of the game's strongest areas. the highly dynamic nature of the trading system means you will have a hard time finding reliable routes. it does also mean that it's pretty satisfying when you pull off a good trade though. in general, the best money is made when exploiting a dynamic event or two complimentary dynamic events. this is also the only time you can really rely on the markets in the game. for example, if a station is at war, it will pay a ton for munitions. if another station has a market glut, you can probably pick up those munitions for a song.

like you I got tripped up early on when I bought something in the red only to find that I couldn't sell it anywhere. the economies are not reliable, and often times when something is red, there's a decent chance it's red because it's red in the whole system; there is an oversupply of that commodity. I don't know how exactly how precise it is. I do not know if the game keeps a realistic track of the spread of a commodity geographically through a system from its originating point of market disruption or if it just changes all the numbers. in general, you have to be careful buying something red, and can't just expect that the lower-than-average price will mean you can sell it somewhere. I think the pirate stations skew those indicators and if you're like me and you can't dock there, then that red price means nothing. you'll start to get a sense for it eventually and you'll spot when something that looks like it's a good buy actually isn't because you'll find it cheap everywhere.

also, sometimes you'll catch something on a swing one way or the other.

remote stations pay more for something their system doesn't have. so, if you have an agricultural system with a far-flung station, it will usually buy obtanium really high. then, pick up food all over that system and take it back somewhere in a technological system. take it to a station beset by famine if you can.

science stations usually pay high for data cubes and robots but it's not reliable.

huge celebrations will sometimes buy munitions, but more often clothes, salt, and other luxury-esque stuff for a lot of money. pure water can't be trusted though. weirdly.

militia bases will usually pay high for whiskey.

if you're trading in a later-game more dangerous system, don't do it in a slow ship unless you have late-game shielding. you'll get blowed up. likewise don't try to run a blockade in a slow ship.

pay attention to the Import/Export data listed for a commodity. it can usually be trusted to point to a station that will always have what you bought at a better sell price than you bought it for. now granted you might have been ignoring that because that's the low-ball everyman trades but as mentioned the dynamic nature of the trading system and skewing of the numbers that the pirate stations cause can mean this trading system will run you into a wall every now and again, and those import/export guideline routes can usually be trusted to not lose you money. that is of course if you go straight. if you hop around a bunch of stations first looking to sell it higher, and then go back to the ol-standby, it might be cheaper than you bought it for at that place as well because it's had to time to go lower on a low swing for that commodity.

not all systems are equal. in general, the more-dangerous late-game systems have higher prices and higher profit margins, but that doesn't mean something won't be worth way more in the right spot, such as that far-flung edge station in an opposite-type system.

Is that the list of prices when I hover over a station in the system map? I noticed that stations I've visited do give me a somewhat realistic(ish) price point for what they'll buy.

I stumbled upon some of what you were talking about too, vis a vis trading with outposts that are on the edge of a system (especially ag outposts); I had blown up a couple of pirates who had pulled me out of warp, picked up their cargo (without really looking too closely at it) only to find that nobody wanted it (it was Bio Waste) and so went from station to station, only to find that it was "! Illegal !"...all of them, except for the Ag station on the periphery; they bought it for nearly double the system average.

I'll definitely keep the low-profit trading in mind. I was scared off bounties and missions because I had an innocuous-looking, "low" threat quest that nearly killed me. Delivering "Religious Tracts" to a nearby station should have been a 3k credit cake walk, but the station was under fire from pirates - including two frigates - and they nearly obliterated me as I was pulled out of warp. All told, the mission was a wash because the repairs cost nearly as much as the "reward" for completing the mission.

I thought maybe making a few bucks on short runs might replenish my funds...sad to hear it is not as reliable as I'd have liked. I might try my hand at mining, but it too looks fraught with problems. I guess we'll see.

no the import/export guidelines only show up when you're on the station and you click the commodity. on the right, a ticker will slowly tick through the stations and the last prices you have for that commodity. and the end of that ticker, or maybe above it, it'll say "this item is usually imported from [STATION]" or "this item is usually exported to [STATION]"

the game combat levels out fairly quick. it's because it's easy to get killed early on with the weak shields. in the small ships, early on, you have to run away. use your boosters and keep people at a distance. do not get surrounded. as long as you keep kiting and balance between left and right shields when one goes down, you'll be fine. but yeah I died like 3 times one after another on an early story mission because one second I was fine and the next I was blown up. you can't get surrounded. kite if you need to.

a word about fighters. fighters will tear you up. the game generally follows the typical rule in that easy to kill means easy to kill you. hard to kill does less damage. typical tank/dps rules. that seems counter-intuitive and there certainly are dreadnaughts that can quickly kill you but in general a swarm of fighters is the most dangerous thing in the game. kite and pick them off first.

I hope I don't come off too judgemental or negative. this is one of my favourite games of all time. the trading is a bit of a weak spot in that you can get money quicker with missions. I went full on trader though and that's how I got all my stuff for the most part. once you get a feel for the way combat works it's good. the better ships are more fun.

Thanks for the heads-up and info; I appreciate it.