Money Loops

• Best overall (Odyssey): Exobiology. Cheap ship, low risk, huge payouts. First-logged samples pay 5 times the base value.
• Best hauling: Player Fleet Carrier and colonisation jobs. Other players pay big margins per ton. About 20,000 credits profit per ton has been advertised for construction hauling.
• Best combat: Pirate massacre stacking. Stack missions from many different factions against one pirate faction.
• Best mining: Platinum laser mining. Still the mainstream pick in 2026. Details in Module 10.
• The old named loops are weaker now. Colonisation spread mission destinations across many new systems. Robigo and Sothis are no longer the answer.
• There is no guaranteed credits per hour. Any guide promising one is guessing.

Full species guide: Module 11.

• Other players post buy orders on their carriers and on colonisation construction sites.
• Buy the cargo nearby. Sell it to the carrier or site. Repeat until the order fills.
• Always check before you buy: remaining demand, carrier location, and pad size.
• New colonised systems often have few factions. Hauling ore from an Extraction economy to an Industrial one can pay well once your rep is maxed.
• Being an Architect yourself is a long term project, not a fast money maker. Architects do get ongoing payments from their facilities.

• Use Inara's trade route search. Look at profit per ton, supply and demand, station distance from the star, pad size, and market data age.
• Profit scales with cargo: 15,000 per ton is 1.5M on 100 tons and 15M on 1,000 tons.
• A station 150,000 Ls from the star can kill a route that looks great on paper.
• A Type-8 can beat a Panther on routes that end at outposts.
• Keep a shield. One bad docking or pirate can wipe out several runs.

A perfect stack of 20 missions from 20 factions can be worth up to about 10M per kill, according to the E:D PvE Combat Wiki.

• Find a Platinum hotspot. Prospect every rock. Mine only the good ones.
• Sell where price and demand are high. Check the market age.
• Kit, hotspots, and core mining: Module 10.

• Fly Spansh Road to Riches routes. Filter for Earth-like Worlds and Terraformable Water Worlds.
• Map only high value bodies. Value per minute beats scanning everything.
• Pair it with exobiology for the biggest payout per trip.

• The Lynx Highliner is the best passenger ship in the game, and it was given away free (Module 5).
• Build rep with local factions. Allied rep unlocks better missions.
• VIP and illegal passengers pay more. Outposts do not scan you for wanted passengers.

• Pays credits, ship materials, on-foot materials, Merc Coin, and Powerplay merits.
• Hard mode pays more.
• Best for progressing several things at once, not for pure credits. Module 14.

• Check Inara's Community Goals page every week.
• Some pay huge commodity bonuses plus tiered rewards. The Colonia anniversary goals in July and August 2026 were an example.
• Temporary. Jump on them, then move on.

A Fleet Carrier does not make money on its own. Buy one when it makes an activity you already do faster. Module 15.

• Cut travel time. Engineered or pre-engineered FSD. Avoid stations far from the star.
• Grow your hold. Profit per ton multiplies.
• Build rep. Allied factions pay far more.
• Pick the close station if its price is almost as good as the far one.
• Specialize the ship. No weapons on a trader. No cargo racks on a fighter.
• Stack everything you can. Missions, bounties, bonds, and exploration data on the same trip.

• Old guides lie. Check the date on any money guide or video.
• Never spend your rebuy. One loss can erase hours of profit.
• Check demand, not just price. A high price with low demand will not take a full hold.
• Check market age on third party tools before a long haul.
• Carrier orders vanish when other players fill them.
• Grinding something you hate is not worth it. Every method here works.