A map of stars in EV Nova.
Orange, cyan and beige lines delineate viable trade routes. next to some stars are planets, and the trade goods they sell.
A cyan arrow indicates that a trade involves low-priced goods, which is good.
A beige arrow indicates that a trade involves medium-priced goods, which is bad.
An orange arrow indicates that a trade involves selling goods at a high price both ways, which is very good.
A yellow arrow indicates that if you hop through the hypergate, you can trade on the other side. This takes no travel time, which is good for escort fees.
Trading commodities is one of the many ways for an independent captain to earn credits; this involves purchasing a commodity in bulk at a low or medium price on one planet and selling at a higher price on another. Traders generally employ vessels with large cargo capacities called freighters to maximize profits on a given run. A common tactic is for the player to use a combat-capable ship as a primary vessel and hire or capture freighters as escorts to do most of the hauling; this allows the player to better protect the relatively defenseless freighters from attacks by Pirates or other hostile forces.
Some special commodities (also called junks) can yield the largest profits, but just as many yield pitiful profits. In addition, the profitable ones are highly immoral.
For a list of viable routes used by veteran pilots, see Trade Routes.