CARGO & TRADE / VISUAL FIELD GUIDE
Trade without risking your whole wallet
Plan a purchase, protect the load and confirm a real buyer.
01
STEP 1 OF 8
Set a loss limit before choosing the commodity
Trading uses your own credits to buy goods. Choose an amount you can lose while retaining enough for your next trip. Calculate purchase cost, transport, handling and a conservative sale estimate.
Our first-run suggestion: move a small test load across the complete route before expanding. A screenshot of someone else’s profit does not establish today’s supply, demand or selling price.
- 1
Calculate one small test load
Write down quantity times purchase price, the intended buyer and your remaining cash. Reserve operating funds for fuel and a replacement starter load before buying.
What you should seeLosing this test load would not prevent your next session.
RSI CommoditiesThat did not happen
Reduce the quantity if the purchase consumes your whole balance. Listed profit is not guaranteed demand or a protected investment.
Read the complete guide as text
The same published instructions in one readable view. Use the steps above for controls and practice panels.
Set a loss limit before choosing the commodity
Trading uses your own credits to buy goods. Choose an amount you can lose while retaining enough for your next trip. Calculate purchase cost, transport, handling and a conservative sale estimate.
Our first-run suggestion: move a small test load across the complete route before expanding. A screenshot of someone else’s profit does not establish today’s supply, demand or selling price.
Calculate one small test load
Write down quantity times purchase price, the intended buyer and your remaining cash. Reserve operating funds for fuel and a replacement starter load before buying.
Expected result: Losing this test load would not prevent your next session.
If it did not work: Reduce the quantity if the purchase consumes your whole balance. Listed profit is not guaranteed demand or a protected investment.
Separate spendable cash from cargo still at risk
SC Nomads exercise: reserve the cost of returning, servicing and restarting before choosing a load. Record starting balance, material, units, unit price and total purchase. Use the same unit on both sides of your calculation; ship capacity is not the quantity you must buy.
Buying stock spends your own money. Until a sale is confirmed, unsold freight is inventory, not realised income. Losing the freight can mean losing that purchase as well as the time spent moving it. This guide does not promise insurance reimbursement or recovery after destruction.
Write a stop-loss before checkout
Personal route note
Choose a cash reserve you will leave untouched and subtract it from your available balance. Reduce the order until you can lose it and still continue playing.
Expected result: You have a maximum spend and can name what remains after a total cargo loss.
If it did not work: If the purchase requires your reserve, stop and choose a smaller load or a contract that does not require buying stock.
Research the buyer before you own the problem
CIG lists commodity trading at supported terminals. Their presence does not establish live demand, stock or a guaranteed price. SC Nomads first-run drill: visit the intended buyer with an empty ship and learn its access and storage choices before risking a load.
Keep purchase, manual freight handling and sale as separate checkpoints. A hauling contract moves an issuer's consignment; commodity trading buys your own stock. Do not use contract completion as proof that personally purchased cargo sold.
Record a buyer and an affordable fallback
Commodity terminal / route note
Record the commodity, intended buyer and a reachable alternative. Check the offered screen when present; do not make a speculative purchase on an old profit table.
Expected result: You know where to attempt the sale and where you can safely pause with unsold goods.
If it did not work: If there is no clear lawful buyer, do not buy the material. A larger hold does not fix missing demand.
Check the purchase destination
At the commodity kiosk, choose the buy screen, material, quantity and storage destination. Check the confirmation carefully: location storage and a ship are not the same destination.
Goods bought into the warehouse need moving through the freight elevator. Where offered, automated ship loading has a charge and wait. The official cargo guide says a ship must be stored to appear for the applicable landing-zone service.
Buy into a destination you can access
At a commodity terminal choose Buy, the commodity, quantity and destination. Read the final total and destination once more before confirming.
Expected result: The receipt or stock state reflects your purchase at the intended location.
If it did not work: If a ship is absent from the list, check its location and the service's storage requirements. Do not buy blindly into another location.
Load what you actually purchased
For warehouse purchases, select that cargo at the freight elevator and bring it to the platform. Move it aboard. If you selected paid automatic loading instead, wait for its stated completion.
Expected result: The purchased quantity is physically aboard or explicitly loaded by the service.
If it did not work: A purchase confirmation does not mean a warehouse load teleported onto your ship. Check before taking off.
Prove one box reached the ship before loading the rest
SC Nomads handling drill: compare the receipt destination with the warehouse and ship you are actually using. Follow the original loading card, then inspect the first box aboard and leave a clear path back to the exit.
Solo: park safely and stop piloting while handling cargo. With crew: name one loader, one person recording quantities and one pilot or lookout. Call out every handoff so two people do not move the same stock under conflicting assumptions.
Buy into a destination you can access
At a commodity terminal choose Buy, the commodity, quantity and destination. Read the final total and destination once more before confirming.
Expected result: The receipt or stock state reflects your purchase at the intended location.
If it did not work: If a ship is absent from the list, check its location and the service's storage requirements. Do not buy blindly into another location.
Load what you actually purchased
For warehouse purchases, select that cargo at the freight elevator and bring it to the platform. Move it aboard. If you selected paid automatic loading instead, wait for its stated completion.
Expected result: The purchased quantity is physically aboard or explicitly loaded by the service.
If it did not work: A purchase confirmation does not mean a warehouse load teleported onto your ship. Check before taking off.
- Receipt destination named
- First box physically found
- Total quantity reconciled
- Door and walking route clear
Field note: Different input? Open Options > Keybindings, choose your device, then Advanced Controls Customization. Read the named action before changing it. Submit corrections through this guide’s normal edit proposal.
Land legally and verify the sale
Travel with a return-fuel reserve. At the buyer, follow its landing and unloading procedure, select the correct cargo and inspect the sale quantity and price before confirming.
If a buyer will not accept everything, keep track of what remains. Our suggested fallback is a second legitimate buyer researched before departure, rather than improvising with your entire wallet aboard.
Inspect the proposed sale
At the destination commodity terminal choose Sell and the storage that contains your load. Select the material and read the accepted quantity and total.
Expected result: The quote identifies your actual material and the quantity this buyer accepts now.
If it did not work: An absent or limited quote can be a storage, demand, ownership or commodity-acceptance issue. Check each instead of repeatedly confirming.
Reconcile the remainder
After confirming the sale, compare your balance and remaining stock with your purchase note. Move or store unsold cargo deliberately.
Expected result: You can distinguish realised proceeds from freight still at risk.
If it did not work: Do not count the advertised value of unsold cargo as money earned. Use your researched alternate buyer or keep a clear storage record.
- Purchase destination correct
- Load physically confirmed
- Buyer accepts the commodity
- Remaining cargo recorded
Finish the ledger after a partial sale
SC Nomads closeout: record actual sale proceeds and actual charges, then subtract the purchase and operating costs you paid. Keep unsold stock as a separate line, not a fictional profit. A positive quote before confirmation is not a completed transaction.
If only part sells, record the exact remaining commodity, quantity and storage. Choose to wait, store it or use the researched alternative according to your remaining fuel and time. Do not repeatedly buy replacement stock while diagnosing a sale problem.
Inspect the proposed sale
At the destination commodity terminal choose Sell and the storage that contains your load. Select the material and read the accepted quantity and total.
Expected result: The quote identifies your actual material and the quantity this buyer accepts now.
If it did not work: An absent or limited quote can be a storage, demand, ownership or commodity-acceptance issue. Check each instead of repeatedly confirming.
Reconcile the remainder
After confirming the sale, compare your balance and remaining stock with your purchase note. Move or store unsold cargo deliberately.
Expected result: You can distinguish realised proceeds from freight still at risk.
If it did not work: Do not count the advertised value of unsold cargo as money earned. Use your researched alternate buyer or keep a clear storage record.
The sale screen cannot see my cargo.: Check the selected ship or warehouse, commodity and current location. Verify where the last handling step left the boxes. Do not buy the same load again.
The quoted result differs from my plan.: Read the current accepted quantity and total. Reduce the transaction or keep the remainder deliberately; a historical route estimate is not a promise.
Field note: Source review and SC Nomads practice suggestions, not a live market test. Original images are retained as illustrations, not proof of this terminal layout.
Before you commit
Stolen or prohibited goods use different buyers and carry legal risk. A lawful commodity route is a better first lesson.
Market availability changes. We intentionally do not promise a fixed best route or credits per hour from a source page that cannot see the live economy.
Sources & guide information
Sources checked 13 October 2026. Not gameplay verified on Alpha 4.10.2.. Reference information, not a claim of current-patch playtesting.
CIG Cargo Guide, source checked 13 Oct 2026RSI CommoditiesRSI Crime Rating, includes offline prison timeCIG Cargo Guide, checked 19 October 2026; page text unavailable to this review, retained original citation