You're standing on a frozen hellscape of a planet, your hazard protection is screaming at you, and you’ve only got 400 Units to your name. It’s a classic start. But honestly, the way No Man's Sky economies work is kind of a mess if you're just looking at the surface level. Most players think they need to spend hours mining Cobalt or shooting rocks to get by. They’re wrong.
The game’s economy is a living, breathing machine—or at least a very convincing simulation of one. If you know how to read the star map, you can stop being a space-hobo and start acting like a galactic mogul. It isn't just about selling high; it’s about understanding the "Wealth" and "Economy Type" tags that most people just ignore when they're warping around.
The Three-Star Secret to No Man's Sky Economies
Every star system has a personality. When you open your Galaxy Map, you’ll see icons: a beaker, a gear, a DNA strand. These aren't just flavor text. They dictate what the NPCs are desperate to buy and what they’re practically giving away.
Basically, there are seven types of economies. You’ve got Power Generation, Mining, Manufacturing, Technology, Weapons, Currency, and Scientific. They exist in two distinct "loops." If you follow the loop, you win. If you just jump randomly, you’re leaving millions of Units on the table. For example, a Scientific system (the beaker icon) produces expensive items that a Trading system (the hourglass icon) is dying to get its hands on.
Wealth levels matter even more. You’ll see descriptors like "Struggling," "Developing," or "Opulent." Always look for the high-tier systems. Descriptions like Opulent, Wealthy, Advanced, or Affluent mean the space stations have more stock and, more importantly, better buy/sell margins. If you’re trading in a "Torn" or "Destitute" economy, you’re basically trying to sell a Ferrari in a village that only uses barter. It doesn’t work.
Breaking the Trade Routes
You've probably heard of "Economy Crashing." It’s the old-school way. You take a massive stack of Cobalt, sell it all at once to tank the price, then buy it back for pennies. Hello Games has tweaked this over the years to make it less broken, but the core mechanic of supply and demand still exists.
However, the real pro move is Trade Expansion.
Buy an Economy Scanner for your ship. It’s non-negotiable. Without it, you’re flying blind. Once it’s installed, you can see a system’s economic health from the map. You want to buy "Local Specialty" items—things like Micro-Lathes or Neural Ducts. These items have a purple, green, or blue background. They serve no purpose other than being sold elsewhere.
Look at the percentage numbers in the scanner. You want a high "Sell" percentage and a low "Buy" percentage. A "Sell" of +60% is the gold standard.
The Manufacturing Loop
- Buy from Mining (Orange)
- Sell to Manufacturing (Yellow)
- Buy from Manufacturing
- Sell to Technology (Light Blue)
- Buy from Technology
- Sell back to Mining
It sounds tedious. It's really not. Once you have a teleporter in each system, you can finish this circuit in five minutes and walk away with 20 million Units. No mining lasers required. Just pure arbitrage.
Why the System Type Changes Everything
Not all items are created equal. In No Man's Sky economies, the "Type" of economy determines the specific trade goods available.
If you're in a Power Generation system, you're looking for things like "Enriched Carbon." These are cheap there. But take those to a Mining system? They don't want them. They have their own stuff. You need to take those Power goods to a Scientific system.
It’s a bit like real-world logistics. You wouldn't try to sell sand in the Sahara. You'd take it to a glass factory in a different "zone." The game rewards you for being a literal space-trucker.
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The Outlaw Factor
Since the Outlaws update, the game added a whole new layer: Black Market economies. These are indicated by a little skull icon on your map.
These places are wild. The rules of standard No Man's Sky economies don't apply here. You can buy "Contraband"—stuff like Grahgrah or Banned Medicine. These items are incredibly cheap in pirate systems but carry massive profit margins in regulated, high-security systems.
The catch? Sentinels.
If you warp into a high-security system with a hold full of Grahgrah, the authorities will scan you. If you don't have a Cargo Scan Deflector (and a bit of luck), they're coming for you. It’s high-risk, high-reward. For players who find standard trading boring, smuggling is the way to go. You’re looking at 200% to 300% profit per item if you can dodge the fuzz.
Forget Mining, Start Crafting
Eventually, you’ll grow out of simple trading. You’ll want the big bucks—the Stasis Devices and Fusion Ignitors. These are the "endgame" of No Man's Sky economies.
One Stasis Device is worth 15.6 million Units.
To make one, you need a complex chain of minerals and plants. You’ll need a farm for Frost Crystals, Solanium, and Star Bulbs. You’ll need gas extractors for Nitrogen, Radon, and Sulphurine. It’s a literal industrial empire. This is where the game shifts from an exploration sim to a resource management sim.
Most players get overwhelmed here. Don't. Start small. Build a base on a lush planet and just grow some Gamma Weed. Turn that into Lubricant. Sell that. Then move up to Living Glass. The complexity scales with your ambition.
The Frigate Passive Income
If you really want to be lazy—and let’s be honest, who doesn't?—you need a Freighter.
Once you have a fleet of Frigates, you can send them on missions. Trade-focused missions are specifically designed to interact with No Man's Sky economies. Your ships go out, they do the "trading" for you, and they come back with cold, hard cash and rare items.
It’s the ultimate passive income. You log in, debrief your commanders, collect 5 million Units, and go about your day. If you equip your Freighter with trade-buffing modules, those numbers only go up. It’s basically a mobile printing press for money.
Practical Steps to Mastering the Market
Stop grinding. Start thinking. The game gives you all the tools; you just have to stop treating your Multi-tool like a pickaxe and start treating it like a calculator.
- Install the Economy Scanner immediately. You can find the blueprint at the Space Anomaly for a few Nanites. It is the single most important tool for wealth generation.
- Focus on T3 (Wealthy) systems. Don't waste time in "Developing" or "Struggling" systems unless you’re looking for specific crashed ships. The margins are too thin.
- Establish a Teleporter Network. Once you find a system with a +60% sell rate for your goods, drop a tiny base with a teleporter. Name it something obvious like "SELL HUB - TECHNOLOGY."
- Watch the Inventory. Use your "Cargo" slots for trade goods. They hold more, and you won't accidentally sell your life-support fuel.
- Check the Galactic Trade Terminal AND the Pilots. Sometimes the NPCs landing their ships in the station have better prices or different stock than the wall terminal. Talk to them.
- Diversify. If you sell 500 stacks of a trade good in one system, the price will crater. Move to the next system in your loop while the first one recovers. It takes about 3 hours of real-time play for a crashed economy to reset.
The universe is infinite, but your bank account doesn't have to be empty. No Man's Sky economies reward the observant. Find a loop, exploit the pirates, and build your farm. Before you know it, you'll be the one laughing at the guy still mining Silicate Powder for pocket change.