How to Make Money Fast in No Man’s Sky (2025)

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home April 2, 2025 5 Views 13 Min Read
How to Make Money Fast in No Man's Sky (2025)



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Making money fast in No Man’s Sky doesn’t have to be hard, even when players start their first or fifth Traveler. Since units, the currency primarily used for a lot of buying and selling in No Man’s Sky, is essential to moving up in the galaxy, having a lot of it allows Travelers to buy new spaceships or purchase resources instead of mining them to save money.

Traditional methods of earning units are typically completing missions, creating goods and selling them, or mining resources like gold and selling them on the market. While those methods are effective, there’s an even easier and faster way to make a lot of money fast.

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How To Make Money Fast in No Man’s Sky

No Man's Sky Market

The best way to make money fast in No Man’s Sky is to become a capitalist. This means buying trade goods at steeply discounted prices and reselling them to other systems at high prices. The best capitalists know how the economy works in No Man’s Sky. Here’s how to get started.

Admittedly, Travelers will need a bit of money to start, but since the game dumps players on a planet at the beginning, there are plenty of resources around to mine and gather. To make this process efficient, take the starship into the sky and mine a few asteroids to get a bit of gold. Players don’t need to spend a lot of time here. Just mine enough gold to earn around 10,000 units.

With a starting fund, head to the nearest space station. Remember that this is a strategy that players can do on day one. By the end of the day, it’s possible to have over 1,000,000 units already.

Once Travelers arrive at the space station, they should head to the Galactic Trade Terminal, which is built into the wall opposite the teleporter. First, sell all the gold in the starship inventory to create starting funds.

Figure Out the Economy

Economy Information in Discoveries Tab No Man's Sky

Now that players have a starting fund, click on the “Buy” tab. This is where things get interesting. Depending on the economy that the Traveler is in, there should be a few trade goods listed to buy. There are seven economies in No Man’s Sky. They include:

  • Technology Economy
  • Power Generation Economy
  • Mining Economy
  • Trading Economy
  • Advanced Materials Economy
  • Scientific Economy
  • Manufacturing Economy

Players can discover the type of economy they’re in by looking at the Discoveries tab and examining the system they’re in. Hover over the system’s name on the left, and it will offer a few details about it, including the economy.

Each economy has a few descriptors that help players understand which major economy it falls under. In the example above, the system has an Engineering Economy, which falls under the Technology Economy umbrella. Below is a list of all the descriptors and the major economies they fall under.

Economy:

Descriptors:

Trading Economy
  • Mercantile
  • Trading
  • Shipping
  • Commercial

Advanced Material Economy
  • Advanced Materials
  • Alchemical
  • Metal Processing
  • Material Fusion

Scientific Economy
  • Scientific
  • Research
  • Experimental
  • Mathematical

Mining Economy
  • Mining
  • Minerals
  • Ore Extraction
  • Prospecting

Manufacturing Economy
  • Manufacturing
  • Industrial
  • Construction
  • Mass Production

Technology Economy
  • High Tech
  • Technology
  • Nano-construction
  • Engineering

Power Generation Economy
  • Power Generation
  • Energy Supply
  • Fuel Generation
  • High Voltage

When looking at a system via the teleporter, players will also notice a certain icon that identifies each economy. Take a look below to see which icon symbolizes each economy:

  • Pickaxe: Mining
  • Book/Glyph: Technology
  • Potion Bottle: Scientific
  • Compass/Stopwatch: Trading
  • Chromosome: Advanced Materials
  • Gear and Cog: Manufacturing
  • Battery: Power Generation

The type of economy a player is in is important because it establishes where they are in one of the trade routes. In No Man’s Sky, two major economic trade routes can make players a lot of money fast and easily. The hardest part is finding the different economies, especially when players are just starting. The best thing that new players can do is travel to as many different systems as possible, even if they’re right next door to the current system. Players can later refine their trade routes, but to just get started, finding systems for each economy is a great first step.

The two trade routes that players can follow link certain economies together. They do not intersect with each other. That said, a player can make luxury or exotic goods and potentially sell them across trade routes. However, players should focus on one trade route at a time when it comes to buying and selling strictly trade goods. The trade routes are as follows:

  • Trade Route 1: Technology Economy > Power Generation Economy > Mining Economy > Manufacturing Economy > Technology Economy (Cycle Repeats)
  • Trade Route 2: Trading Economy > Advanced Materials Economy > Scientific Economy > Trading Economy (Cycle Repeats)

Buy Discounted Trade Goods

Buying Discounted Trade Goods No Man's Sky

The next step is to buy as many discounted trade goods as possible. Players just starting may only be able to buy a few trade goods. That’s okay, since they will receive a lot more units on the next part of the trade route. In the picture above, the trade good this economy (Engineering – Technology Economy) sells is Decommissioned Circuits. It’s discounted by 11%.

After buying as many as possible, Travelers must head next to a space station with a Power Generation Economy. According to Trade Route 1, a Power Generation Economy is the next step after buying from a Technology Economy. With the example above, the Traveler has purchased 24 Decommissioned Circuits for 22,274 units.

Sell Inflated Trade Goods

Selling Trade Goods in No Man's Sky

Players may need to travel a while until they find the perfect economy. The good news is that it will be a lot easier to travel back in the future since Travelers can just fast travel to visited systems via the teleporter in the space station or at their bases.

Players should always visit every space station they come across to make space travel faster in the future.

If players travel to a system with an economy that’s next in the trade route, they should notice that the trade goods they just purchased are highly valued when they access the trade terminal. Sell everything and make a profit. In the example above, the Traveler sold 24 Decommissioned Circuit Boards at 44,033 units, a 74.7% inflated price. That means they made 21,759 units in profit.

That amount may seem small, but remember that this is in the early stages. As Travelers gain more wealth with this process, they can buy more trade goods at discounted prices and sell them at high prices, earning more units each time. It’s certainly easier than hunting down trade ships and having the whole system come after the player.

Even more importantly, the process took less than five minutes. By going down the trade route a few times, Travelers can make money fast in No Man’s Sky in hardly any time at all.

What are Economy Strengths and Economy Modifiers in No Man’s Sky

Vykeen Space Station No Man's Sky

There’s one more aspect of the economy in No Man’s Sky that players should get a handle on to really work the system and make money fast. There are three different economic strengths that an economy can have. The stronger an economy is, the more items it will have for sale. This is important because Travelers who want to make the most money as fast as possible will want access to as many trade goods as possible. At the very least, they want access to the most expensive trade good.

The three economic strengths are weak, average, and strong. When looking at the economic information of a system, there will be a descriptor beside the economic descriptor. Using the previously used example, the Juduppka system has Engineering and Low Supply. This means that the economy is weak. Below is a table of the different economic strengths and their descriptors:

Economic Strength:

Descriptors:

Weak
  • Declining
  • Destitute
  • Failing
  • Fledgling
  • Low Supply
  • Struggling
  • Unsuccessful
  • Unpromising

Average
  • Adequate
  • Balanced
  • Comfortable
  • Developing
  • Medium Supply
  • Promising
  • Satisfactory
  • Sustainable

Strong
  • Advanced
  • Affluent
  • Booming
  • Flourishing
  • High Supply
  • Opulent
  • Prosperous
  • Wealthy

If players see any of the weak descriptors, they know that the system isn’t going to have many trade goods for sale. It may not be worth making part of a trade route since players likely won’t have access to high-value trade goods. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if players see a strong descriptor, it should have many high-value trade goods. It’s worth putting on a trade route.

Economic modifiers are another variable to consider. Certain systems have high sell and low buy modifiers. Players can see these when they’re buying a trade good. They’re either a green or red percentage. The best high sell modifiers are typically in the 70%-80% range, so if players see a percentage in that range when selling items, they know they’re getting the best price in the galaxy. The best low buy modifiers are typically in the 20%-30% range, so if players see a percentage in that range when buying items, they also know they’re getting the best price.

Keep the percentages in mind when exploring different systems to trade in. One system may look promising, but it may have a poor sell modifier or buy modifier that won’t give players the best profit margin.

Finally, players will want to establish a few different routes to jump between. As players saturate a system with trade goods, they’ll want those items less and less. Supply and demand matter. If players notice that items aren’t selling as well as they used to, then it’s worth finding a new system for a time. By rinsing and repeating this method, Travelers will make tons of money fast in No Man’s Sky.

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