Personnaly speaking though I would be bored to death trading so I usually spend my time moving around in search for things to blow up. If you want fun long-term goals to strive for, there are some ships that can not be bought, more or less rare or hard to acquire, a treasure for the connoisseur (think xenon ships, or pirate capital ships, with experience you'll also find some less obvious ones like paranid Agamemnon or prototype ships,...). If you feel adventurous, you can try to clear a xenon system of any silicoid lifeform (don't expect to hold on to it though). You might also discover nice stuff just wandering around. I'm sure you can think of more while playing. It's a confusing experience but worth it eventually.
Good luck pilot
