Trading = profitable and less risky than mining. Also I think that with the amount of new commodities, there must be really good trade routes.
Problems with trading are:
> a trader tries to actively avoid interaction (safety reasons). That's not good for rp.
> a trader is a moving, so most interaction is "Hi!" and "see you" between traders. That's not good for rp.
> a trader needs 2 NPC bases to do his job and earn credits. That's not good for rp.
That's why I like mining to be a real rival to trading.
Last mod, people flocked to trading after the nerf of mining and the interaction frequency decreased badly. Also the mining infratsructure broke down because you need player-player interactions in mining (in contrast to player-NPC base interaction in trading). Now you can find miners, you can buy ore, you can work together because there are people there. Also hubs (mining fields) create points for rp (miners, traders, pirates, raiders) have places to go to and meet.
Everything is okay as it is now. And: it's much better than it used to be.
