Trade

Trade of resources in Starcom: Unknown Space represents the basic economy.
It is possible to acquire resources via primary industry (harvesting resources from anomalies or from natural sources such as asteroids). Anomalies would mostly represent a non-renewable resource, whereas some resources in the game replenish slowly (renewable resources).
Resources can be also be gained and lost through the spawning and destruction of vessels.
Other factions do not actively trade, so the player and their activities are the only market forces which can affect the trade prices for resources in comparison to each other (i.e. the only actions which have any supply and demand effects).
Making use of the Trade Analysis technology and the prices which different factions charge for the same resource, some conclusions can be drawn.
(A faction's reserve currency is shown highlighted in yellow).
For example, the resource preferences of the Ermyr Defenders indicate that they desire Titanium, Platinum, and Neutronium. They will pay more for these resources if offered -- but they will also demand more to part with them.
Similarly, the Ermyr Defenders do not prefer Silver, Yttrium, DiBeryllium, Etherine, or Adamantine, and so will charge less (and pay less) for these resources.
Important to note: This chart does not show the degree to which a faction will give the player favorable pricing overall, or squeeze them for each transaction. Also important to note are market forces -- A sudden move by a faction (e.g. the player) to buy up all the Aluminum will increase demand for it, and artificially increase its price (possibly higher than Copper or Silver). Similarly, a large supply of Copper appearing on the market will tend to decrease its price, as it becomes less scarce.
Players are encouraged to experiment with different trade approaches and see if it becomes possible to turn a profit by moving resources between factions in large amounts.