This article lists the exact route of the long and short trade loops as well as the exact item(s) to buy and sell on each route. If you are interested in having these spelled out explicitly, read on; however if you prefer a more immersive and spoiler-free experience, you may want to stop here and discover them for yourself in-game.

Note that by default, many of the trade routes on both loops are not actually profitable at the beginning of the game; you may have to complete a relevant quest before some items' prices and merchant supplies become suitable for profitable trade (or, you can just disable the Quest Effects feature in the options; refer to the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/232]FEATURE DETAILS article[/url]).

Your starting point doesn't matter for either loop, of course, since they are both complete cycles; Haafingar is listed first simply because it's the capital. Both trade loops also have a number of optional stops to incorporate new lands added by supported mods, if they're installed.

[b][u][color=yellow]Long Trade Loop[/color][/u][/b]

With default option settings and a supported Speech perk mod (or no Speech perk mod at all), the routes that make up the long trade loop become profitable (with about a 10% margin) with 20 Speech skill and two perk points in Haggling. Since the default settings only guarantee about 1000 gold worth of trade goods to be available for purchase at each stop, this means you can expect about a 100 gold profit on each leg of the loop (buy ~1000 gold worth, sell it for ~1100 gold).

[list]
[*]from Haafingar take moonstone to the Rift, after completing [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Soljund%27s_Sinkhole_(quest)]Soljund's Sinkhole[/url]
[i](or moonstone to Elsweyr, then skooma to the Rift, after completing [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Supply_and_Demand]Supply and Demand[/url])[/i]

[*]from the Rift take Blackbriar Mead to the Pale

[*]from the Pale take quicksilver to the Reach
[i](or quicksilver to Solstheim, then ebony to the Reach, after completing [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:The_Final_Descent]The Final Descent[/url])[/i]

[*]from the Reach take gold & silver to Winterhold, after completing [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Kolskeggr_Mine_(quest)]Kolskeggr Mine[/url] and/or [url=http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Sanuarach_Mine_(quest)]Sanuarach Mine[/url]

[*]from Winterhold take empty soul gems to Hjaalmarch
[i](or spell tomes to Wyrmstooth, then empty soul gems to Hjaalmarch)[/i]

[*]from Hjaalmarch take marsh ingredients to Falkreath
[i](or marsh ingredients to Falskaar, then Amber Mead to Falkreath)[/i]

[*]from Falkreath take orichalcum to Eastmarch

[*]from Eastmarch take malachite to Haafingar
[/list]
[b][u][color=yellow]Short Trade Loop[/color][/u][/b]

The short trade routes have a smaller potential profit margin than the long routes, so they aren't profitable at all until later in the game, and even when they turn a small profit they may not initially be worthwhile compared to the long loop. But (with default settings and supported Speech perks) with 60 Speech skill, four Haggling perks and at least +30% Fortify Barter (from, for example, a Blessing of Zenithar and a good quality Necklace of Haggling), the short loop will begin to yield a higher profit per hour than the long loop due to its much shorter travel time for each route on the loop.

[list]
[*]from Haafingar take quicksilver to the Reach
[i](or Illusion spell tomes to Wyrmstooth, then ebony & empty soul gems to the Reach)[/i]

[*]from the Reach take dwarven metal to Whiterun

[*]from Whiterun take marsh ingredients to Falkreath

[*]from Falkreath take moonstone to the Rift
[i](or moonstone to Elsweyr, then skooma to the Rift)[/i]

[*]from the Rift take orichalcum to Eastmarch

[*]from Eastmarch take malachite to Winterhold
[i](or corundum & steel to Solstheim, then gems to Winterhold)[/i]

[*]from Winterhold take Alteration spell tomes to the Pale
[i](or any spell tomes to Falskaar, then flower ingredients to the Pale)[/i]

[*]from the Pale take empty soul gems to Hjaalmarch

[*]from Hjaalmarch take mushrooms to Haafingar
[/list]