I think it's a fantastic idea

It would be fantastic improvement into the game. They would need to implement a log of all the trades made, so that people cannot just trade 10million deut for 1 metal, no multi-accounting stuff, like they are supposedly implementing sometime in the future for transports.
I don't completely agree with trading with rubies, it makes this more of a P2W game, but it makes it so that people are more likely to pay for rubies, which means it may be more likely for this to be implemented. I would prefer it without the ruby trading, but it would be great either way.

alright im glad this topic became a hit...and with all the positive feedback i hope its one day implemented...as for ruby trading that is kinda unbalancing...in another game i play(its down for a rebuild) you could trade in game currency but it wasnt popular...it also had ship for ship trades which is pretty good...lol if at the least ship to ship was implemented i would sell RIPs for BCs...obviously XD