The Free Trade Association is the modern-day equivalent to the Imperial Free Traders, a loosely organized group of merchants, speculators, explorers, and privateers that banded together in the old Empires to resist the pressures of the Merchant Guilds and the Imperium taxes.  Free Traders were often considered to be outlaws and rebels in the old Imperium, and that reputation survives to today, although the FTA is a more legitimate organization than the Imperial Free Traders ever were.

The FTA is currently responsible for about 20% of all interstellar shipping within the Republic, and an unaccounted for amount outside the Republic's borders.  Unlike the Mercantile Guild which prefers to operate within the Republic Worlds, the FTA operates trade routes to outside worlds and empires, including the Minjini Imperate and the Solomani Confederation.  The FTA is supported in part by corporate concerns, including megacorps, and the Alliance of Commerce.

Life as a Free Trader is often a lonely and dangerous one. The Free Trader often goes out on extended runs of several months, visiting a half-dozen worlds before returning to home port.  Along the way, Traders face danger from local world governments, pirates, Eristicon Ships, and even the Mercantile Guild, which views Free Traders as a threat to their existance, and often take illegal action against them in the deep of space.  Free Traders also face isolation, spending a large percentage of their time in jump, with usually a very small crew.

To help combat the dangers of life as a Free Trader, the FTA provides a number of services, using monies from a (modest) dues system, and corporate sponsorship.  The FTA operates a number of "Safe Ports", subdivisions of starports or in-system bases that are completely independently operated.  FTA members can buy fuel and equipment there at reasonable prices.  The FTA also operates a discounted equipment program where traders can buy surplus or used ship components, including defensive weapon systems and sensors, directly from the equipment manufacturers.  These manufacturers usually get a break on FTA run shipping in exchange for providing these discounts.

The FTA and the Mercantile Guild do not get along.  The two groups have consistantly come into conflict with each other by legal and illegal means.  Both groups have lobbied the Republic to increase restrictions and controls on the other; both groups have been caught in incidents where their members have been guilty of attacking the other, in space and on the ground.  It is not universally true that a known FTA member and a Guildsman will come into conflict on sight; indeed, the majority of the members of both groups are law abiding and do not instigate conflicts.

The membership of the FTA is approximately 2.6 Million, making it substantially smaller than the Mercantile Guild.  There are a larger number of FTA affilliates, which are corporations, governments and individuals which do not pay dues, but which assist or support the FTA in various ways.  Affiliate membership is loosely tracked, which makes exact accounting difficult.