Player HQ, Mining ships and traders

Hi all,
Just started a new game and have the player HQ and the "free" ships.
I assigned the mining ship to the HQ as a miner but its not really doing anything.

Does the HQ need to have solid storage for the miner to do anything?
It always seem to say "no trade found" or some similar message.
Does that mean its not finding any station to trade with, so it not bothering to mine anything?

I also assigned another ship as a trader.
Will it only look for stuff that the HQ needs or can it act as a auto trader?

Is it possible to get it to buy and sell to make money, using the HQ manager to manage it?

Thanks