Profitable traders take capital from the hands of unprofitable traders, thereby increasing efficiency of overall allocation. You want to feel like a cog, there you go.
short sellers show the flaws in companies that perhaps attempted to boost stock price through BS news and PR campaigns, or correct misconceptions about the quality of companies.
Still better than many "real jobs", such as selling sugar water to the obese public....Does a bank make anything? what about a lawyer? Consider yourself in the most under-appreciated class.
WTF are you talking about?!! You're providing liquidity and taking on market risk. If you don't have a clue what you're doing, you should start looking at something else to do.
LOL, that's some of the funniest sh*t I have ever read. The rationalization is not surprising, I used to feel the same way. But it's hard to deny the truth once you see the paper pushing charade. It's too bad most of this economy is nothing more than bullsh*t, it's sad that even if you do want to get out there and do something truly meaningful, you would most likely be struggling to keep above the poverty line. It's also sad how some paper pusher who makes a ton of money is glorified while the real worker who brings you life-sustaining products gets mocked. It's even sadder how the truly meaningful and noble professions are corrupted in this profit driven world. I'm pointing at big pharma, healthcare and big agri, in case you cannot figure it out. I know it's hard to believe, but there are much more important things going on in the real world than the % return on your account. You know, like the environment you live in. Of course if you ever choose to believe the studies that claim there is no such thing as global warming, do the following: 1) Go behind a running car (preferably a Hummer) 2) Breathe in the exhaust a few times 3) See how you feel 4) Ask yourself whether the flow of these fumes into our atmosphere at a growing rate makes sense.
Cash Money, You attitude is both dangerous and wrong. Trading in the off-setting of risks that naturally occur as a result of commerce. The broad public does not really accept these risk and thinks that it is some sort of mismanagement by corporations or government. Because they do not accept this risks as something that needs to be dealt with they do not accept the people who deal with it. In fact many people attach the "evil" of the risk to the people who try to deal with it. Without traders employing capital to spread out risk to manageable levels the global economy would halt.
You might feel as if you do not deserve to make a lot of money. Perhaps you do not feel entitled to make a lot of money. The feelings might prevent you from achieving greater success. I recall deliberately going around feeling worthless for some days a while ago. My worthless feeling passes. My feeling of worthlessness disappears.
Something similar happened to me when I left my job to trade. Some b1tch said to me, my only contribution to the society is the volume on the futures contracts. Now she call once every 2 or 3 days for tips. Why? Cause her commission base job is not her, and she want to learn the market so she can trade (I told her to read but she say no)... They put you down, cause you can make a living on your own, and they can't. You are not depending on a company or the government, you are the company. You research, you develop your skills, you are creating wealth on your own, for yourself; rather than selling time to a company. What's more meaningful (to yourself) than that? To boost on that, maybe you can Spend more time with your family? and give financial support to one of those 3rd world kids for education...
Trade a foreign market. I haul money out of american and european markets and bring it into the UK where I pay tax and contribute to the country's GDP. It's an import business, I import cash. I also help bloomberg, reuters, cqg, TT and a trading arcade etc employ people to service me. Create nothing - pah!