It's really just a way for winning traders to make themselves feel better about robbing losing traders so as not acknowledge their victimhood.
At least when studying, the "who am I hurting here?" thoughts cross most minds. That goes away https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/
If I win I never care who is losing, as nobody ever cared about me when I made big losses. I don't feel better or worse in the market, I have no feelings there. Trading is business. Robbing is not correct too. Each trade happens between two parties that voluntarily make a deal without being forced. It is their free will and wish. Feelings are connected with people I care about and that care about me.
I worked in a prop shop for a time and saw this play out every single day. Trading alone, my fiercest opponent continues to be my own unconscious self.
Actualy I agree whole-heartedly with @Jzwu2017 There is a social stigma attached with trading especially for some of us who come from science and engineering. I do believe folks with a math background are better served in trading for larger profits than working for a software company making money for some business dude. But I have come to realize that "contribution to society" is overrated. Every business is designed to generate a profit and the profit comes from giving value to society. As traders, we profit from arbitraging risk. Somebody pays us money to hold risk for a given period of time and we unload it for profit. No different from other businesses. My real-estate business is designed to arbitrage leveraged capital and provide a place of shelter for certain class of people with poor credit. My consulting business is arbitraging human capital for short periods of time to companies that do not have the facilities to acquire talent speedily. Trading isn't any different. Seykota may have said what he said as total tongue-in-cheek comment during the wizards interview. However, we derive meaning in this based on various set of beliefs. Its hope for us traders to see a path in all of this.
A trader friend here in Colombia, another European Gringo had an insight that helps me a lot. 1. Conflict is connected to the fear of loss & conflict is a skill, you exercise or you lose it. As a typical western citizen you don't encounter situations in everyday life that stimulate the limbic system. You become soft & some neurotic behaviors are normalised. Paralyzing fear kills in trading, anxiety bleeds you dry. 2. Though military experience for example helps the re-training it is only so-so effective. Our neuro-plastic adaption de-tunes, behaviors learned in early childhood are strongly fixed but it is hard to keep a behavior sharp as an adult. 3. Get out and do *charity work, hands on down and dirty. They win, you win. *If not that, something that immerses one in uncomfortable situations and conflict.
"After playing his banjo and having us all sing the lyrics to his market lessons song, he candidly spoke about his experiences. What follows are my takeaways from that talk. I trust Ed’s wisdom will ring a bell with you as well." One good trend pays for them all. Accept just enough risk so you can sleep well at night. When prices break through your stops, pull the trigger and sell. News: we stash that flash in the trash. Ignore the “newsamentals”. Betting the right size matters bigtime. Most investors get stressed and need to stop the pain, so they use medicinal strategies instead of doing the right thing. You have to notice trends early. If you wait and only participate in them when they’ve gone exponentially vertical, it’s too late. Look for a fresh trend. Plow money back into your trading portfolio. Don’t make a big profit and then run out to buy a new Porsche. When trend traders begin to lose interest, momentum starts to turn negative. There are no Holy Grails. You just have to do the work, follow your disciplines and trends, and then cut your losses. It’s that basic. Know where you’ll get out before you get in. I have no demons. I’m a blessed man. Luck is just a fat tail or outlier on a normal distribution. Luck happens. If it happens to you, manage it with humility and use stops. The folks I mentor who wash out are those who just cannot control their feelings like I ask them to do. They can’t accept their own emotional landscape. The trading adrenaline does diminish over time and with experience. The objective is to rid yourself of it – totally. http://stockcharts.com/articles/journal/2013/11/when-market-wizard-ed-seykota-speaks-i-listen.html
Seykota is talking about trading situations where you are solely and directly responsible for the outcome.