I love how everyone gets all philosophical over the weekends my definition would be... Take and KEEP enough money from other traders/investors to be able to do what you want, trade bigger, buy real estate, get into politics, retire. However there are different kinds of traders I guess, there are those people that actually trade to hedge their business risk but since this is et I'm assuming we are talking about individual traders. A more interesting aspect of this topic is if this job actually creates anything of value or if it is just completely self serving. I know we pay the peoples salary at the brokerage firms, we provide liquidity to the markets, we pay taxes and we buy stuff but it's the money we keep in the end that can make the world a better place. Although I can't really argue those who say -who gives a shit about making the world a better place, the rest of the world wouldn't even know if I didn't exist and society does nothing to help me why should I help it?- My new car's license plate says PARASYT, parasite wouldn't fit but that is what I am and I'm proud of it!
I'm actually a very spiritual person and trading has made me all the more spiritual, allowing me to share my spirituality with the world, thereby making it a better place. My new car's license plate says DOWIST. I practice Dowism.
To me a trader's job is basically to take on (and manage) risk. That's really what it boils down to, and depending on whether we do it skillfully or not we either get paid, don't get paid, or PAY other traders. To break it down into its components I'd say would be: 1) identify market opportunities; 2) assess the risk/reward of each opportunity; 3) take on the risk; 4) manage the risk according to strict discipline and a positive expectancy.
A trader's job is to assume the risk hedgers do not want and to pass that risk to other traders who think they can profit further from it. It is an important job for the economy because it provides a way to transfer risk. Managing risk is a full time job. Agriculture, FX, and interest rate trading are all examples of how traders have lowered costs for everyone. I would suggest trading is a positive sum game for society because traders provide the all necessary risk transference that is sorely needed.
"So, what's a trader's job, if you break it down into the component parts?" A thought-provoking question, thanks. As a sytematic trader, I don't think of trading as a job, but rather as an opportunity for me as an amateur applied mathematician to make money while having fun doing statistical research on a subject who never complains of my poking and prodding.