completely agree badger, I'm just saying let's not delude ourselves here. Make your roll, but please don't tell me you are productive and virtuous.
Definitely the intellectual challenge of figuring out the market puzzle. All of you guys who are so worried about "social value" should just automate your strategies and then go do charity work during trading hours, if you're so bent out of shape by how you make your money. No one is stopping you. Seems to me that the fact that you continue to trade undermines the credibility of your rhetoric.
It's the ultimate intellectual challenge. like a gigantic piece of multi dimensional chess with infinite amount of variables to consider. Thats a main part that still makes trading so fun after doing this for 10 years. It's sort outs the smart people from the not so smart people. If you are right, you win and money is transfered from other peoples pockets to your pocket. Then there is also the human psychology side of it, it reward good traits (discipline, patience, etc) and punish bad traits. It makes you a better human in some sense, doesn't it.
Agreed w/ excellent quote from Ayn Rand... If help changing the world is on your agenda... maybe being some sort of politician or scientist can better serve you... trading is something I will always enjoy.
That's a rather ignorant comment. Speculators are chiefly responsible for price discovery, liquidity and bear risk for producers/hedgers. Non-speculative markets - dominated by producers and wholesalers - are often manipulated to the detriment of consumers, with higher spreads, and the market itself far more illiquid. In non-speculative markets, there's no bid in periods of glut. And no offer, in periods of drought. This distorts prices far below and above fundamental value, which is then acted upon by producers and consumers who interpret those distorted prices as true market indicators, and over-invest in supply/capacity, or alter their consumption/production habits. This creates further distortion as when the glut lifts, most producers have changed their fields to another crop, or new business were created that depended on cheap supplies of xyz. Speculators smooth out the price cycle, recognize value where suppliers/consumers want none, and ensure orderly future production/consumption.
You mean to say this does not happen in speculative markets? I think the "price discovery" of commodities would disagree with you strongly. This effect certainly happens also in speculative markets. Look at all the cotton farmers who are hamstering their harvest.
Did I say that? No. I said speculation smooths out price extreme's inherent in nonspeculative markets. It's a relative statement. Most of the price spikes and crashes in speculative markets result from artificial manipulation in credit markets and the attendant effects of variations in the money supply (read: fractional reserve banking). Relative to gold, a lot of those apparently "crashing" or spiking commodities retain a fairly static value. Now do the gold test in non speculative commodity markets and it paints a far different picture. Also, non-speculative markets under the current monetary system would be far more volatile.
I've worked shitty jobs, i've owned a couple businesses, but trading.... Not having to deal with a boss or a customer face to face hearing them bitch is why I am proud to be a trader.