trading

TradeThis article is about the economical mechanism. For other uses, see Trade (disambiguation).Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Later one side of the barter were the metals, precious metals (poles, coins), bill, paper money. Modern traders instead generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and later credit, paper money and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade.
Trade exists for man due to specialization and division of labor, most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size allows for the benefits of mass production. As such, trade at market prices between locations benefits both locations.
Trading can also refer to the action performed by traders and other market agents in the financial markets.
Trader (finance)In finance, a trader is someone who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and derivatives. It is important to understand that a broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them.
Traders are either professionals working in a financial institution or a corporation, or individual investors, or day traders. They buy and sell financial instruments traded in the stock markets, derivatives markets and commodity markets, comprising the stock exchanges, derivatives exchanges and the commodities exchanges. Several categories and designations for diverse kinds of traders are found in finance, these may include:
stock trader day trader pattern day trader swing trader floor trader rogue trader