DislikedHi dear Strat, I have a philosophical question for you. I have a very good friend, who is often questioning how trading can be a "good " thing. He says we don't produce anything, we sit and "play", we stay apart and don't keep in touch (real touch..not online of course) with other human being and so on...
...Ignored
I will only answer by quoting an article of from Dr. Brett Steenbarger and I'm sure things will clear up for you (original source here):
It's a question that arises for many traders. So many occupations derive their nobility from contributing to the welfare of others in direct ways. Where is the nobility in trading?
In my reply, echoing Ayn Rand, I challenged the notion that nobility is solely or primarily a function of assisting others.
In mastering risk and uncertainty; in learning to pursue opportunity in effortful ways; in making ourselves better as decision makers; in becoming more disciplined actors; we improve ourselves as human beings. That carries over to many areas of life, so that we can become better business partners, spouses, parents, and friends.
Indeed, this might be the most important distinction between trading well and trading poorly: When we trade well, we make ourselves stronger, better; we tap into the best within us. When we trade poorly, we succumb to our lowest common denominators.
The value of trading is the value of any competitive performance activity: in its mastery, we become just a bit closer to our ideals--and that ripples throughout our lives.
P.S. If the entire planet will trade there WILL be a market to trade, it has nothing to do with the market itself. That was a horrible example, I could say that about any "profitable" occupation (top soccer player, rock star - like Strat is etc).
P.P.S. You have wotk on your beliefs, you must have a valid and realistic philosophy of the trading activity, if you believe it is not noble and you don't contribute anything to the society I'm afraid you'll end up sabotaging yourself.