Traders don’t make anything. Trading do not create any value. Well actually they do. Traders make markets.
When a manufacturing company that makes something wants to raise cash to fund their operations they can borrow money or sell stock. What if the company needs more money than is available from private sources, friends and family, angels, VCs? They go to the capital markets. The financial markets are really just a giant pricing mechanism. Traders make these markets. It is their job to assess the value of companies or of commodities like corn, gold or oil. Traders grease the wheels of the economy.
People are wrong when they say traders create no value. Traders “make” prices. Sometimes they make prices we don’t like. Why is the price of oil so high? The traders are stealing all our money. Nope. Oil is running out. If supply is 85 million barrels / day and demand is 86 or 87 and rising, prices go up. It’s like blaming the weather wo(man) for bad weather.
Some traders carried away and do stupid things. Business that make real things never do that, do they?