There should be enough liquidity to the market without the traders to negate any benefit the traders might provide. In other words, does the added extra liquidity that the trader provides to the market outweigh the price overhead incurred by the trader... probably not! Do you really think lower commissions are the result of traders? Probably not! Cost efficiency though technology and automation is the main reason for lower commissions.
A traders profits come from somewhere and it is probably not from the rich or big financial institutions, but most likely the middle class and their retirement funds. Granted some of the profit is from appreciation of having a temporary investment, but traders have invested interest for only a matter of minutes vs. months let alone years. It is natural to try and justify your actions in life. Killers, rapist, drug dealers, insider traders... do it all the time. Lets face it, if you want to be a benefit to society, then find another way to make money and stop trying to fool yourself into thinking trading actually benefits society. Society could use more medical researchers... finding a cure for cancer... now that is benefiting society. Trading only benefits the trader, their family and their broker.
Not another trader trying to justify the practice! I know my trading does not benefit society. I leave that to my day job!
