noun
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a person who engages in trade; dealer; merchant
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a vessel regularly employed in foreign or coastal trade
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stock exchange a member who operates mainly on his or her own account rather than for customers' accounts
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trader
Explanation
A trader is a person who either buys goods and resells them, like a merchant who runs a store or a person who buys and sells stocks and bonds. The original meaning of trader was "one engaged in commerce," meaning someone who makes a living buying things and selling them at a profit. Originally, traders would literally trade goods for other goods, while today most of them trade goods for money. Financial traders work solely with money, buying and selling currency, stocks, bonds, and funds.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A fee imposed on a large retailer is very different from one imposed on a tiny shop or informal trader.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The president and director of Laniakea is Matthew Wage, a Jane Street trader, tax filings show.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
As the Houston energy trader struggled and racked up $30 billion in debt, chief financial officer Andrew Fastow thought he found a way to keep it off Enron’s books.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Now imagine you’re a stock or commodities trader who relies on high-speed deals to make a living.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
He wasn’t just a good bond trader, he was a great bond trader.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
The spread between the cost of producing a barrel of gasoline and the cost of the crude oil needed to produce it — known among traders as the “crack spread” — has widened sharply.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Perkins was candid about tough moments, including what it was like to be hit with giant margin calls on positions, something traders avoid discussing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
"A few weeks ago, traders were being asked to justify why the Fed should not hike again," said Stephen Innes, global strategist at Quintex Intel.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
The analysts wrote in a note on Thursday that Applied Materials also faced gross-margin pressure in the near term because of its boost in capital expenditures, a factor that may have also spooked traders.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Bond traders could exploit inside information without worrying that they would be caught.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
