Not only has the number of traders increased, the traders also enjoyed a substantial growth in their business.
Trade in imported luxury goods ranging from wine to tableware and bronze trinkets vastly increased as traders swarmed in behind the army to exploit new markets.
A few academic studies have found that when trading in the dark increases, traders compete less aggressively to provide good prices to investors on the exchanges.
If prices increase because traders are looking for an inflation hedge or taking advantage of low rates to speculate, then that's worrisome.
So long as the ratio of prices in country A differs from that in country B, the flow of goods between the two countries will steadily increase as traders become increasingly aware of the profit to be obtained by moving goods between the two countries.
Traders regained their central role again in the network and the number of traders increased more than two-fold from 160 in 2001 to 374 in 2004.
Banks and brokerage firms retreated even as traders increased bets that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates at its next two meetings.
All together, the bank's traders increased their position in a credit derivative index by $34 billion in early 2012, according to a Senate report.
In June 2002, Merrill announced the formation of a unit within the investment banking and global markets division that gave its star traders increased access to the bank's $68 billion in deposits.
From 1999 to 2007, the price of Pu'er, a fermented brew invented by Tang Dynasty traders, increased tenfold, to a high of $150 a pound for the finest aged Pu'er, before tumbling far below its preboom levels.
