Not surprisingly, then, online brokerages have in the last several months rolled out an array of services meant not just to serve active traders, but also to attract average traders to more complex financial instruments, like options.
Their method is complicated by the custom code requirements that they have which are necessary to serve retail traders.
During the early years of the Dutch colonisation of the East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), many people of Chinese descent were contracted as skilled artisans in the construction of Batavia on the northwestern coast of Java; they also served as traders, sugar mill workers, and shopkeepers.
Some coolies took on new jobs such as shopkeepers and traders to serve the needs of other coolies within the settlement, and the Kangchu granted tax exemptions to these shopkeepers and traders on the sale of pork, opium and alcohol as well.
These firms serve as matchmakers, connecting traders to the employees of publicly traded companies who are paid to provide insights into their businesses.
Rick Stine, managing editor of Dow Jones News Service, said financial news agencies were extremely competitive because the traders they serve can make big profits if they get news even a few minutes before their competitors.
Further along the food chain lie London's traders, who serve as brokers between African exporters and Western cocoa processors, or buy and sell speculatively in the futures markets.
It was as clear 20 years ago as it is now -- high-frequency traders competing against one another for penny spreads serve the interests of institutional traders and their retail clients.
In the heavily policed securities industry, a trader must serve his customers first before trading from the company's own account.
Its Old Quarter is the immersion point for most travellers, with its labyrinth of ancient streets, which were once inhabited by traders serving the nearby imperial citadel.
