Trading

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈtɹeɪdɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of exchanging commodities, securities, or services for mutual benefit within an economic system constitutes a fundamental commercial practice
2. In a financial context, the process of buying and selling goods or assets is often aimed at achieving profitability and market advantage
3. The exchange of goods, services, or financial instruments between parties generally occurs to achieve mutual economic gain or market efficiency

Etymology: Trade originally meant a path, not a bargain. In Middle English it meant "path" or "course of conduct," and it arrived through the Hanseatic merchants of the Baltic and North Sea, who brought Middle Low German "trade," meaning a track or wagon trail. That word came from Old Saxon "trada," a spoor or track, and it is related to the Old English verb "tredan," to tread. The root reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European verb meaning to tread, walk, or run. The commercial sense grew out of this idea of a well-trodden route. Merchants travelled the same tracks again and again, so a regular course of business came to be called a trade. English already had a term for commerce, "chaffare," which trade displaced. "Trading" is simply the ongoing form of this verb: the action of carrying on that regular exchange of goods, securities, or services. Its meaning is still tied to the old picture of repeatedly walking a familiar road.

Synonyms: exchanging, bartering

Antonyms: holding, keeping