A trader is a person or entity, in finance, who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives, and mutual funds in the capacity of agent, hedger, arbitrageur, or speculator. Look up trader in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Trader may refer to: Merchant, retailer or one who attempts to generally buy wholesale and sell later at a profit The owner of a trading post, where manufactured goods were exchanged with native peoples for furs and hides. Traders is a Canadian television drama series, which was broadcast on Global Television Network from 1996 to 2000 and CBC Television from 1997 to 1998. The series centred on the employees of Gardner Ross, an investment bank in the Bay Street financial district of Toronto, Ontario