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Originally Posted by wulph  Playing in the stock market is often akin to gambling, and thus falls under Option 2, or the Moocher mindset. Most day traders and short sellers probably fit into this category. |
I think it's possible to have a non-moocher mindset if you're a day trader. If your life goal was to provide a market for buying and selling stocks to others by buying and selling shares multiple times, then I could see it working out. For instance, if you bought shares from someone who wanted to get rid of them and then found someone else who wanted them at a higher price, you've created value for two people. It doesn't make as much money as serving the masses, and one can't go into the market thinking about "exploiting arbitrage situations" or eradicating market inefficiencies. That's more akin to darkworking.
I haven't been able to come up with a good example for short-selling, and there may not be one.