They definitely became virtually redundant the day HFT went into full gear That being said they are as useless as the next guy They do something, and that thing isn't really that interesting nor that difficult, however it requires to be able to perform it, to be literate when it comes to finance, which is like pretty much any given trade;take boat repair/maintenance for instance. It's not that difficult, pretty much everybody is capable to do what has to be done, physically. There are protocols/procedures you have to know, tools you have to know, words/vocabulary you have to know Beyond that the only reason a machine can't do it is because it's wet and dirty, but that's about it, it's not that it's impossible to do with a production chain ultimately, look at the auto industry, it's just that a human is cheaper Trader it's roughly the same deal except that it can be replaced much more easily by machines (no glues and water and shit everywhere, controlled environment, everything is inside a network of computers, clean and square) And traders have a much better pay than maintenance guys, like it's not even comparable And ultimately their job isn't more complex, their credentials however are harder to get. And that changed with the democratization of trading btw, but not all is said and done about all that, yet... Some people are going to get raped by terminators one way or the other