Trading means exchanging one thing for another, whether it's goods, services, money, or even collectibles. When you trade your peanut butter sandwich for your friend's turkey sandwich at lunch, that's trading. When a baseball card collector trades a duplicate card for one they don't have yet, that's trading too.

The word becomes more complex in the world of business and finance. Stock traders buy and sell shares of companies, hoping to make money from changing prices. A trader might buy stock in a company for $50 and sell it later for $60, making $10 in profit. Trading happens on stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange, where millions of trades occur every day.

International trade means countries exchanging goods: Japan might trade cars and electronics to the United States in exchange for wheat and aircraft. This kind of trading between nations has connected the world's economies for centuries. When explorers like Marco Polo traveled the Silk Road, they were following ancient trading routes where merchants had been exchanging silk, spices, and other valuable goods for thousands of years.

The phrase trading places means swapping positions with someone, like when you and your sibling trade seats at the dinner table or trade chores for the week.