Stock markets (‘trade in thin air’) are based on the collective conviction of all traders that the current price of a specific share is WRONG.
And although both parties have access to exactly the same information (trading ‘with insider knowledge’ is, after all, a criminal offense!), SELLERS find the current price too high, and believe it will drop, while BUYERS find the price too low, and believe it will rise!
So, although there is actually nothing wrong with the current price of a share – the market takes care of that, after all – INVESTMENT ADVISORS earn a lot of money by advising investors on the buying and selling of shares using their ‘knowledge and experience’.
Extensive research has shown that their advice is worthless and causes you to lose even more money than if you had simply let the market do its work.
So, they indeed derive their substantial income from ‘thin air’.
Yes, of course, very occasionally you and your advisor get lucky and you, as a shareholder, make a big profit! That dream is, after all, why you are playing the game. But do realize that this means a whole lot of other investors are losing money at that moment.
On average, no one gets rich from ‘trade in thin air’, except for those ‘financial specialists’.