If the trading market is merely a redistribution of wealth among participants, then its long-term existence should have long been questioned. But this understanding overlooks a more fundamental aspect—the market is actually a connector between the financial sector and the real economy. Even if the trading process inevitably leads to misallocation of resources, its core mission remains to direct funds to where they can create the most value.

History provides us with the answer. In the 19th century, the United States financed the construction of its railway network through capital markets. This was not just about stockholders making money, but about the entire national economy becoming integrated. Fast forward to today, China supports tech startups through a multi-tiered capital market, with technology-related loans growing at over 30% by 2023. These cases demonstrate a principle: when funds truly flow to places that can generate wealth, the market shifts from "I earn, you lose" to "everyone earns"—companies receive capital to expand production, investors share in growth, and society’s total wealth increases.

The problem is that imbalance indeed exists. Before the 2008 US financial crisis, the derivatives market had already exceeded the size of actual GDP, with money circulating in the virtual economy. The A-shares market experienced a similar phase, with funds piling into small-cap stocks and junk stocks, eventually detaching from the real economy to pursue pure speculation. This disconnection between finance and the real economy is the true cause of the worsening zero-sum game.

How to break the deadlock? It relies on institutional design to correct it. On the financing side, screening mechanisms should filter out truly valuable companies, preventing shell companies from siphoning funds; on the investment side, long-term funds like pension funds should be cultivated, and short-term speculation suppressed; internationally, the German model of close cooperation between banks and enterprises is also worth learning from. Ultimately, the market’s purpose is not to eliminate zero-sum games but to regulate them through rules so that they remain within society’s capacity to bear, allowing finance to truly become the "heart" of the economy.