Trader planned to squeeze wealthy one out (8)
I believe the answer is:
merchant
'trader' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'planned to squeeze wealthy one out' is the wordplay.
'planned' becomes 'meant' (I've seen this before).
'to squeeze' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are squeezed inside).
'wealthy one out' becomes 'rch' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'meant' placed around 'rch' is 'MERCHANT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for merchant that I've seen before include "Businessperson engaged in trade" , "Antonio, for one" , "One involved in wholesale trade" , "Distributor" , "Broker" .)