As someone who has worked in finance and specifically a trading floor - i can confirm that it is widely read by traders/market-makers/risk-takers in those spaces.

It's not that those people are inherently bearish or expect the world and financial markets to "go to zero"; but they understand that informed decisions and fair market pricing arises from a matrix of ideas. Zero hedge takes an extreme starting point for most of its commentary/coverage but as long as you know that slant exists it can become a useful input into thinking about the "bear scenario" or the "tail scenario". Knowing that it has reached a critical mass and that other traders read it - it becomes a harder to ignore point of information.