RJo

@analyst75, I am just dying for you to write a sequel... Why Some Young People Prefer to Live Alone.😂

I have to guess that a single person living alone, with no pets, with a light appetite, and in a small home stands the best chance. Less expenses = more time to get profitable. Maybe... an emotionless psychopath?😂

IMHO, demo contests with a cash prize tend to cause new traders to take unrealistic risks because they're literally risking nothing to win something. I wouldn't get into the habit of that.😬

I posit that traders should code auto-trading bots, or use a platform interface that supports building bots without coding, and then backtest everything in demo before trading at all. @aimhi, I believe that you have already posted this in another thread.🤓

Strange... I can't seem to view your PNG image.😕

A custom Better Daily Range indicator for MT5 is now available on the Metaquotes website and directly in the MT5 platform. https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/103800 The Better Daily Range indicator shows the previous trading day's price range on the current day's chart. Many traders mark out the previous day's high, low, and the current day's open before trading. This is not an average true range indicator (ATR). This is not an average daily range indicator (ADR). This is a daily range indicator (DR). This indicator shows horizontal maximum and minimum range lines. If your broker-dealer's MT5 platform shows Sunday bars, Sunday bars are not included as previous days. In other words, Monday uses Friday's price data (skips Sunday). This indicator also shows two 25% (of range) breakout lines: one that is 25% higher than the maximum range line, and one that is 25% lower than minimum range line. A middle range line is also shown. Immediately after the daily close of your broker-dealer, all five range lines update to the new daily values. Many traders only trade during times of high volume/liquidity. The Better Daily Range indicator also shows five adjustable time separator lines: A local market open time line (a vertical line), A local market middle time A line (a vertical line), A local market middle time B (a vertical line), A local market middle time C (a vertical line), A local market close time (a vertical line), and A local market open price (a horizontal line). The location of the local market open price depends on your input local market open time. In other words, you input your desired market open time according to your local machine/device time and the indicator automatically shows all five session lines. When your incoming price bars reach your input local market open time line, the indicator automatically shows the price to appear at your input local market open time. If your broker-dealer's MT5 platform shows Sunday bars, the time separator lines do not show on a Sunday. Immediately after midnight local machine/device time, the five session time lines (vertical lines) are projected forward into the current day (into the future hours) and the local open price line is erased. The local open price line reappears when the price bars on the chart reach your input local open time (your local machine/device time). The indicator has the following inputs (settings): Chart symbol of source chart [defaults to: EURUSD] - Allows you to show data from another chart symbol other than the current chart symbol. Handy for showing standard timeframe data on an MT5 Custom Chart. Local trading session start hour [defaults to: 09] - Set your desired start hour for trading according to the time displayed on your local machine/device operating system (all times below are your local machine/device operating system times). The default setting, 09, means 9:00am. Local trading session start minute [defaults to: 30] - Set your desired start minute. The default setting, 30, means 30 minutes. Both the default hour and the default minute together mean 9:30am. Local trading session hour A [defaults to: 11] - Set your desired middle hour A for stopping trading when volume tends to decrease during the first half of lunch time. The default setting, 11, means 11:00am. Local trading session minute A [defaults to: 00] - Set your desired middle minute A. Both the default hour and the default minute together mean 11:00am. Local trading session hour B [defaults to: 12] - Set your desired middle hour B for the second half of lunch time. The default setting, 12, means 12:00pm (noon). Local trading session minute B [defaults to: 30] - Set your desired middle minute B. Both the default hour and the default minute together mean 12:30pm. Local trading session hour C [defaults to: 14] - Set your desired middle hour C for resuming trading when volume tends to increase. The default, 14, means 2:00pm. Local trading session minute C [defaults to: 00] - Set your desired middle minute C. Both the default hour and the default minute together mean 2:00pm. Local trading session end hour [defaults to: 16] - Set your desired end hour for stopping trading. The default setting, 16, means 4:00pm. Local trading session end minute [defaults to: 00] - Set your desired end minute for stopping trading. Both the default hour and the default minute together mean 4:00pm. High plus 25% line color [defaults to: Red]. High plus 25% line style [defaults to: Soid]. High plus 25% line width [defaults to 4]. High line color [defaults to: IndianRed]. High line style [defaults to: Solid]. High line width [defaults to: 4]. Middle line color [defaults to: Magenta]. Middle line style [defaults to: Dashed]. Middle line width [defaults to: 1]. Low line color [defaults to: MediumSeaGreen]. Low line style [defaults to: Solid]. Low lien width [defaults to: 4]. Low minus 25% line color [defaults to: Lime]. Low minus 25% line style [defaults to: Solid]. Low minus 25% line width [defaults to: 4]. Local market open line color [defaults to: DodgerBlue]. Local market open line style [defaults to: Dashed]. Local market open line width [defaults to: 1]. Local market middle lines color [defaults to: DarkOrchid]. Local market middles lines style [defaults to: Dashed]. Local market middles lines width [defaults to: 1]. Local market close line color [default: Red]. Local market close line style [Dashed]. Local market close line width [1]. Local market open price color [White]. Local market open price style [Dot dashed with double dots]. Local market open price width [1].

A custom Logarithmic Moving Average indicator for MT5 is now available for MT5 on the Metaquotes website and directly in the MT5 platform. https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/99439 The Logarithmic Moving Average indicator is a moving average that inverts the formula of an exponential moving average. Many traders are known to use logarithmic charts to analyze the lengths of price swings. The indicator in this post can be used to analyze the logarithmic value of price on a standard time scaled chart. The trader can set the following input parameters: MAPeriod [defaults to: 9] - Set to a higher number for more smoothing of price, or a lower number for faster reversal of the logarithmic moving average line study. MAShift [defaults to: 3] - Set to a higher number to reduce the amount of price crossovers, or a lower for more frequent price crossovers. Indicator line (indicator buffer) can be called with iCustom in Expert Advisors created by Expert Advisor builder software or custom coded Expert Advisors: No empty values; and No repainting.

A custom Semi-Log Scale Oscillator indicator is now available for MT5 on Metaquotes website and directly in the MT5 platform. https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/114705 This indicator is an anchored semi-logarithmic scale oscillator. A logarithmic scale is widely used by professional data scientists to more accurately map information collected throughout a timeframe, in the same way that MT5 maps out price data. In fact, the underlying logic of this indicator was freely obtained from an overseas biotech scientist. A log-log chart displays logarithmic values on both the x (horizontal) and y (vertical) axes, which generally produces a straight line that points up, down, or remains flat. A straight line is not very useful for trading markets because such a straight line is so smoothed that actual price values that appear over time are very far away from the line study. In contrast, a semi-log chart is only logged on one axis--generally, the y axis. Such a semi-log chart is well suited for trading markets because the time (x) axis is preserved in its original form while at the same time, providing a graduated y scale where the distance between price increments progressively increases as price rises higher (and decreases as price falls lower). This allows us to establish a zero level for a low price, clearly view trends on straighter angles, and clearly observe amplified price spikes at high prices. Accordingly, this indicator employs a semi-log scale on the y axis only. This indicator is anchored because it allows you to specify a start time for calculation of price bars. The settings are as follows: Year.Month.Day Hour:Minute - defaults to 1970.01.01 00:01 - if left on default setting, the indicator automatically detects the earliest price bar in chart history--even where the year 1970 is not in history. Notes appear in the indicator settings window. Size of first pip step to log - defaults to 135 - this default is suitable for higher timeframes such a MN1 (monthly), while 5 is suitable for lower timeframes such as M1 (minute). Ultimately, optimal settings will depend on the timeframe that you attach the indicator to, the level of price volatility within that timeframe, and start time that you choose. Remember... The semi-log formula calculates from low to high, so your start time must always be a major swing low. Again, notes appear in the indicator settings window. The standard (built-in) MT5 indicators that can be applied to the "Previous indicator's data" can be applied to this indicator. Indicator lines (indicator buffers) can be called with iCustom in Expert Advisors created by Expert Advisor builder software or custom coded Expert Advisors. The log scale Open, High, Low, and Close prices are buffers: No empty values; and No repainting.

A custom Gann Candles indicator is now available for MT5 on the Metaquotes website and directly in the MT5 platform. https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/126398 This Gann Candles indicator incorporates a series of W.D. Gann's strategies into a single trading indicator. Gann was a legendary trader who lived from 1878 to 1955. He started out as a cotton farmer and started trading at age 24 in 1902. His strategies included geometry, astronomy, astrology, times cycles, and ancient math. Although Gann wrote several books, none of them contain all of his strategies so it takes years of studying to learn them. He was also a devout scholar of the Bible and the ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures, and he was a 33rd degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite. In an effort to simplify what I believe are the best of Gann's strategies, I reduced them into one indicator that simply colors your preexisting price bars when those strategies are in-sync versus out-of-sync. This greatly reduces potential chart clutter. Also, I reduced the number of input settings down to only two: FastFilter, and SlowFilter Both FastFilter and SlowFilter must be set to 5 or more, as noted in the Inputs tab upon attaching the indicator to your chart. Gann Candles works on regular time-based charts (M5, M15, M20, etc.) and custom charts (Renko, range bars, etc.). The indicator does not repaint. When using the default settings, blue candles form bullish price patterns, gray candles form flat (sideways) price patterns, and white candles form bearish price patterns. The simplest way to trade Gann Candles is to buy at the close of a blue candle and exit at the close of a gray candle, and then sell at the close of a white candle and exit at the close of a gray candle.

A custom Anchored VWAP with Standard Deviation Bands indicator for MT5 is now available on the Metaquotes website and directly through the MT5 platform. https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/99389 The volume weighted average price indicator is a line study indicator that shows in the main chart window of MT5. The indicator monitors the typical price and then trading volume used to automatically push the indicator line toward heavily traded prices. These prices are where the most contracts (or lots) have been traded. Then those weighted prices are averaged over a look back period, and the indicator shows the line study at those pushed prices. The indicator in this post allows the trader to set the daily start time of that look back period. This indicator automatically shows 5 daily look back periods: the currently forming period, and the 4 previous days based on that same start time. For this reason, this indicator is intended for intraday trading only. The indicator automatically shows vertical daily start time separator lines for those days as well. Both typical prices and volumes are accumulated throughout the day, and processed throughout the day. Important update: v102 of this indicator allows you to anchor the start of the VWAP and bands to the most recent major high or low, even when that high or low appears in your chart several days ago. This is how institutional traders and liquidity providers often trade markets with the VWAP. This indicator also shows 6 standard deviation bands, similarly to the way that a Bollinger Bands indicator shows such bands. The trader is able to set 3 individual standard deviation multiplier values above the volume weighted average price line study, and 3 individual standard deviation multiplier values below the volume weighted average price line study. Higher multiplier values will generate rapidly expanding standard deviation bands because again, the indicator is cumulative. The following indicator parameters can be changed by the trader in the indicator Inputs tab: Volume Type [defaults to: Real volume] - Set to Tick volume for over-the-counter markets such as most forex markets. Real volume is an additional setting for centralized markets such as the United States Chicago Mercantile Exchange. VWAP Start Hour [defaults to: 07] - Set according to broker's or broker-dealer's MT5 server time in 24 hour format. For example, in the New York, United States time zone, 07 is approximately the London, United Kingdom business open hour. VWAP Start Minute [defaults to: 00] - Set according to broker's or broker-dealer's MT5 server time in 24 hour format. For example, 00 is on the hour with no delay of minutes within that hour. StdDev Multiplier 1 [defaults to: 1.618] - Set desired standard deviation distance between the volume weighted average price line study and its nearest upper and lower bands. For example, 1.618 is a basic Fibonacci ratio. Some traders prefer 1.000 or 1.250 here. StdDev Multiplier 2 [defaults to: 3.236] - Set desired standard deviation distance between the volume weighted average price line study and its middle upper and lower bands. For example, 3.236 is 1.618 (above) + 1.618. Some traders prefer 2.000 or 1.500 here. StdDev Multiplier 3 [defaults to: 4.854] - Set desired standard deviation distance between the volume weighted average price line study and its furthest upper and lower bands. For example, 4.854 is 1.618 (above) + 3.236 (above). Some traders prefer 3.000 or 2.000 here. VWAP Color [defaults to: Aqua] - Set desired VWAP line study color. This color automatically sets the color of the start time separators as well. SD1 Color [defaults to: White] - Set desired color of nearest upper and lower standard deviation lines. SD2 Color [defaults to: White] - Set desired color of middle upper and lower standard deviation lines. SD3 Color [defaults to: White] - Set desired color of furthest upper and lower standard deviation lines. Just to clarify, popular standard deviation bands settings are: 1.618, 3.236, and 4.854; or 1.000, 2.000, and 3.000; or 1.250, 1.500, and 2.000. Examples of usage *: In a ranging (sideways) market, enter a trade at the extremes of the standard deviation bands (SD3) and exit when price returns to the VWAP line study. Trade between SD1Pos and SD1 Neg, alternately buying and selling from one standard deviation line to the other. In a trending (rising or falling) market, enter a buy when a price bar opens above the VWAP line study, and exit at the nearest standard deviation band above (SD1Pos). Optionally, repeat the same trade but substitute SD1Pos for the VWAP, and SD2Pos for SD1. Reverse for sell; or Trade all lines (VWAP, SD1Pos, SD2Pos, and SD3Pos) in the same way. Again, reverse for sell. Indicator lines (indicator buffers) can be called with iCustom in Expert Advisors created by Expert Advisor builder software or custom coded Expert Advisors: No empty values; and No repainting.

I posit that recessions and depressions can both be real, and that Russia is the best present example of a recession. A full-on depression could hit Russia in 2 years or so. Even in the U.S., money "printing" and the national debt have a tolerance limit that will only be discovered after it has been exceeded.

This is an interesting discussion. For one thing, it once again confirms that performance can't be measured without testing which is true. Of course, there are many algos that detect and trade candlestick patterns (Gartley, double top, etc.). Arguably, everything that an algo measures is some kind of a price/volume pattern. This is basically the name of the game in autorading... Identify favorable patterns that periodically appear in a market, and then define those patterns in programming code. Also, those definitions can be adaptive and/or incorporate machine learing/AI. At the end of the day, mathematic testing will report back to you in black & white (or green & red, so to speak). If you can't test it, don't trade it.

The chart pic posted by the OP seems to highlight pin bars. Pin bars/candles have large wicks/shadows that often form at the extremum of price swings. Such a wick indicates a potential swing reversal point. To be valid, a pin bar's extreme wick must be several times taller than the body of the bar, and the opposite wick (in the direction of your trade) must be short or completely absent. Note that the OP posted a daily chart--likely because pin bars are more effective on higher timeframes.

Gold futures. 2100 E.T. - 1600 E.T. Renko chart (select best brick size for identifying prices swings). MACD ("Old" MACD - use signal line crossovers for entries. "New" MACD - use zero level crossovers for entries). Determine your best stop (probably a trailing stop - just count your desired number of Renko bricks).

I'm pretty sure that a Russian resident would say that recessions are real today. Their prime interest rate is 21%, their corporate military contractors are threatening to file bankruptcy, and sticks of butter are kept under lock and key in their grocery stores because shoplifters are stealing it in bulk so they can resell it on the black market. A downturn is cyclical until it turns into a collapse. I really don't think anyone will be buying-into this mess.😬

Well said. This principle is highly analogous to trading. Any human can easily click buy or sell when they "feel" that price is about to go up or down. The problem with feeling, commonly referred to as "instinctive" trading, is that it cannot be quantified. And because it cannot be quantified, it cannot be empirically tested. Instinctive trading has the lowest barrier to entry and therefore returns the lowest reward. As this is true for most things in life, this comes as no surprise. Unfortunately, the lowest barrier to entry is attractive to new traders for obvious reasons. This actually applied to me decades ago.🤭 It's only human nature to seek the highest amount of reward in exchange for the lowest amount of work. In fact, I often say that there is massive gray area between efficiency and laziness. Fortunately, losing for a living inspired me to investigate the work of Wall Street quants who refer to us as "fishfood" or "cannonfodder." Although I knew that we as retail traders cannot exploit execution rebates or queues like quants do, I learned that we can engage in automated scalp, swing, and trend trading. The thermonuclear caveat here, is that I had no idea how to write code (or program) trading algorithms. So I gravitated toward interface-based algorithm builders that required no coding knowledge (see human nature, aforementioned). In retrospect, I should never have traded code written by builder software because it's buggy and inefficient. However, my paid subscription to the builder software allowed me to view the underlying source code of the generated trading algo--which was written in MQL language. Due to a lack of customization in the builder software, I inevitably found myself editing the code. This led me to coding research which, in turn, led me to abandoning the builder software and coding custom algo's from scratch. Fast forward to the present, I can now code several trading strategies per day across 2 different platforms. Considering how inefficient manual backtesting is, coding is a huge advantage. When a new trading concept hits me, I can write the algo, backtest it, and optimize it within an hour or so--across multiple exchanges and symbols, and cycle through hundreds of different settings for each input. And then I get pages upon pages of performance metrics with the best settings pre-highlighted. Having said all of this, I am by no means an advanced programmer. IMHO, advanced programmers write API gateways, construct their own custom trading platforms, use high end computers with field programmable gateway array chips, and set up shop in close proximity to the exchanges. In any event, a considerable amount of work is required just to get toward the top of the "fishfood"/"cannonfodder" pool. Another advantage of coding is that it forces me to write trade entry and exit conditions (triggers) in black & white, thereby causing me to think microscopically about my precise trade trigger conditions. For example, I have to decide whether the algo should track the slope, angle, and level of each bar price and indicator to be used. Typing a hard number like 50 degrees of angle into code is a lot different than merely looking at a chart myself and saying, that's close enough. Code doesn't acknowledge "maybe" nor "feelings." Either the math (code) works (is profitable) or doesn't work (is a loser). It doesn't get angry, sad, nor overly optimistic. And it can trade virtually 24 hours per day, 5 days per week. If you learn to code, you'll eventually reach a point where coding an algo that trades as you intended provides its own sense of accomplishment. Soon after, making money in the market merely becomes a side effect of your new job--coding. This is how I compete, at least for now, in this wide world of trading. I highly recommend it.

@sxiqxx, Well done on making your first post a promising strategy. @everyone, post up if you want this coded into an EA. Although I switched to TradeStation, I still have an active MT5 demo with MetaEditor. I can code it without referencing object oriented programming which should be retroactively compatible with MT4. Let me know...

Please allow me to retort (in jest): RESPONSE 1 : Get a job supervising others where you're in control of performance reports and ride those others 100%. This makes your performance 100% with little to no effort. RESPONSE 2: Feel free to piss off your boss but stay nonviolent. When the side effects of his viagra and testosterone boosters cause him to physically assault you, you have the legal upper hand. This can result in a boatload of trading capital. RESPONSE 3: Feel free to have intimate relations with your boss if she finds you attractive. Rest assured that mum's the word because once again, you have the legal upper hand. This can also result in a boatload of trading capital. RESPONSE 4: Don't be fake friends with any enemies... unless you need information from them. Being fake friends with everyone will cause you to become an empty shell of a person with no direction in life. REPONSE 5: Get your boss to become reliant on your performance (really, just the performance of your subordinates), and then plan an "overheard" conversation wherein you fake an interview with another potential employer. You'll probably get a pay increase or a promotion. RESPONSE 6: If you can give your 75% percent to a project, give 50% and rely on your legal upper hand(s). Learn to write trading algo's during your other 50%. RESPONSE 7: Take all of the office boys out to nightclub where you merely sip soft drinks on a weeknight. Upon your return to the office in the morning, inform the security guards that all of the office boys are intoxicated. Your boss will love you for it. RESPONSE 8: Never try to prove your client wrong or find faults in their processes, but do secretly collect their information in case you jump ship or "someone you know" decides to start his own company. RESPONSE 9: Never stay in a firm for too long. Instead, use your ill-gotten capital to exit the rat-race and start trading. RESPONSE 10: Trading pays more than your career. Interpersonal skills are now irrelevant. Use your technical skills for trading. Never stop learning and keep updating your technical skills.😁

IMHO, the best feature of the Double Seven entry strategy is that buys and does not sell in equity-based markets. Large scale selling short in the primary stock markets requires a financed loan of shares from a broker, so it's less common than buying. Therefore, selling in a stock-tracking market generally isn't profitable--even where derivative instruments provide cheaper access to selling.

Another chart type... Footprint.

I would forget about tinkering with lot sizes in the short-term. I only increase my lot size when it's justified by my growing capital (closed profit). Adjusting lot size on the fly would imply that I somehow know the specific probability of each individual trade succeeding--which I don't. So, I focus on the overall statistical performance of my strategy over every 6 months. This doesn't require anything clever. As an example, choose a chart structure (15 minute, 1 hour, Renko, range bar, etc.) where price swings are identifiable to your eye. Load a MACD oscillator onto the chart. Note that there are two MACD's floating around online. The "old" MACD uses a weighted EMA in its calculations while the "new" MACD uses a regular MACD in its calculations. If you're using the old one, focus on the main line crossing the signal line and ignore the zero level. If you're using the new one, focus on the main line crossing the zero level and ignore the signal line. These are your entries. Your dynamic exit target is the opposite crossover of whichever MACD lines you're using. Now for the most challenging part... stopouts. You need to determine the number of pips/points/ticks at which price traveled against your entry and did not return in favor of your entry for all trades. These stopout statistics can be collected with pen and paper, which I have arduously done in the past. This is much easier if you can code, backtest, and auto-optimize the stop level. The idea is that your dynamic takeprofit is theoretically infinite, and your stop is fixed at a level that is statistically favorable to you. Although this isn't really "money managment," it certainly manages your money.

I have recently switched from trading forex to trading futures due to the futures market's unbiased order execution and superior price movement. And yes, I trade commodities in the COMEX exchange. Years ago, hefty initial capital requirements were a burden for retail traders. Then Mini futures were created, but they were still somewhat burdensome. Then Micro futures were created. Now, you can daytrade with only a few hundred dollars (generally 9:30 a.m. E.T. to 4:00 p.m. E.T.). Even so, I recommend starting with a couple thousand in order to sustain statistical losses and/or hold positions overnight. If you have access to U.S. CME products (you're not in a U.S. sanctioned country), I suggest trading in the actual centralized commodity futures exchange because: Orders are required to be executed in the sequence of arrival to the COMEX exchange. In contrast, CFD's (contracts for difference) are in-house contracts between you and your CFD dealer. In CFD trading, your execution is reliant upon the size of your individual dealer's liquidity pool, and its institutional liquidity providers if it has any. Retail CFD orders, and retail forex orders, generally get prioritized by the dealer depending on order quantity. This is why retail CFD orders get hit or miss execution. In this way, the COMEX exchange is much fairer to retail traders. COMEX provides centralized pricing. In contrast, CFD dealers have no centralized exchange providing objective pricing. This is why CFD's tend to spike randomly. Unless your goal is to somehow exploit these random CFD spikes, they're likely to take out your stops where the alleged "underlying asset" (there isn't one) wouldn't have done so. To me, a CFD dealer follows an in-house casino model, whereas COMEX is an actual market. U.S. futures are not subject to the pattern-day-trader rule which states that anyone placing more than 3 equities, equities ETF's, or equities options trades per week is a pattern-day-trader. This means that you need at least $25,000 of initial capital, and SEC reporting is required. If you have formed your own single funded private company (LLC, etc.) specifically for speculative trading purposes, the SEC deems you a professional but the CME and its COMEX subsidiary do not. If you sign an attestation regarding your own single-funding, you get non-professional discounts on data and commissions. While CFD, equity, ETF, and options third-party liquidity providers (banks and hedge funds) get paid every time they take the other side of your trade, futures traders are generally dealing directly with a greater centralized exchange. In short, the real futures market ain't as burdensome as it used to be and is more of a level playing field for retail traders. And oh yeah... my broker is TradeStation Securities. No complaints.

"[F]ull-service investment banks usually provide both advisory and financing banking services, as well as sales, market making, and research on a broad array of financial products, including equities, credit, rates, currency, commodities, and their derivatives" (List of investment banks - Wikipedia). IMHO, there's nothing super special about "professional" traders except for the fact that they have access to boatloads of trading capital. Although this gives them access to pattern-day-trading and hedging, their annual percentage returns on investment are not very impressive. Put another way, it's easy to generate a billion dollars in profit per year if you have 50 billion on hand. Just imagine a retail trader having $5000 and earning $100 per year which is the same 2% proportional equivalent. An investments bank's number 1 goal is to avoid risk. That goes for all of Wall Street as a whole. Whether they hedge six ways from Sunday or hire quants for high frequency trading, they're trying to turn trading into a sure thing rather than a risk-benefit. The underlying principle is that free money is free money no matter the annual rate of return. For example, an investment bank trader might hedge GBPJPY against S&P 500 index stocks because she/he knows that 401k/pension funds dump money into the S&P 500 index stocks every 2 weeks regardless of its price level. On a related note, Warren Buffet dumped money into the S&P 500 index and earned a higher return than an army of hedge funds over the course of 10 years. They paid Buffet a million dollars because he won the bet. As for quants, they algorithmically exploit volume-based order execution rebates and the exchange queue. This would earn pennies with small capital, but again they're using tens of billions. As a side note, if you're retail trading forex, CFD's, equities, EFT's, or options, one or more of the big investment banks are likely getting a piece of every order executed as market makers or liquidity providers. "Professional" traders are basically professional salespeople. There's nothing in a Series 7 Exam that ensures that these people have any special market analysis knowledge. It's essentially a great big business ethics law exam. In fact, given the pretentiousness and pressures of professional trading/sales, I often wonder whether retail traders are more likely to stick with trading in the long run.

👍