I agree with your second point blotto, the market has not had a real % decline in a while, with the 60 minute charts showing strong reversals long. Hard to make money on the short side if mkts decline .50%, then go up 2% the next day.
I think airwaves stated that he trades cfd or contract for difference. These to me are similar to binary options with fixed risk and reward. I can't speak for the other traders.
http://www.whenshtf.com/showthread.php?21878-Only-enough-gold-to-cover-4.5-of-outstanding-Comex-gold-futures-Contracts