Quote from icarus618:
I think you misunderstood the graph and excerpt.
The graph represents various market operating points. If you use set-ups, edges, etc., sub in those terms. The excerpt states that upper left to lower right is the path to follow for a person learning to trade futures intraday; i.e., it is a CHOICE to follow a path that begins with high profit/low risk trades only and then moving on to other trades as your skills increase.
The point of the post was to state that in trading (in contrast to investing) the profit/risk profile is all over the place. Some have followed up here confirming that point. I'm not interested in debating or changing anyone's mind. I'm just putting what I know out there.
That being said, your post does raise the interesting question of where the actual source of trading risk lies. Is it in the market? (Risk is not uniform across various market operating points regardless of trader skill level.) Is it in the trader? (Risk is inversely related to trader skill level; i.e., if a trader is good enough, any operating point can be low risk.) Or is it a combination of both? I'll leave that for you to consider.
Another question is, is it possible or likely for someone learning to trade on his or her own to be able to recognize if a trade is high, average, or low risk? That's another can of worms.
After reading that explanation, I still don't think it makes sense.
Why would you start making more risky/less payoff trades as you get more experienced?
Well, whaetever yields at least a nominal return in USD, so no beer and hookers