I didn't miss anything. You said "retail is significant". You also agreed that there are very few if any short mutual funds. But before that you said "90% of retail was short in 2016/2017. You can't see the contradiction in your own logic there?
And how is that determined? Its math. And come on dude... take off the tin-foil.... "their opponents (retail)" (?)!
Large players are playing against an aggregate dollar volume.... it could be the billionaire hedge-fund next door... once again... its all mathematical formulas. At a horse race, there are $2 ticket holders and people who bet $1000's.... its all the same pot.... there is no us or them. Get over the conspiracy theories. Think with logic. Think with math. Thats all that matters.
If sentiment is such that most $'s are long... than more than likely, the market will move to take that money. And vice versa. It doesn't matter which hat (retail or institutional) those $'s are wearing. Read Livermore.
ok - miscommunication... 90% short referred to the fxcm sentiment. retail as a whole certainly was not that short.... but the indicator gave enough confidence to take action.
we are talking about the same thing, roughly... you are just not familiar enough with this particular fxcm sentiment I use.. playing against the pot is legit, as long as you have access to information - if you can analyse the accounts trends in major exchanges, I suspect you will reach a similar conclusion that retail is all-in at this point... I prefer fxcm as it gives me an instant view.
the 'pot' certainly has many different kinds of players in all sizes... that's another reason I prefer fxcm - retail is an excellent contrarian indicator.. otherwise if you have to analyse the professionals also, the picture gets blurry... some professionals know what they are doing, some are just as clueless as retail.... otherwise how do you play the 'pot' - it's just a number.... your trading style maybe different.... I rely heavily on sentiment, so I am sensitive to it.