Basically what happened last week in meme stocks convinced me that the trading market is basically just a type of casino...
Everybody knows that the odds are stacked in the houses favor, AND THAT IS OK. We choose to participate knowing this full and well.
BUT, I didn't realize that if a little guy walks in and starts taking big money from the house (Market Makers)...dudes in suits show up and escort you out of the building (eliminate buying power)...then call their friends and blackball you across town.
how far off am I here?
I'm not trying to be braggadocios or demeaning here, but I've played this game from a time when commissions were $25/trade and there was no internet.
I've read a few books, the classics, and there's certain things I retain.
One of them is this:
If you think someone is out to get you, (for lack of a better phraseology) ... you're nuts.
I've been a member of at least a 1/2 dozen forums and chatrooms over the years.
I remember a guy that swore up and down that BATS was out to get him. In the sense that "BATS" was an actual person.
He only traded Decker (the shoe company $DECK), and he did so in a big way. I mean like $200K per order. On a low volume stock. He would get screwed daily. He lost tons and tons of money. He was obsessed with beating "BATS".
This:
Bats Global Markets was a U.S.-based exchange that listed several different types of investments, including equities, options, and foreign exchange. It was founded in 2005 and was acquired by CBOE Holdings (CBOE) in 2017. Prior to being acquired, Bats Global Market was one of the largest U.S. exchanges and well known for its services to broker-dealers as well as retail and institutional investors.
There was no person "out to get him". Its just the way these things work. I told him to quit trading that particular stock.... he wouldn't listen. He was obsessed with the Level II, and he was obsessed with BATS.
In this game, you need to understand what goes on behind the scenes. Behind the curtain. In a nutshell, you have to realize you are in fact a huge disadvantage as a retail schmuck.
That's why you stay away from certain stocks on certain days.
You're a minnow trying to swim upstream. Do so when there's a million other minnows out there.
The opportunity presents itself daily. Another day, another stock.
It's the friggin beauty of it all.
But if you think you're destined to lose because "the game is rigged against you".... you are gonna lose.
Make no mistake... It
IS rigged against you.
.....But what matters is what you do with that knowledge.
-vz