why Wall Street traders win and you don't

No silly. Wall Street makes a market and profits on the spread, which is almost guaranteed and they have access to inside information that you and I can only dream about. If you take away the advantages Wall Street has their traders become just another schmuck trying to make a buck.

Quote from garfangle:

For the self-trader it is tough to make money, yet when they see those who inhabit Wall Street making millions it is tough to reconcile why they are successful and you are not. So, here are some reasons why Wall Street traders (WST) win and the Average Joe trader (AJT) loses (or does not do as well) even if he is has a large account:

1) WST has access to the best, cheapest and fastest technology platform and execution; AJT uses either a retail broker like Ameritrade or a somewhat advanced platform like IB.

2) WST receives data from vendors like Bloomberg and analyst research that can cost tens of thousands of dollars; AJT is limited to Yahoo Finance and StockTwits.

3) WST enjoys a comfortable salary and benefits; AJT is not paid while trading.

4) WST risks his firm's capital while learning to trade; AJT risks his own capital while learning to trade.

5) WST risk-reward is skewed to the upside: if successful he can earn millions; if unsuccessful he is fired, but can usually land a respectable job elsewhere; AJT risk-reward is either evenly-split or to the downside: if successful he can earn potentially millions (though more likely in the thousands), but if unsuccessful his life savings are wiped out and no one hires an unsuccessful amateur.

Thoughts?
 
AJT, if he has any sense is not planning on competing with WST.

WST wants easy money (using all the advantages he has).

AJT is working hard for his money.

If WST tried to trade like AJT, WST's boss would fire his ass.

WST account is probably too big to even consider using AJT type strategy in the first place.
 
The three pillars -- content, execution, discipline. That leads to a 99% win rate in terms of days? That's laughable. Unless he is making a market that is statistically impossible.

Quote from pavlov0032:

The guy who runs tradingraw.com uses neither bloomberg terminal nor some HFT like platform,just a plain Blackwood platform and he makes money 99% of trading days
 
ROTF spitting my beer out. You actually believe that crap? 99% wins and the other 1% are breakeven or God forbid, a "small loss."

Quote from pavlov0032:

what do you think? small loss/breakeven
 
Quote from the1:

ROTF spitting my beer out. You actually believe that crap? 99% wins and the other 1% are breakeven or God forbid, a "small loss."

see his videos on you tube, 30 videos and 1 day with a loss..
maybe its 95%, he is extremely consistent trader..
 
Quote from the1:

No silly. Wall Street makes a market and profits on the spread, which is almost guaranteed and they have access to inside information that you and I can only dream about. If you take away the advantages Wall Street has their traders become just another schmuck trying to make a buck.

Market makers make their coin on the spread, but most traders employed by mutual funds and hedge funds are not trying to make money from the bid-ask spread, but rather buy low-sell high investing. A WST with access to tens of millions of dollars can afford to be wrong many times in hopes of being right later. Moreover, he doesn't have to worry about paying his daily living expenses out of his trading; any profit is a bonus.

Here is a realistic example:

A WST who was convinced the market was cheap in the summer of 2010 could take chances deploying his capital during those volatile months because he could spread his bets and average into those ups and downs. If he was wrong and the Fed did not do QE2 the outcome for him personally would probably be no bonus and go before his investors and tell them to be patient, the market will recover.

An AJT conversely would have been hurt by the volatility because it would have triggered his stop-losses which he put in place after learning the hard way during the crash of 2008-2009. If the market did not recover he would he sitting on losses and have no income with which to pay for his livelihood.
 
Quote from bigpapi:

I hear this all the time, how doe the Bloomberg give you an edge? I have not used it but did look into it, my conclusion was that it does not have anything that a combination of the Reuters/Dow Jones news feeds plus Esignal cannot give you for a quarter of the price. Does anyone here use it?

Hi pal..

BloombergPro can give you direct-access to the OTC trading world, wich is the largest market on planet with 700 Trillon market cap. BloombergPro is a Trading Platform, especially in the OTC Bond Market, not just news. The same with the Platts Platform. For example, most of the world Physical Spot Trading in the Oil market is done on the Window Platts platform (during 30-minute trading window)

On the Other hand, Wall street is about selling, not so much about Real Trading like Chicago or London. Most People in Wall street are selling something (even air LoL).
 
Two words -- Cherry Picking. Aside from that fact, I've gone through periods of time when I couldn't do a thing wrong and went on winning streaks of 95% or more. Did it last? Hell no. The character of the market changed and I had to adapt.

I didn't even look at the PnL on these videos but I can tell you straight up -- 37 videos over three or four months (with gaps in dates) is not a big enough sample size. Wait until the behavior of the market goes through a dramatic shift and see if this 95% or 99% win rate is still intact. It won't be. I've seen it 1000's of times. I've seen some of the best in the business go from hot to cold. It happens to everyone.

Quote from pavlov0032:

see his videos on you tube, 30 videos and 1 day with a loss..
maybe its 95%, he is extremely consistent trader..
 
Quote from the1:

No silly. Wall Street makes a market and profits on the spread, which is almost guaranteed and they have access to inside information that you and I can only dream about. If you take away the advantages Wall Street has their traders become just another schmuck trying to make a buck.

+1.
recent SEC investigations prove this statement(probably little tiny tip of the iceberg)
they have huge advantage in every aspect of trading and i can guarantee you that without it-they will suck just like majority of retail.
this will make any successful retail trader way more superior. at least in my eyes. while ago my sister BF,who is trader @ some bond desk @ GS(millionaire of course) stop by @ our house for a drink. i did show him what i was doing and my results(they much smaller than his,but extremely consistent). they guy was totally blown away,when i told him that i done this all alone,without any help\support from pro's.
because we both know,that anyone can make a money,on the job,where all "trader" have to do is pick up bonds from GS "partners",put his own markup and sell them to somebody else.
 
And what happens to the WST who averages down and QE2 doesn't happen and the market doesn't come back for years? He'll suffer more than just not getting a bonus.

Wall Street has information you or I don't have, they make markets, and they have access to order flow that they can front run. It's an absolute racket. Daylight robbery in the clearest sense and it's endorsed by the government because Wall Street and the Fed own the government.

Now I gotta go watch the Bears. They better not lose to those sorry ass Vikes up in Siberiaville.

Quote from garfangle:

Market makers make their coin on the spread, but most traders employed by mutual funds and hedge funds are not trying to make money from the bid-ask spread, but rather buy low-sell high investing. A WST with access to tens of millions of dollars can afford to be wrong many times in hopes of being right later. Moreover, he doesn't have to worry about paying his daily living expenses out of his trading; any profit is a bonus.

Here is a realistic example:

A WST who was convinced the market was cheap in the summer of 2010 could take chances deploying his capital during those volatile months because he could spread his bets and average into those ups and downs. If he was wrong and the Fed did not do QE2 the outcome for him personally would probably be no bonus and go before his investors and tell them to be patient, the market will recover.

An AJT conversely would have been hurt by the volatility because it would have triggered his stop-losses which he put in place after learning the hard way during the crash of 2008-2009. If the market did not recover he would he sitting on losses and have no income with which to pay for his livelihood.
 
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