Well definitely a valid response. But it still seems like a bigger problem to beat professional traders using Zipline, than to spend time looking out for a good

Well definitely a valid response. But it still seems like a bigger problem to beat professional traders using Zipline, than to spend time looking out for a good company that is being sold for a price that I really like. In the latter case, investing and looking for value, it seems to me like an amateur can even give himself a little edge over the pros. First, it's a worse fate for most professional money managers to miss out on some bull market, than to go down together with all his colleagues. Second, amateurs working with their own money are not evaluated every quarter or even every year. They can just wait and keep looking if unsure. There are no mandates or arbitrary limitations, so the amateurs are free to look for value wherever they can find it. They can look in places that would require more patience, or that have a bit less liquidity or some more volatility (because they will typically have less money to move in/out the stock). Of course, the pro will definitely have benefits in terms of legislation, taxes and lowering the costs of research vis. the amount of money being invested. But in the end: does the extra information and non-GAAP stuff that the pros use, help so much over common sense and a decent understanding of accounting? (That's a genuine question, not a statement.) In fact, does succesful investing even involve outsmarting everyone else in the same way that trading does?