Day trading is one thing (which IMO is absurd, if it's defined by not keeping positions overnight). However, if you compare two people picking stocks, one a pr

Day trading is one thing (which IMO is absurd, if it's defined by not keeping positions overnight). However, if you compare two people picking stocks, one a professional trader and one a guy in his underwear at home or in a coffeeshop on his phone, the former has mostly massive advantages. But he's missing one: the guy in his underwear can afford time-wise to wait a longer timeframe. If I buy a stock I think is a value buy and it crashes, I can hold it as long as I need. The big bank trader has quarterly profits to worry about or his bonus is his jeopardy, if not his job. He has a pool of money he needs to grow and he's under tight scrutiny. I don't recommend anyone do this, but I've achieved 27% returns trading in my retirement account (the past 12 months as of today). I don't trade random stocks, I don't buy and sell often, and I'm a news junkie so I'm constantly reading the news. If I screw up on a buy, then it turns into a 'buy and hold.' Lastly, I've worked closely with traders in the past, in a tech capacity. I assure you, they're not all the sophisticated quant geniuses with carefully placed bets that the HN crowd seems to imagine. (edit: grammar)