"The institutions" typically employ hundreds to thousands of highly talented professionals who get access to sophisticated training and bespoke software tooling

"The institutions" typically employ hundreds to thousands of highly talented professionals who get access to sophisticated training and bespoke software tooling. Retail traders often have a day job besides investing, which necessarily limits the time they can spend studying the markets. Tbh this is like putting up the neighborhood poker players against WSOP champions. They might win in the short term but only through luck. Any retail trader getting into any but the most risk-averse type of index investing (ie the type of trade where they are aligned with the wider market anyway) is kidding themselves they can beat people who have at least a 100x advantage compared to them.