4 ms·

And that would be a very uninformed opinion. Think of it like this: traders and everyone in the finance business devotes their entire working life and career

by Mikeb85 12y ago

And that would be a very uninformed opinion. Think of it like this: traders and everyone in the finance business devotes their entire working life and career to figuring out how to trade. Programmers spend time learning, creating side projects on Github, poking through open source projects, working on projects at work, etc... In the decades that span a normal career, that's a lot of code and a lot of learning that a programmer accumulates, which is why they're able to create nice things. Traders are the finance equivalent of all that knowledge (the good ones anyway). You don't think that after so much experience, it might be possible that a trader can make money in the market without cheating? The traders that do cheat though, do so because of greed, not because it's impossible to make money...

bo1024 12y ago
Not a fair comparison. Programming isn't a pure competition. If you do better in programming, this does not imply that every other programmer in the world must be doing worse. In the market, the more money you make, the less everyone else can make. Of course, it's possible for all the traders to make money as long as the total market continues to grow... that's a pyramid scheme in my book.... I'm not agreeing with the parent post, because I think probability dictates that some trader will beat the market consistently (for a while). But that doesn't necessarily demonstrate "skill".
- Mikeb85 12y ago
  You forget how much money goes back into the market through dividends and buybacks. Its a very significant number. Right now the dividend yield of the S&P 500 is 1.90% (nearly a historic low) so it seems insignificant, but in past years the dividend yield has been nearly as much as the price increase of the overall market...
- SamReidHughes 12y ago
  > In the market, the more money you make, the less everyone else can make. That's just not true. When you're trading with somebody, that's because you're offering a marginally better deal than somebody else was offering. Trading activity ends up affecting decisions on what to produce.

by Mikeb85 12y ago

bo1024 12y ago

Not a fair comparison. Programming isn't a pure competition. If you do better in programming, this does not imply that every other programmer in the world must be doing worse. In the market, the more money you make, the less everyone else can make. Of course, it's possible for all the traders to make money as long as the total market continues to grow... that's a pyramid scheme in my book.... I'm not agreeing with the parent post, because I think probability dictates that some trader will beat the market consistently (for a while). But that doesn't necessarily demonstrate "skill".

Mikeb85 12y ago
You forget how much money goes back into the market through dividends and buybacks. Its a very significant number. Right now the dividend yield of the S&P 500 is 1.90% (nearly a historic low) so it seems insignificant, but in past years the dividend yield has been nearly as much as the price increase of the overall market...
SamReidHughes 12y ago
> In the market, the more money you make, the less everyone else can make. That's just not true. When you're trading with somebody, that's because you're offering a marginally better deal than somebody else was offering. Trading activity ends up affecting decisions on what to produce.