>>That is exactly the problem. If savvy amateur can 'make' money, imagine what big WS sharks are 'making'.
I would not personally personally call it 'making' but rather 'winning' or in some cases (MF Global ?) outright 'stealing'
It has been said that the stock market is not a casino, but actually it is- except that in this casino, it is some of the players who call themselves "dealers" and demand the house advantage for themselves. It can still be fun if the casino provides great premises and cheap meals and other incentives, but if the dealers are only interested in maximizing their house advantage in a casino they don't own and in exchange for nothing else of value, then smart people start to look elsewhere.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
