This question was posed on another forum; I wanted to get ETs point of view. Don't mind the assumptions made in the post most of us are jr. ballers, big ballers, or retired ballers. ------------------- I understand this depends on the market sector. I know a lot of individual non-professional or semi-professional day traders who try to make their luck in FX markets and of course stocks using TechAnalysis, a rudimentary risk and money management and a direct access broker. You know, these kind of people that read "market wizzards" make 15% returns in three days and won't get tired talking about it... Does these players have a any significant influence on prices? Any academic or practical research on their impact and volume? Are these traders "free lunch" for pros and provide an income(edit: for the pros )? Thanx
1) Daytraders can produce a lot of volume but it tends to be balanced since most have a very short-term time horizon. Daytraders, for the most part, feast off of one another. 2) Institutional investors move more money around which tends to produce the biggest trends.
a single retail individual technically doesn't have muscle or buying or selling POWER the price in highly liquid securities. Market makers or institutions with large positions move markets....ie. a market maker is an 'individual' or large shareholder is an 'individual' or single entity.