CBS news reported that online trading was down 25% in FEBRUARY compared to JANUARY. Traders are either sitting on their hands or leaving the market. If its sitting on hands good for them but if they are drooping at that pace the markets and the way they act and or react will change, at least to some degree. I hope they are not drooping out for two reasons 1 we as traders need all the fish in the pool that can fit 2 I sincerely feel sorry for the trader who worked their butt off and did not make it.
The idea that you need new fish to take money from is something I see expressed in the forums, but is a little odd. The concept is true in poker because the winner essentially takes money from the weakest player (the mark, the sucker, the fish). But why would that apply with stock trading? Today the S&P had a 17 point range, what more can one want? The public enters the market in the later parts of a bull move, not in the inital or mid phase. An exiting public indicates a bottom is nearer which is good. At a bottom you can have huge reversals and strong rallies, plenty of volatility. Why do people think you need new fish to keep the game going? To those people who accidentally made money with the Ameritrade accounts in 1998 to 2001 using the technique of buying a dot something-or-other and closing your eyes, that's NOT trading.
"We estimate that all equity funds had a $9.0 billion outflow during January, with US equity funds having net redemptions of $7.9 billion and global funds $1.1 billion. We also estimate that bond funds had an $8.5 billion inflow in January." The fish might be giving up. First time Jan. outflows since 1990.