Why are you not consistently profitable trader, why are you not making the money and being able to live off trading? What do you believe is your biggest weakness? What do you need to overcome to succeed? What are you missing/what are your most common mistakes? In other words, describe why you've not yet made it as a trader. What's missing?
Not nearly enough risk capital to truly trade the size and method that I want. $15-30k accounts aren't that bad but I'd much rather (obviously) have $300k to risk instead. Maybe this means I'll just lose more money but I doubt it, I've been net net positive since I really quantified my strategy and positionsize/risk management metrics.
Theres no such thing as a 'real edge'... Then whats a fake edge? Sellers who claim their system works for subscription residuals? Edge in its truest form doesn't exist. Its a made up concept our human minds formulated, same as the concept of probability theory. You either make a profit, or you close for a parenthesis P/L open. Its that simple. Over the years you should be evolving your strategy and solidifying what you do best. Branching to other aspects of trading is fine but remember to remember! Always master your crème dalecreme firstly, then learn how to calendarize a straddle later on.
Real edge exists. For example, if you monitor traffic in and out of the White House, you may be able to front run a tweet.
hft traders have infrastructural edge. fastest to generate trading signal, fastest to make the trade. fastest to cancel when trump tweets etc