They aren't trading the same way, with the same capital, and the same goals. Your sentiment isn't exactly uncommon which is unfortunate. But without some knowledge of how the pro's are trading it does indeed seem hopeless to try as retail. Just because their edge is in the spread, doesn't mean all edges are gone for example. There are some inefficiencies that retail can take advantage of that are much harder to take advantage of with large sums of money behind you.
A major (and often forgotten) benefit of being retail is how quickly you can move in and out of trades. Professionals don't have that luxury. You can use this to your advantage. Sure you are going to have a real hard time trading big lots or performing arbitrage when your order flow is being sold and your execution is way worse. But there are many other strategies you can use to be profitable in retail. You have to play the hand you are dealt, and when you are dealt that hand at a different poker table than the ones the professionals are playing at, there has to be advantages you can take advantage of.
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/how-prevalent-is-quant-knowledge-among-the-option-traders-here.327487/ 作者: sec2100 時間: 2018-12-4 21:36
Options being a zero sum game is debatable. On one hand every dollar you make they lose, but they can also hedge their position. Eventually it becomes an argument into absurdity - it just depends on where you draw the loser line in the game.
It should be obvious to you we cannot all be profitable. I don't think our implication is that we are. I think what is happening in your model of the world is the confusion between how retail operates and how professionals operate.
Market makers for example make money on the spread. This is money you "lose" effectively by purchasing options from the market maker. Are you unprofitable? Maybe not. However, you start out a little down because the market maker got their cut via the spread. They are not competing with you, or any one else in retail. They are really only competing against other market makers via tighter and tighter spreads. These people are basically entirely out of your equation.
Prop shops swing huge lines that influence the market. They make money similar to retail, though certain strategies like playing weeklies for example are likely outside of their utility because of the difficulty of getting into and out of a trade that large quickly. These guys are more than likely using options as a hedge. They may "dump" money into the market, but it's money well spent to hedge an otherwise risky underlying position.
HFTs are making money by taking advantage of small pricing discrepancies on the market on the lowest possible timeframes. In reality, I would bet many of them make a sizeable chunk of cash from taking payment for order flow and "accidentally" trading in a way that is advantageous to them given this information. To be honest, I'm not totally sure about the HFT game in options.
Retails by and large make money on larger timescales. Soaking up the dollars coming out of the contracts on a weekly or monthly basis. Money is "lost" to the market, and taken in large amounts from the market as well. It's impossible to compete with HFTs and prop shops on this so in general retail options traders are swing traders that are trading the dominate trend, or events.
My point with all this is that we aren't all profitable on every trade. This fuels the market. Its entirely possible to post a green year having given the market a sizeable chunk of money. Some people finish in the red giving more than they took from the market. This is the way these derivative markets work.