haha, ya the operative word is 'average'
and all that stuff is in a theoretical world... and there are people who outperform the 'market' over time but there are VERY FEW of em....
as for prop trading and hedges, most "pros" have an information edge(prime brokers, bloomberg, best platforms, associates to do research, inside info), better and cheaper order execution, black box trading algorithms, better ability to 'locate' borrowable shares on more securites, significanly more experience, and the list goes on and on
more times than not its the pros eating the individuals lunch, and the few who do it consistenly are the ones we read about...
