The best analogy I've ever heard about the stock market is that it's very similar to your average casino in Vegas:
Casino OWNERS exist to transfer money from customers' wallets into THEIRS ... but still keep new customers coming in to slap down money on the table/s.
Saying it a little differently ... Casino owers have one goal in mind every Friday evening. To go home with the BIGGEST paycheck they can.
It's NOT for you and I to go home with a fat paycheck. Rather - an empty wallet.
Casino owners write laws to make CERTAIN odds are in THEIR favor for this to happen. They call that "business".
Market Making firms are the "casino owners" ... we must ALWAYS remember that. When playing the major indexes ... the Plunge Protection Team trumps the Market Makers. Here's a "sneaky" overview of the PPT for those who aren't aware of this FED entity: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/plunge-protection-team.asp
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