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by whimsicalism 2033 days ago
> many people in the HN audience want to or do make money trading from home on their computers

Really? I thought that HN commentators were typically smarter than thinking they could make money on the Forex market.

2 comments

>Really? I thought that HN commentators were typically smarter ...

That's a common sentiment.[0]

I've made money on forex, but to be clear -- I made the trade knowing it was a gamble and made out. This isn't smart behavior.. but I'm surely not the only one here.

It's a 'hobby' that appeals to people who like to automate and script things, even if the exchanges are actively malicious towards hobbyist-'quants'.

[0] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_favoritism

I don't think it is "in-group bias" to say that if I gave an SAT test to a random sample of HN commentators and then gave one to a random sample of Americans, the HN commentator group would very likely do better.
An SAT? Maybe, sure. Forex trading? Doubt the modal HN user would do statistically better than the modal American.
This is entirely consistent with my claim, if you read my comments.
Until I read comments there I did not even know what Forex market is (though now it is obvious in hindsight from the name).

So at least the comments thread is useful.