[reducesuffering]

Hedge funds are increasingly gaining an information advantage from new technologies, like being able to track various proxy data across the globe like shipping volumes that don't show up on balance sheets yet.

They will increasingly come out better than before.

A small portion of intelligent retail investors are also gaining some information advantage due to the proliferation of online resources or data about companies, that traditionally hedge funds only had, or it wasn't as easily accessible as a few clicks away for retail. But they will need keen insight into upcoming trends and an understanding of technology that wall st. doesn't typically possess, along with the ability to read financial metrics.

They will somewhat do better than before.

The majority of retail is just as uninformed, won't have the time or willingness to do proper diligence and financial understanding of companies to invest in (95% gut feeling and hype, 5% being able to read a balance sheet). And now they can be manipulated through social media to act as herd behavior.

They will increasingly do worse than before.

[logicslave]

I used to work on machine learning data to cleanse and productize data sets for hedge funds. I understand the information access really well. It used to be industry only knowledge that the FED QE will pump the market. Now every retail trader knows it. Alot of things that we are taking for granted now, weren't widespread knowledge previously. Hedge funds have less of an information edge than you think. The insider credit card information they trade off of quickly loses alpha. All of the funds own the same data sets and essentially compete away the profits. Alot of their returns come from pure momentum and trend following, which honestly, doesn't take a rocket scientist. We are only at the beginning of the proliferation of information.