You think it takes knowledge to make money. If that were the case, that "knowledge" could be packaged and sold to millions. What is required is an edge, knowledge is worthless. People are all so enamored by these buzz words "knowledge" and "effort" and "if you work hard". Those are bullet points. But there is a very sad reality to this business. Trading is a business where the guy that can kick your ass and take your girlfriend and your wallet, will. And in the trading world, those guys have capital, technology, an edge, and they are taught to trade by some of the sharpest guys in the world. No boot camp, 3 day seminar, TA book, web site, or late night TV infomercial is going to give you what it takes to keep your money from the trader who is going to take it from you. There are ways to meet these traders and possibly learn from them but the odds of you trading next to them are less then it use to be. It was a lot easier when guys could clerk for a super star trader on the floor. And it was a lot easier when you could work at a huge prop firm that had 800 to 1000 traders under one room. Unfortunately, those days are gone.
First of all, knowledge is far too ambiguous a word to have any relevance. True, when one blows up, they do gain knowledge and wisdom. But this does not mean it will lead to profitability. 90% to 95% of all traders fail and they all gained this so called knowledge or wisdom by paying their tuition or blowing up. So this cannot be argued with a straight face that knowledge leads to profitability. When people talk about paying your tuition in terms of losses, this can only be said in hindsight after a trader has had such losses and has become profitable. You cannot prove with empirical data that teaching anyone this stuff has any correlation to profitability. It's analogous to saying that If Tiger Woods showed you his swing you could become a PGA golfer. Or If Michael Jordan showed you his jumpshot you too could play in the NBA. Or if you spent time with Robert Deniro and learned his acting techniques you could become a great actor. All of this is simply not true. Nobody really knows what makes Deniro, Deniro. Or Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods. Or Steve Cohen, Steve Cohen for that matter. Some guys just have the mental discipline and the emotional acumen to be able to do this, most people don't.