Grant Huhn @granthuhn: Is the stock market “rigged”? I have heard floor traders called “Market Makers”. Also heard that everything involving $ is rigged
ANSWER:
If you have to ask the question, then, yes, the market is rigged. And all the people who are rigging the market will tell you it isn’t. There’s a saying in poker, “if you can’t spot the fish at the table, then you’re the fish.” Guess what? In this very case, you are the fish.
The same thing is true with the market. You are asking about “floor traders called Market Makers”. That question alone means you are the fish. Do not put a dime of your money into the market if you want to save any of it. Unless you want to hold for the long run and pray for the best (ultimately the market is rigged to go higher in the long run but in the short run the market is rigged to take all of your money).
So, yes, Virginia, the market is rigged. The funny thing is: the people who think they are rigging the market are themselves subject to the people who are rigging it above them. There’s about 20 layers of rigging. The guys at the top are very happy if they avoid going to jail. They have done the rigging and made billions. Sometimes they retire and build great art collections. Other times they go to jail when someone in the government decides they’ve had enough of them.
Don’t be angry it’s rigged. It always has been. Every exchange in the planet has always been rigged. Our market is better than most. Don’t try to find happiness or sadness in the market because you’ll find neither. Even if everything around you is rigged doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy watching the sun rise in the morning.