the fights of retail can trade or not imo is mostly generated from poor classification of edge on part of *most* retail. they (we) tend to classify raw return as success, where that ain't always true.

yeh making money in equities is nice and all, but in an up only bull market over the last decade doesn't tell me much about your ability as a trader.
what's more interesting is how'd you do in a bunch of different markets, where going up all the time isn't obvious, and also not required for your performance. risk adjusted return and all.