To make money in the market, you first need to understand which games you can afford to play.

**Information arbitrage looks very tempting, but it's not that simple in practice.** Its reliability is moderate, and it's no longer the era of competing solely on reaction speed. Now, it's about the depth of market information interpretation. You need precise judgment skills, which is almost impossible for beginners.

**Cross-platform arbitrage is even more of a trap.** Don't be fooled by price differences between platforms; retail investors can hardly earn any profit. Those millisecond-level arbitrage robots have long since exploited all the opportunities, and manual operations will only waste time and effort. Very unreliable, not worth trying.

**High-probability bond strategies are one of the few options suitable for ordinary people.** The core idea is to buy high-probability options with a score of 95 to 99, but you must carefully consider the time cost—especially in a high-interest environment, the long-term returns might be less stable than simply putting money into a money market fund.

**Providing liquidity sounds impressive, but it's not very suitable for retail investors.** Earning spreads by placing limit orders on both buy and sell sides sounds simple, but it requires sufficient capital and operational experience. Professional market makers do this, but ordinary readers are strongly advised against it.

**In fact, domain expertise is more suitable for ordinary people.** This is the most reliable strategy—its core logic is "cognition monetization." As long as you focus deeply on a familiar field, whether it's political games, box office performance, or industry policies, information gaps can become your competitive advantage. It's easy for beginners to get started and the entry barrier is relatively low.

**Speed trading? Completely give up.** This has become the exclusive domain of high-frequency trading, where retail investors' reaction speed and information access are no match. Its reliability approaches zero, and blindly participating will only lead to losses.

**What about advanced strategies like Kelly formula, portfolio arbitrage, reverse betting, or predictive models?** The barriers are terrifyingly high. Not only do they require professional mathematical knowledge and modeling skills, but also constant market monitoring and quick adaptation. The operational complexity is overwhelming. For beginners, understanding the core logic is enough; it's really not worth investing effort into practical implementation. Avoid unnecessary losses—that's the smart choice.