
As mentioned before, commissions are part of the problem, but without them there will be no arenas to trade in. The real issue is market makers bluffing the order books. All of the infrastructures are automated, and the fast players are everywhere to catch your trades, happily providing you high prices when buying and low prices when selling. The only way to beat it is to use limit orders and try to anticipate the middle price. This a-ha moment seems like a minor issue, but multiplying 200 trades by 2.5$ ripping off fees is similar to the commissions you pay anyway, so it’s like paying commissions twice! Never use market orders or bid-ask raw prices, always target the mid-price or better.