I wrote about Alpha a few days back and it has been a continued topic of discussion for me in my meetings and calls this week.

Ben Carlson wrote this excellent pice titled ‘First Mover Alpha‘ that has a great explanation of how alpha changes over time – at least in the public markets. Read it all. This one stat really stood out.

In 1963, there were 284 people who took the CFA exam. Last year there were more than 256,000 CFA candidates.

In the 1950s, retail investors controlled 95% of all trades. Today 95% of trades are executed by professional investors.

Make sure to read Ed Thorp’s books that Ben highlights if this subject interests you. They make a great gift for any friend or family member that likes to trade and invest.