The returns from high-frequency quantitative trading have indeed been outrageous in the past two years. An annualized profit of around 50% is on display—what industry can achieve that? Traditional companies struggle to make that much profit even with their best efforts. As a result, a large amount of capital and traders are naturally attracted, all eager to see if quantitative trading can make easy money.

The problem is, once more participants and funds enter the market, the microstructure begins to change. High-frequency quantitative teams have algorithms, technology, and data advantages—they can capture arbitrage opportunities that last only a few milliseconds. But what about retail investors? When the market rises, their positions are shaken out during volatility, and they end up realizing that they are losing money compared to the index, even if they initially made gains.

More and more small and medium investors are helplessly choosing to exit. They realize that in this market, without technological and capital support, relying solely on traditional fundamental or technical analysis cannot keep up with the pace of high-frequency trading. In the end, many can only stop trading and shift their funds to other fields.