you will never make good money on memecoins, tradfi, crypto or wherever. Period. you think I am wrong? open 50:12 and explain me these 6 principles without looking the whole video, I bet you won't be able to do that. and these are the basics of how the market works. Andrew Lo delivered this lecture in MIT in 2013, he explained 2008 financial disaster and much more, so if you understand a few basic principles, a lot of things in markets start making sense automatically. Here are 6 of them: 1. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch Every return has a cost. If an investment offers a higher return, ask what you're giving up in exchange: > More risk > Less liquidity > More time > More uncertainty > More complexity If someone offers you 15% guaranteed while risk-free assets yield 4%, the extra 11% isn't magic. There's probably a risk you're not seeing. 2. People generally want three things All else equal, people prefer: • More money over less • Money today over money tomorrow • Less risk over more risk These simple preferences explain a huge part of finance. Why do lenders demand interest? Because $1,000 today is worth more than $1,000 a year from now. Why do risky investments need to offer higher expected returns? Because investors need compensation for taking that risk. Time has a price. Risk has a price. 3. Everyone acts in their own self-interest Every market participant has an objective. A buyer wants a lower price. A seller wants a higher price. A fund wants returns. A market maker wants the spread. An exchange wants fees. This doesn't mean everyone is greedy. It means incentives matter. If you want to understand someone's behavior in a market, first understand what they're rewarded for. 4. Prices move to balance supply and demand More buyers than willing sellers? Price tends to rise. More sellers than willing buyers? Price tends to fall. The interesting part is what happens next. As the price rises, some buyers lose interest and more holders become willing to sell. Price is the mechanism through which the market continuously tries to balance supply and demand. 5. Markets adapt Imagine you discover this: Every Monday at 10 AM, an asset rises 2%. Easy money. But then other traders discover it too. They start buying at 9:59. Then 9:55. Then 9:30. Eventually, the opportunity gets priced in and disappears. That's one of the most important lessons in markets: Profitable inefficiencies attract competition. The more obvious the edge becomes, the harder it is to keep. 6. Finance is largely about moving and pricing risk Not everyone wants to hold the same risks. An airline doesn't want oil prices exploding. A farmer doesn't want crop prices collapsing. A homeowner doesn't want one accident destroying their finances. So financial products emerge to transfer, share, hedge, or price those risks. Insurance, futures, options, swaps and countless other products are ultimately ways of answering: Who holds the risk — and how much should they be paid for holding it? Put all six principles together and you get a surprisingly useful framework: > There are no free returns. > Money today has value. > Risk requires compensation. > Incentives drive behavior. > Prices coordinate supply and demand. > Competition destroys easy opportunities. Understand these first. Then the complicated parts of finance become much easier to understand.