Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.

Why invest for the long-term rather than buy and sell for quick, big gains?
Plenty of good answers here, but probably the best answer is that The Market relies on suckers...er...investors like you.  The money has to come from somewhere, it might as well be you. So-called "day traders" or "short-term investors" are a huge part of the market, and they perform a vital function:  they provide capital that flows to the large, well-equipped, institutional investors.  Thing is, you can never be big enough, smart enough, well-informed enough, or quick enough to beat the big guys.  You may have a run of good fortune, but over the long term aggregate, you're a PAYOR into the market, not a DIVIDEND reaper.