> It's almost impossible ...

You'd think so, and yet ML is transforming investment and trading strategies.

From The Economist:

  Castle Ridge Asset Management, a Toronto-based upstart, has achieved
  annual average returns of 32% since its founding in 2013. It
  uses a sophisticated machine-learning system, like those used
  to model evolutionary biology, to make investment decisions.

  It is so sensitive, claims the firm’s chief executive, Adrian
  de Valois-Franklin, that it picked up 24 acquisitions before
  they were even announced.

Source: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21722685...