Buy and hold long term is not active trading. You’re conflating two completely different things.

It’s odd when I find HN to be so risk adverse when working in tech is all about risk. Fortunes are made with risk. Then as an industry we’re apparently all just degenerate gamblers if buying and holding Apple stock is akin to playing roulette.

Yes, that is the definition of active trading. I suggest you do more research. Active trading is contrasted to passive trading (index funds).

It’s akin to roulette in that it’s statistically non-optimal, not that the level of risk is the same.

HN readers tend to be focused upon evidence and mathematically inclined.

If that were true literally no HN reader would work at a startup, but we know that isn't the case. Or take any compensation in the form of equity in one company, even at a large one.

First of all, financially and statistically speaking, working at a startup almost never makes sense compared to working at a FAANG or similarly high-paying company. (There have been countless articles and discussions about this on HN, so I won't rehash the arguments.) Second, there are other reasons for working at a startup that have little or nothing to do with money (it's more fun/rewarding, you learn more, work/life balance, etc). The latter doesn't really have a parallel in investing unless you only invest in sustainable/ethical companies or something like that, but then the conversation about maximizing profit and beating the market is kind of moot anyway.

> Or take any compensation in the form of equity in one company, even at a large one.

Public stocks are liquid enough that you can sell them as soon as possible and immediately "cash out", so any equity-based compensation at a public company can reasonably be treated as cash. The same applies to a private VC-backed company with an upcoming IPO, though obviously there is a little bit more risk involved there.

That doesn't follow at all. I work at a tech startup because it's a business in which I think I can add value. I don't think I know enough about finance to move the needle.

As for big-company equity, I'm happy to take RSUs in a FAANG , and sell them the day they arrive. Nothing radical there.

That would be true iff compensation were the only reason for joining startups.

Working in tech is not "all about risk"; being a founder/entrepreneur is in any industry, but just an average employee that writes code is hardly risky.