My brother has been a mortgaged-backed trader for over 20 years and my father was a bond salesman his entire life.

i'm not a currency trader, but if you've been to downtown baghdad recently, you might not think it was a good idea.

Then again you won't do much better if you post it on a stock traders forum either I guess.I say do both!

If they were a boutique the traders were trading their own money.

The Japanese market has been worthless for over twenty years now (except for the ski resorts), so do you expect to buy from a distance?

My fantastic Japanese tenant moved out last week.

This is where I would be if I wanted to trade Real Estate ETF's.

Experienced stock market investors/traders (which I am) know this.  

My question isn't necessarily real-estate related, but I figured I'd find an answer to my question here. Is there a platform similar to bigger pockets where I can find answers to stock trading questions- particularly ...

The strategy is best described in Joel Greenblatt's fantastic book, and an outstanding practical guide and tool for executing it can be found over at the Magic Diligence website.You can do either (or both) of those using the "leverage" of Options, allowing for substantial upside potential compared to standard stock purchases, with dramatically reduced downside (if you want a no-hype education on Options, Erik Kobayashi-Solomon's book is great).Those with the patience and inclination can indeed use Option trading to make money in any market condition (Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and "Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb all spent time -- and made lots and lots of money -- as options traders in their careers).For even more leverage, you could of course do any of the above (and much more) on margin (meaning your brokerage lends you money to do the investment), though that's not something I would ever do personally.Also, if you focus on holding stocks (or options) for at least a year, you benefit from favorable tax treatment of the profits.