Not much of a chance if you let the Wall Street players define the rules. However, you might just slay the giant if you define the rules. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Jason Zweig noted that:

From the point of view of an investor, all this frantic trading is just noise. In 1976, the great financial analyst Benjamin Graham declared that "the stock market resembles a huge laundry in which institutions take in large blocks of each other's washing … without rhyme or reason." Mr. Graham died that year, but today he would laugh at the speed of the spin cycle. He would then ignore the momentary vibrations in a company's stock price and go right back to analyzing the value of its business.

As an investor, you are free to choose your own time horizon. If other people want to try earning a few fractions of a penny a few thousand times a day, you should wish them well — and refuse to join them.

Contrary to what many are now saying, buy-and-hold and investing in quality blue chip stocks is not dead. Consider the following stocks:

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of a diversified line of healthcare products including: drugs, nutritional products, diabetes monitoring devices and diagnostics. The company has a strong new product pipeline, with possible significant launches in both the medical device and pharmaceutical areas. ABT has increased its dividend for the last 37 years and the stock is currently yielding 3.10%. See the most recent Analysis.

Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) primarily makes backup power equipment for telecom and Internet providers and users, climate control components, and electric motors.