An index fund is the average of many stocks. You are essentially...

An index fund is the average of many stocks. You are essentially saying that investing in many stocks is investing and so am I. There are gamble elements (concentrated win or loss risk) in small cap explorers and timing elements (charting, RSI timing) and also investing elements (diverse holding, time in the market, following mega trends etc). Look at the small cap index, if that is investing, so is buying a portfolio of explorers. small retail would miss out on the green transition driven mining boom without looking at and holding these kinds of stocks. no offence mate. If charting works for you then great. Trusting in good management teams, mega trend commodity and good geology works for others. Good luck brother but i wont be trading a single share that i hold of QXR unless they end up with nothing in the ground.