Doesn’t everything :)

Volatility can make even a bad decision right if you can wait, but a flat market will turn all trades bad.

Dividends say otherwise.

This is not really a trading strategy. The dividend yield for most stocks is so low that you won't make money off holding stocks for dividends alone.

> Volatility can make even a bad decision right if you can wait, but a flat market will turn all trades bad.

Just write options..

Yes the old strategy of picking up pennies from in front of the steam roller. All goes well until you get attacked by a black swan :)

Write options that are barely out of the money, buy options that are way out of the money. That'll limit the size of the pennies you pick up, but can also limit the size of the bulldozer.