Warren Buffet made billions of dollars buying and selling stock. What are the odds that the average person can do the same?
A queen can keep approx. 6 deep frames full of brood, both sides, 100% filled, in a peak laying period. In a 10 frame box, that only leaves 4 frames of food to feed over 12,000 larva.
If the workers use more than 4 frames for food, the hive will swarm, since the queen will have no place to lay.
As for winter, why would anyone try to see just how weak they can make a hive enter into spring? The stronger the hive in fall and winter, the faster it will build up in the spring for reproduction or honey production.
Anything less that a 10 frame deep along our southern border states, a deep and a medium in our middle states, "north to south", or two deeps in our northern states is just foolish, in my opinion. The size boxes used to get that capacity can be more boxes with fewer frames, but the capacity is still needed.
HP posted while I was typing, so maybe this will explain the different scenarios.