80% of the traders...

eighty percent of the traders in this industry fail in this industry as traders... if our opponet is the specialist does that mean that 80% of specialists in this industry succeed???

 

I don't think the specialist is my opponent (since I've not traded NYSE stocks for ages ) ... rather, it's just other traders who I'm trading against ... as well as the market makers

 

We have met the enemy.

And he is us.

 

If you think of the specialist as your "opponent" you are in bad shape. They have huge and obvious advantages over the non-professional daytrader in the marketplace - the idea that you could compete with them is ludicrous.

Not that you can't make money daytrading, but if you see a way to get on the same side as the specialist you better be on that side and not the other.

 

if he is the one creating the prices and taking the stock up and down, how is he not the one we are up against??? joe schmoe sitting two blocks down with his 500-1000shares isnt moving the stock with his bids and asks...

 

lol.. traders make up only a small fraction of all market participants.. the success of the specialist has far more to do with handling large order flow than trading against a pesky 1000 share order..

-qwik

 

thank you all for answering this...

 

I'd like to read a legitimate study conducted on the percentage of traders that fail.

I don't believe that the number is that low.

 

you think its more like 90-95%???

 

I think it's actually HIGHER! It's probably over 100%. It all depends on how and when you count failures. Look at some of the Market Wizards. They blew their accounts NOT once, NOT twice, sometimes as many as THREE OR FOUR TIMES before they succeeded. So, how do you count failure then?

And a lot of small traders blow away then save some $ then recapitalize their accounts. And some people who make money are just scraping by. Do you count that as "fail" or success when they are making below minimum wages? haha.

Same goes with professional fund managers who underperform the index or one of their funds do poorly. They just merged with a more successful fund or just eleiminate it. Geez.

The failure rate is notoriously high in this industry I would say! And so many people still think the market is not efficient and they can make easy money. Of course, it's possible. But it ain't easy. The sad fact is most people fail and don't come back. Or they come back at another time. So, it's very difficult to count failure rates. That's the somber reality folks!