That is a good find Tradex but even so 1 article in the whole world is what we use to support "90%"? If they really measured in might it be 91.2% or 89.0%?
Well, brokers are not particularly eager to post numbers that show that more than 75% of their clients are losing money. Imagine a doctor saying something like this, for instance: "95% of my patients die after they follow my treatment!" That's why these figures are hard to get, generally speaking.
In the futures markets the percentage of losers also exceeds 75%. A single limit up or down move can wipe out an entire account almost overnight. "Margin call, gentlemen!"
To be more exact, it really depends on the business model of the brokerage. There used to be, I don't know about now, an annual report that actually reports the number of accounts that are profitable among all the client accounts for all the Forex brokers. And it's very obvious that forex brokers that operate with a more ECN model that have orders fulfilled by multiple market participants and brokers that at least hedge against client positions would have higher and many times much higher number of client accounts that are profitable than brokers that trade against their clients. And it's the same pattern every single year.
That is bad risk management practices but that number is still lower than 90%. This is a case of illegal insider trading and market manipulation.
I've said it several times before, you have to truly love the skill of trading to be successful at it. Money is just not a good motivator. That's the biggest reason people jump into it because of the thought of chilling at home trading for a living, making big money, and making their own hours. However, the amount of money people lose trying to get to that point strikes it as counter productive to their main reason they got into it, to make money. They feel it is too hard, or more likely they think they will never be good at it and just give up altogether after losing their money again and again. To those who see trading as their game of chess, and who love it for the skill of taming the wild beast, they will not give up due to loss of money or having failed over and over. They will do whatever it takes to be successful at the skill itself, even if it means they might never be good at it at all. For me it was a journey of busted bankrolls again and again, failing time and again. Then it became breaking even. Two steps forward. Three steps back. Finally I began profiting. I am thankful for those who passed gems on these forums along the way. It does require extensive studying, researching, and analysis to get there, but above all else it requires the will to be successful at achieving the skill itself. The benefits are nice obv, but they are not enough to make someone successful (though this is just my opinion).