Here is the percentage of winning/losing traders for various well-known Forex brokers, per quarter. As you can see, each quarter 75% of traders are losers, on average, OANDA being the only exception (50% are losers), for reasons I cannot explain.
Absolutely not. If it were, it would not have survived this long. This is a limited view. Also, if you believe that, you should not even participate in a trading forum because you are wasting your time. You should try to find positive expectation games to talk about. So what? This is not what makes trading difficult. If those 1000 random trades offer a reward:risk ratio of 2 then the cost of doing business is more than justified. Besides, the broker pays his employees who then spend the money in the real economy and in this way money come back to traders as a salary or business profit to replenish accounts. Money recycles. What makes trading difficult is ignorance. Most people trade worse than random, worse than throwing dice.
To start with you should apologize for involving a mother in this conversation. This is the first time since I joined this group I come across someone doing this. I don't look down on people who lose money because I also lost my share when I was learning. My only point was that if you trade better than random you have a good chance to make money because even a large percentage of random traders win. Thus you need a good plan, low cost of operation, a very important aspect that trefoil explained to you. He is one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable members and you should listen to him.
What can price do? It can only go up or down. Why is it that something so apparently simple defeats all or most new players? First of all you have to notice the gyrations (the swings up and down of price) and not any so-called trends. Next you harness those swings to manufacture your net gains on a day trading basis. The system you devise has to be accurate and reliable. So a lot of study, savy, patience and practice are required as the primary attributes which you need. But who are going to be the new players who are savy enough and patience enough and who in addition must have the strength and balance of mind to actually trade effectively? Finally, it is always there for the doing. Few do it.