You are an freaking idiot. I probably take money from dudes like you all day long. Welcome to my Double Secret Ignore List.
Everyone's a GENIUS after a few winning trades and can teach you how to trade in 5 minutes like the Idiot on the "Learn to trade in 3 weeks" thread!
It depends on the situation for all three, I think. If you are Joe Blow in your home office trading a 5k account using a box of technical indicators from the internet, it might take years to be profitable. Or maybe never. If you work at a firm with as much capital as you need and real education -- knowledge of execution, a senior trader/mentor, classes, etc... it will take far, far less time to become profitable, and the success rate would be much higher. When people name these "95% fail/3+ years to profit" type of statistics, which group of traders are they referring to? There's definitely a distinction to be made when talking about this kind of topic.
Still does not make it easier. Every trader I know who has been at this a long time still talks about the hard work it takes and even the Market Wizards who have been doing this for years still talk about how each day you got to fight and work hard to keep making money. I think you miss the point. More money does not make it any easier even if yo made it all trading.
Exactly. I don't just wake up and have money pour into my account. I'm going in/out 50-100 times /day scalping/intraday swing etc. This is not easy work. It is competitive and intense and you need to be on your toes at all times.
It's work the way hustling up and down the court is work for an NBA player, or the way performing if you're a rockstar is work. The better you're performing, the more effortless it should be, and when you're performing at your best, it should feel natural and like a challenge within your grasp - I almost dare to say easy. However, the key words to that statement are "the better you're performing" - when you're not performing well and have to slap yourself back into the game without giving away your precious capital nor giving up the battling spirit, just how hard of a job trading is really comes out. ------ When I read the original post in this thread, I agreed with points 1 and 2 and even see how point 3 can be interpreted as true from the perspective of a master trader trading in the zone, while at at the same time smelling snake oil.
Misconceptions 1 and 2 are of no interest to me, however misconception 3 does take my interest. Trading is difficult until you make it easy for yourself ... a somewhat solitary pursuit but very rewarding and this is what lies at the very essence of good continuous profitable trading. Yes this game can be very confusing and that is mainly the cause of the confusion. No. Anyone with above-average intelligence can not do it. With or without a good tutor, most people are simply not cut out to be Traders. regards f9
Actually a large account does make it easier. Provided everything else is equal. A large account allows you to trade more opportunities in more markets. A large account also insulates you against the inevitable drawdowns. The assumption here is that your method has positive expectancy and you are strict in your risk management. Otherwise the size of the account makes no difference.