Youre saying the same thing Ripley said. How can there be more buying than selling? How can there be more people long than short?
It is hard to respond to this statement and question. The statement "The market goes up when more traders are LONG and it goes down when more traders are SHORT." is incorrect in the assumption. The question "Yet, why is there so many losers? 95%?" is vague. Are you asking why so many traders lose, so many markets lose, so many equities lose, etc.? In either case the question is flawed in the assumption as well.
lol!!! of course youre right. more demand is what i meant - people willing to pay up more than the other guy. back to basics for me!!! but in answer to the question - if mr peruvian silver mining company sells a load of silver, it doesnt make him short does it. what about the person buying it? well he could be covering a short position, so that doesnt make him long does it. buying and selling are different from being long and short. in equities we can replace the silver mine for the company issuing stock. anyway, i dont give a hoot. like i said, losing and winning is a frame of mind.
Maybe the statement "The market ..." and the question "Yet, why ..." are not connected. Ripley where did you get your 95% number from?
Futures trading is zero sum, for every person long there is some one short. Therefore for your assumption is incorrect. A minority of big traders make most of the money because they know how to play the game and play it big. They are on the right side of the market where as the majority are normally on the wrong side.
That's about it. No consistent winners without consistent losers. No BIG consistent winners without MANY consistent losers. Only take the 95% as a SYMBOLIC expression of the above truth. I'll let Jonathan Swift tell it once over: "Subscribers here by thousands float, and jostle one another down, Each paddling in his leaky boat, and here they fish for gold and drown. Now buried in the depths below. New mounted up to heaven again, they reel and stagger to and fro, At their wits' end. like drunken men. Meantime, secure on Garraway cliffs, A savage race, by shipwrecks fed, Lie waiting for the foundered skiffs, and strip the bodies of the dead."
I can imagine 95% smaller losers and 5% larger winners. I'm just not confident that these percentages are correct, not just another myth, like "selling premium is better because whatever high percentage of options expire worthless", or "covered calls are a low risk strategy", or "buy calendar / LEAPS and you'll sell one year or more premium on them", or "buying DITM options is safer", etc.. (don't get me started on trading myths ... )
95% of equity "investors" are not losers (over the long term) even after inflation and taxes they come out ahead. IMO.Many "speculators" lose because like any business, you're going up against talented competitors(whether its the restaurant business, dry cleaning or trading).