My exact thought. With the very volatile market that we have right now, it takes more than a good amount of business knowledge to survive it, earn a good profit and be considered successful.
What bathroom wall did you find those statistics on? Or did you "see" them in the bottom of an empty tea cup. I don't expect to see brokers advertising the percentage of losing accounts they have on their books any time soon. But they certainly could provide the information that would put this debate to rest.... for good. However it may be bad for business. The only published accounting of winners vs losers what I know of is in this book (and it's "very" dated) if you're interested in FACTS read it. http://www.amazon.com/Futures-Game-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278008023&sr=1-1 I am glad your not bothered, but please bring more money the markets NEED you! <*)))><
Am I to believe that 95 percent of professional traders consistently lose money? Given, its conventional wisdom, but does that extend to all professional traders? i'd say 95 percent of amateur traders lose money. Traders who take trading seriously and have the training and/or mentoring to prove it do go up against a 95 percent chance of not being profitable. Any professional traders disagree?
i have heard this 95% rule for just about everything. 9 out of 10 small buisness fail in the first year, but 7 of 8 of my friend are still in buisness. 95% of golfers never break 100, but more than half of the people i have played with over the years did. however, i do know of 4 people who have been playing for 10 years and still can't break 100. they never took a lesson and they never practice. go figure. i know a guy who took up golf for the first time. he took lessons and practiced for 2 years, never playing on the golf course. his first round score? 76. i wonder why. no effort=no results dont believe the stats. people want results without effort,hard work, risk, etc. i know my spelling sucks, dont remind me. later
Of course there have been many volumes written (i.e. market wizards series) that really go to the heart of this whole conversation: What makes a winner? None have answered this question to my satisfaction. My thoughts are if you are a socio-path, you are half way to being in that 5%. If you aren't, then you will either lose and quit, or the market will break you down to the point where you rebuild your psyche to not lose (which is basically the opposite of human nature as it relates to markets and speculation). Even the best strategists and tacticians walk away from this business eventually because of the emotional pain, as one poster alluded to earlier. Everyone looks at a 60% drawdown during a long positive equity graph and says "no problem, I can take it", only to not make it when they hit that sort of drawdown, or exceed a MaxHistoricalDD level, or be in drawdown for an extended (think... years... it can happen) period of time when they try it for real. All is well though, there is always a new turnip fresh off the truck with cash in hand to keep the ball rolling and bring the survivors of the last rip-tide back to shore.
95% of these people who failed trading start with real account and by time they learn something - all money is gone, there isn't second chance.