That is right small traders. It is pretty much a zero sum game. According to this article: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/03/business/la-fi-amateur-currency-trading-20110403 An estimated 615,000 Americans are dabbling in foreign currency trading, encouraged by advertising from the two biggest U.S. brokers, FXCM Inc. and Gain Capital Holdings Inc., both based in New York. Combined, FXCM and Gain have about 260,000 accounts, a third of them in the U.S. These customers are losing money in spectacular fashion. At FXCM, 75% to 77% of customers lost money each quarter last year, according to newly required disclosures to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. At Gain, which operates through http://www.forex.com, the number of unprofitable customers hovered between 72% and 79% every quarter last year, according to its filing. 75% of small traders lose money on a quarter basis. Of the 75% lost, that is 98% loses on an annual basis. For example, of the total 615K accounts (customers), 605K accounts (customers) lose! Whether u are trading with stop or no stop, u will lose. The question is, WHAT IS THE RISK/REWARD, knowing u will lose small traders!! More than 90% of small traders lose. They just lose!!! Hopefully this will make u decide if u want to become a trader or not. I am looking for the best answer
emg, you are right, most traders just lose. But why are you so concerned with other people? Why not just worry about yourself? You dont need to be a jerk about it.
not a surprise. its precisely why 0.1% of real winners can make decent $$$. what is the least popular strategy? holding a winning trade for 2, 3 or 9 weeks after making 11 losses in a row. almost every person will do the opposite: 11 very small profits and one giant LOSS. epic fail
I certainly didn't want a newly graduated brain surgeon to be working on my brain even though he has 12 years of education, I needed someone who had years of education and years of actual experience. And yet most people think they are going to compete against those who are very experienced and computerized to rise above the cream. Americans are so gullible, money is too cheap, any people who buy Pet Rocks, Empty Beer cans, and acreage on the moon can transfer their money into my accounts any day. People are suckered into clever ads that trading is so rewarding, any idiot can do it after reading a few chapters. But these people are the easiest to steal away their money, most are so lazy, don't have a clue of the years of study of oneself, have to change how one thinks that what you "see" is not what is happening most of the time. And should you work your ass off and become a 1%er, and look back on whom you were when you first began, you are not that same person any more, you change so much, what was up is now down, you can see where the big boys controlled the market, the game is rigged and you learn to adapt. The 90% who lose simply don't know who they are, we play a psychological game, learn to know yourself best, then you have better shot at the 10%.
"Gain ended up making an average of $2,913 from every active trader it had last year, even though the average customer account contained only $3,000, according to the company's financial data. FXCM made $2,641 for every active trader, while the average customer had $3,658." Oh my. "Ouma used her credit card to fund an account with an online currency broker. Within a few weeks of swapping dollars for yen and euros, she said, her $3,000 of borrowed money was gone." Oh my oh my, really to sum up the risk contained in an industry using statistics from jokers,gamblers,part timers and those looking for an income on the side with minimal effort applied, are you having a laugh? The average account being between 3-4 thousand and you are bringing this to us as evidence traders lose? Just because someone is "trading" does not make them a "trader" there failures do not represent the general barriers to success of the industry...get it?
Its like quoting a bunch politicians as definite proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that money management is impossible and bankruptcy is a sure thing.