This is why NoDoji and I (and others) stress the importance of keeping records, whether in a journal or a spreadsheet. The numbers don't lie. One can rationalize, of course, but there's only so much records can accomplish with regard to maintaining the tether between fantasy and reality.
That is precisely why traders are more likely to fail than not, b/c the numbers in a zero-to-negative sum activity imply it.
Most traders fail because they don't want to win. They want to hurt themselves by losing so they lose. Simple.
Well, trading is not a zero-sum activity, so your hypothesis is not something that logically follows.
If a variable is nonzero, it is either a positive number or a negative number. The logic of your post assumes that the sum is non-zero, and further assumes that the sum is never negative as otherwise the conclusion would be incorrect. On what basis did you arrive at the conclusion that trading is not a zero-sum, and that it is never a negative sum?
It's not a closed system. But you've been told all this in at least some of the many posts you've made on this subject. I have nothing to add to what's already been said.
another reason : psychology/spirituality, where the deep reasons are outside trading, but trading is used as a vehicle to achieve it.
Thats one of the ways slot machines suck you in.....folks get almost the same rush from getting 'close' as winning. The idea that next time will be different and better. It makes you wonder if 'pessimists' (otherwise known as pragmatic realists) make better traders, regardless of IQ or intelligence. There are so many mental traps in trading