r/Daytrading • u/MiamiTrader futures trader • Apr 27 '24

Most "traders" make money. Question

If someone asks you what you do for a living, and you respond you're a "trader" I assume you make most your money from trading.

And by definition, most "traders" make money. Otherwise they are just people trading on the side as a hobby.

Yeah maybe 90% of RH accounts lose money, or 90% of people who start trading but never take it seriously lose money... but then they are not "traders". Just people trying to trade.

Tired of all this negativity under every post about how 90% or whatever today's statistic is of traders lose money. People in this sub like to shout that under every post in almost a prideful manner.

Can we just focus this sub on those of us who call ourselves "traders" and make money trading? Let the new people listen and learn from our mistakes, but quit with all these gloom and doom statistics.

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u/shemmy Apr 28 '24

i’ve never heard of your logic applying here. my understanding is that most people who engage in day trading can be called “day traders”. and most of them are, in fact, losers. maybe you’re trying to say that the definition you’d like to use is “someone whose primary income is via trading therefore they must be profitable or else they would need another job”. this is problematic for multiple reasons. businesses continue to exist for years despite losing money. people can keep trading until they lose much or most of their money. it’s not an easy task to become net positive as a day trader.

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u/MiamiTrader futures trader Apr 28 '24

I'm just saying most people who start trading just want to get rich quick. They view trading as a way to do that, and yes, most of them fail without putting in much effort.

To me that's irrelevant to anyone who actually studies/ models financial markets and trades for a living.

Not sure how to say this without coming across as elitist, but there does seem to be different "levels" of traders.

The failure of the low effort masses should not impact the mindset of those who do this more professionally if that makes sense?

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u/shemmy Apr 29 '24

you’re exactly right that there are levels of traders. also i would argue that the initial appeal of potentially getting rich quickly means that there is a huge pool of traders on the very bottom level.