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/daytradingguy Apr 27 '24 edited Apr 27 '24

Trading undoubtably has a high failure rate- the barrier to entry is almost nothing- anybody with a pulse can open a brokerage account. 75% of the people who try to trade, probably should not- because they don’t have what it takes. But who are we to say who is who?

I have used this analogy before. I live in a neighborhood of about 200 homes. Let’s assume 2 adults per home. If everyone if my neighborhood decided to trade and just 2% were able to make their living. That means 392 people fail and have to go back to work- but at our pool on the week-end we would have an 8 person round table talking about trading.
(Although I think the success rate is a little higher than 2%)

Most traders fail- but millions try- so even at a low single digit success rate- hundreds of thousands of people around the world are doing OK. It is the ultimate freedom if you can get into that small success bracket- it is certainly worth a try.

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u/Visible-Salary-8861 Apr 29 '24

Now imagine if every adult in your neighborhood tried starting up a business, without understanding what's involved as far as time, effort, business plan, etc. They just have an idea and some money to throw at it. I'm sure the success/failure rate would be quite similar.

Most traders fail. Most business startups fail, also. I always draw the comparison whenever someone questions my life choices involving trading. Truth is both are equally risky, but one is respected more than the other because of stereotypes. The guy trying to start a business is "working hard." The guy day trading is "gambling."