97% of day traders lose money

[DanWalker]

I see many conflicting opinions in this discussion and most people dont believe that 90-97% of traders are losing money.

I think we do not need to argue about that anymore. Instead, my question is: how many of us actually make a consistent profit from trading? Is there anyone making a profit from trading? What I mean is, after a long period of trading, the overall result is still a profit.
Im not a full time trader, but to be honest, I have been in the market for many years. but I have never met anyone who has been able to make a consistent profit from trading.

[icoprofits]

The number is probably inflated but the point is real. What makes trading different from gambling isn't just the risk, it's that you're actively making decisions. A gambler at a blackjack table has zero control over outcomes. A trader can exit, reduce position size, hedge, or wait.

The problem is most people approach trading with a gambler's mindset. They want action, excitement, quick profits. That's why leverage kills them. They're not treating it as a skill to develop, they're treating it as entertainment that costs money.

The 3% who make it aren't necessarily smarter than everyone else. They're just more patient and treat risk management as the actual job rather than a hobby that pays them.

[Tungbulu]

I see many conflicting opinions in this discussion and most people dont believe that 90-97% of traders are losing money.

I think we do not need to argue about that anymore. Instead, my question is: how many of us actually make a consistent profit from trading? Is there anyone making a profit from trading? What I mean is, after a long period of trading, the overall result is still a profit.
Im not a full time trader, but to be honest, I have been in the market for many years. but I have never met anyone who has been able to make a consistent profit from trading.

I think there are traders who are actually making a consistent profit from trading. Not that they don’t experience losses or they don’t have bad days but even in the midst of those losses, they still manage to record more profits at the end of the day. Although I haven’t seen such a person but I just have that belief that they exist, cos why would they still remain consistent in trading if they’re not making profits in the long run??

[jostorres]

So if there are loser traders, there are winner traders and aside from them, there goes the exchanges. So, there are two of them at least that are winning when someone is losing. We have an idea on how exchanges are earning from the commissions that they're taking, from the fees and all other stuff that they're getting also like from the listing fees, etc.

Well, in most cases the winners aren't actually the users but exchanges themselves because sometimes exchanges manipulate some coins by pumping those coins and many greedy traders fall in that trap and lose money by trading useless coins. The main factor that makes a trader a winner or a loser is the greed. If a trader can control his/her greed and other emotions then there's less chance of losing. Exchanges mostly make money by the fees and from future trading liquidations.

Very true. It's kind of similar to how it's never the gamblers winning money but the house. Similarly I feel these exchanges control so much volume that they manipulate the market often to liquidate the small traders. It's very easy for them because they can see the trades and sometimes they even freeze the market, such that you can't close your trades because the services are suspended. That small window is enough to force them into liquidation.

Oh and hey, I don't agree with the theory suggested in the Medium article that 97% day traders lose money. Nope, that can't be true unless we are actually living in a simulation world, as Elon suggested.

It's better to stay away from daytrading if you are not sure how it works and just trading on emotions. Then it's better to play the longer game so you have more time to recover if trades turn red.