90% of traders are losers

Applogies if i'm wrong Mr RiskManager, but upon googling that software, it mostly seems to be Australians pushing it, and lo and behold, you are Australian. I'm sure nobody here cares about commercial posts.. when they acknowledged as such. Hands up Mr Riskmanager? are you connected with JBL or park ave ?
 
It could be due to lack of adequate information on the particular trade. So many people just want the easiest way to wealth. No body wants to go through the stress of learning the ropes and getting the proper training and trading strategies and systems that are required to profit from the markets.
 
its difficult to come up with a figure for % of traders who are "losers"?! if you were to define "loser" as someone who for the life of their account loses more than they win then this isnt going to give a true reflection. very bad traders could open accounts, place one winning trade, close it, do the same somewhere else, again close after one winning trade, and repeat 10 times, with total profits of 10k then open another account and lose 11k in one trade.

citytrader makes a good point tho, trading attracts idiots who cant be bothered to get a job and see it as easy money. these people are losers in life so why should their trading "career" be any different. if i offered tradign accounts to 7 year olds then of course the majority are going to lose. its where you target your market.

ive seent he tradign statements for 100s if not 1000s of traders. most will do the same thing. put a position on with no money management strategy, close it once theyve made a few points and let the losses run. we are programmed to seek short term reward meaning people always want to close winning trades and not losing trades so they allow losses to run and will eventually blow up.

its amazing how many "traders" say they will never close a losing position. its ridiculous. youre not "trading" buddy. youre propping up the market for the rest of us. thanks!

t30.

ps. develop a sensible money management system, then flip a coin to trade. youll do better than 80% of traders.
 
It certainly seems that the distribution of traders who are/aren't successful (however you wish to define that) is not random. Would everyone agree with that?
 
I think that there's a typo - it should read "90% of traders are loosers.

Do you know what I do like? When people misspell traders "tarders".

It is the financial markets' equivalent of "butterfly / flutterby" - the mistake is so often more appropriate than the correct spelling (I've got nothing against 'tards, by the way, this is just a joke).
 
there is a very famous saying in china ' failure is the mother of success' only after failure then you can succeed in fact trading is of high risk
 
dccruibay said:
there is a very famous saying in china ' failure is the mother of success' only after failure then you can succeed in fact trading is of high risk
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it's really true, so one can't disagree with it, anyway i think everythin is risky then!
 
dccruibay said:
there is a very famous saying in china ' failure is the mother of success' only after failure then you can succeed in fact trading is of high risk
Click to expand...

Sounds like famous last words, to me. You can fail, providing that there is something to get you started again. Trading is no different, so the best is to split the capital up and trade with portions.

The problem with trading is the gambling element and gamblers rarely know when to stop. Once cleaned out, it's very difficult.
 
Interviewer: "Hi Trader, Are you a LOSER?"
"Trader": "No, no! I'm a really great trader. I've made loads of money! I've never lost a single trade!"
Interviewer: "Oh, ok. What was your % return last year?"
"Trader": "Loads! Like 500%!"
Interviewer: (Makes notes)

Asking retail "traders" how much they win lose is pointless as there will always be a massive bias towards success. You need to ask the brokers to find out true stats. Very short term (first day trading), I'm sure 50% of traders "win". One week in, this will fall to 20%. One month will be 10%. One year will be 5% if that. I talk from experience having worked in several retail broking houses.

Why? Because most "traders" have no idea what theyre doing. They almost all do exactly the same thing. Tight profit target, no stop.

Perhaps we need to rephrase the question.

What percentage of clients who have SOME idea what they are doing are losers?

I would hazard a guess at 75%+.

I could well be wrong.
 
trader30 said:
Interviewer: "Hi Trader, Are you a LOSER?"
"Trader": "No, no! I'm a really great trader. I've made loads of money! I've never lost a single trade!"
Interviewer: "Oh, ok. What was your % return last year?"
"Trader": "Loads! Like 500%!"
Interviewer: (Makes notes)

Asking retail "traders" how much they win lose is pointless as there will always be a massive bias towards success. You need to ask the brokers to find out true stats. Very short term (first day trading), I'm sure 50% of traders "win". One week in, this will fall to 20%. One month will be 10%. One year will be 5% if that. I talk from experience having worked in several retail broking houses.

Why? Because most "traders" have no idea what theyre doing. They almost all do exactly the same thing. Tight profit target, no stop.

Perhaps we need to rephrase the question.

What percentage of clients who have SOME idea what they are doing are losers?

I would hazard a guess at 75%+.

I could well be wrong.
Click to expand...

Yes, not knowing where to place stops is what kills a lot of traders. It is the most difficult decision to make. I have tried them at all distances, over the years, and find that the closest ones are the safest for the account.

Direction and stops are the most important decisions to make. Stops are only used because the trader is not sure whether he will be right, or not. That bears out my belief that prices are random and that systems are unlikely to work.

Seems easy but I get direction wrong, quite often, and am satisfied that, in my own mind, prices are random. People can say what they like about rules and regulations but traders must be able to get out fast.
 
A good and properly placed stop-looss will help you to stop loosing your money and lasso your capital. ;):LOL:
 
Last edited:
Ambrose Ackroyd said:
A good and properly placed stop-looss will help you to stop loosing your money and lasso your capital.
Click to expand...

But the proper stop loss can only be decided by the trader, himself. Some traders place their stops outside the safety net of what another trader may consider prudent, if left to himself. But, because a well considered trader says otherwise the student trader may well follow suit with disastrous results.

If prudence tells you that a 10 point loss is enough for your pain level when forex trades work much larger stop distances, for instance. Stop trading forex. Go somewhere else, shares, or whatever.

I'm on indices. Daily and hourly ones make me uncomfortable because the stops that I should use for them are too big for me.

So, I trade mornings and 15 minute bars. I'm happy with that and that is what everyone has to do. Find his own manner of trading, his own pain level and let these 100 point swing traders do their own thing in peace and stop getting envious of their success. You can't tell whether it is true, or not, anyway.
 
trader30 said:
Why? Because most "traders" have no idea what theyre doing. They almost all do exactly the same thing. Tight profit target, no stop.

Perhaps we need to rephrase the question.

What percentage of clients who have SOME idea what they are doing are losers?

I would hazard a guess at 75%+.

I could well be wrong.
Click to expand...



Are you saying that their tight profit target is entered at the time of placing the trade as a limit order?
 
90+% of traders follow the... "trend is your friend", "ride the trend", "never trade against the trend" methods
90+% of traders fail.
Maybe the "do not follow the crowd" makes more sense...
 
buzzee said:
90+% of traders follow the... "trend is your friend", "ride the trend", "never trade against the trend" methods
90+% of traders fail.
Maybe the "do not follow the crowd" makes more sense...
Click to expand...

That's a joke, right?

90% of traders have short hair, therefore if we all grew our hair we would all make money?
 
Jason101 said:
Are you saying that their tight profit target is entered at the time of placing the trade as a limit order?
Click to expand...

No, the typical behaviour is to enter a position at will (position of moon, advice of cat etc) and then once they see a few points profit and the market moves one tick against them, they close the position taking the few points profit.

This is just my experience of watching a few thousand new traders enter the market. Im sure it doesnt apply to every new trader. Just 95% of them...;)
 
buzzee said:
90+% of traders follow the... "trend is your friend", "ride the trend", "never trade against the trend" methods
90+% of traders fail.
Maybe the "do not follow the crowd" makes more sense...
Click to expand...

Maybe 90% of them have heard of the trend principles. Not many of them follow it or ride it.
 
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