Quote from trader198:
in future trading, a zero-sum game?
no, when you get in, you pay ticket fee to your brokers,
so already lose some
when you get out, you pay the fee again, you lose more.
trading is a losing game from this perpective.
just like you want to open a store, you need pay monthly retenal fee to setup your store, then pay your employess salary/wage, pay your untility bills, pay..... those are out of pocket fees.
then you may say any business is a losing game.
trading is just like any business. you need time, hard work, intelligence, talent, capital, knowledge, vision, experience,... to succeed.
most people misunderstand trading. thinking it is an easy thing. lured into it by looking at those charts, found " if I buy here, and I make how much money", "if I sell here, how much I make", they thought making money in the market is fast, easy... they do not realize trading needs business brain, knolwgde, talents, experience...
all those are illusions.
movie stars make money easy? yes, it is easy.
sport stars make money easy? yes, it is easy.
ordniary people think "why joe/marylin can be movie stars, why not me?" they see the money, but they did not see "do I have the talent, do I have the capital, do I have the emotial strength to deal with roll-caster ride of the market......"
god does not make everyone equal, just make you and me unique.
95% is non-sense. if you flip over those 410k accounts, most folks do pretty well. I belive 95% those folks are winners. they donot day trade.
people lose is becuase they seek fast money, jump in and out, too frequently, do very risky trading activities.
in the past I day trade future, particularly sweet crude, I rearely make a point in a day trade. acutally it is so easier for me to make 3points even 5 points in a trade. I just use the most powerful strategy: buy low, buy big dip, then hold.
market actually moves no-where, slightly higher over the time. that is the market personality.