LOL. I wanted to respond to this but I can't say it any better than you did.Two main things.
First, I think it's easy to present as "information" a lot of statements which can't really be objectively verified.
Secondly, I think that in many cases the "facts" listed above are actually pretty misleading because there's no context provided for them.
I'll mention a couple of specific examples and try to explain why they're potentially so misleading.
My own guess (and these are only "guesses": there's no way of knowing for sure, as figures for this can't be reliably monitored or collated) would have been higher. But even so, what would be relevant would be to compare the figure with that for "other forms of trading" and "other forms of self-employment" and "other hobbies with potential to make some money". Is it low, or high? Is it better or worse than one should expect? Who knows? It's all very interpretative, isn't it?
Again, the same comments apply. If you compare that 7% 5-year-survival figure with the restaurant business, for example (and there are many other available examples, too, for which information is far more reliable than is so for trading), it's actually rather a high figure. If indeed it's true in the first place.
I think it's a mistake, in principle, to let oneself be influenced by "facts" like the ones above, which are typically offered with an agenda (sometimes an overt one; sometimes concealed, depending on the context).
That's a different question, and one not really addressed by the "information" above. My own suspicion is that they generally don't - just as is true of almost any other kind of activity you could mention instead of daytrading.
In other words, it relates mostly not to daytrading, per se, but more to "the human condition" in general.
For myself, even though my own knowledge of "psychology" is admittedly close to zero, my general experiences of everyday life and especially my experiences of educational processes (of which I happen to have quite a lot!) have made me a believer in the Dunning-Kruger effect, anyway.
Call me a skepchick, but my own impression is that there are a lot of very widespread misunderstandings about "daytrading", and that it isn't even a word that's used with the same meaning by everyone using it ... and even if everything said above is true, how surprising or indeed significant would it really be, anyway? In summary, it may or may not be true, and what does it really demonstrate anyway, even if it is?
Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability?
- Thread starter Evermore2017
- Start date
kudos for turning lemons into lemonade.
IMO, 2014 is a relatively short time period to declare yourself successful.
I made 4 million dollars plus last year, I made similar in 2016 and I was pretty decent in 2015.
My risk management model is very very good, I paid a mathematician to proof it for me. I don't take crazy killer trades. I do however put in the work.
In case you are wondering, I have the flu the last few days so time to kill. I normally just annoy people in the politics section. It is a good way to pass the time waiting for a trade to work out or not.
Edit: And by work I mean usually 16 hours a day 5 days a week. Plus Sunday evening.
These threads continue to pop up on ET through the years. I suspect many are initiated by those who have not succeeded and look to convince themselves that it can't be done. I have some unsettling news, not only can it be done but it is done by many. It is however a rigorous and demanding path. I always picture people who have dropped out of day trading as having garages full of water filters and other get rich pyramid dream schemes.
Alot of day traders, or traders in general, are nothing more but degenerate gamblers. 
Looking for that next high, or win.
They like to justify and think they have some kind of rational, logical, business-minded endeavor going...but they've got nothing.
Vegas, horse racing, cards, sports betting, trading -- all the same thing, to some people.
Looking for that next high, or win.
They like to justify and think they have some kind of rational, logical, business-minded endeavor going...but they've got nothing.
Vegas, horse racing, cards, sports betting, trading -- all the same thing, to some people.
maybe they are just plain vanilla degenerates
LOL. You make it sound like more fun then it actually is. Maybe I am doing it wrong.
I co-owned a brokerage early 90s with a once Eurodollar floor trader, he always said biggest mistake he ever did was sell his "deck" of clients on the floor. He would go after day traders and needed $30k back then to open an account as margins for S&P500 futures were $12-25k, and I sought out long term Commodity traders, I also had a large room that I rented out by the desk(computer, data, chair, telephone to the floor)for those who wanted a place trades, it always be 12 day traders and one long term trader. Only owning it one year, I didn't enjoy that kind of work, I couldn't concentrate for my own trading and constant turnover of day traders calling in. Day traders lasted maybe 3 months on their own, eight of the ones who rented a desk lasted the year and broke about even. Those who called in orders for short term trading, I don't remember any of them at end of the year and know my partner recruited over 75 traders and I recruited maybe ten and had all of them after a year and most were up with a couple lost little.
Being in trading maybe too long, lol, I have seen much, and I do believe the original poster results. Those who think there are many making millions each year is small percentages. I believe for short term intra day trading 95% lose, 4% make under half a mil, 0.8% make under ten million and 0.2% make over ten million.
I come from a huge family from Grandfather on down that was taught almost daily that failures are opportunities to try again another way. Each Uncle had their own businesses and each male cousin likewise, not till 2nd female cousins started businesses. I had a good upbringing base on family and making businesses to support family.
People get into trading for 1000s of reasons, and very very small percentage think of it as a business, they have no idea what they getting into unless they get help from family or friends, which I never did, LOL. I had a constant yelling to stop stop, thankfully I lived far far away!
Hey, what time is it, yea, it is Starbucks time, you bet I own SBUX. old man got to get some go juice.
Being in trading maybe too long, lol, I have seen much, and I do believe the original poster results. Those who think there are many making millions each year is small percentages. I believe for short term intra day trading 95% lose, 4% make under half a mil, 0.8% make under ten million and 0.2% make over ten million.
I come from a huge family from Grandfather on down that was taught almost daily that failures are opportunities to try again another way. Each Uncle had their own businesses and each male cousin likewise, not till 2nd female cousins started businesses. I had a good upbringing base on family and making businesses to support family.
People get into trading for 1000s of reasons, and very very small percentage think of it as a business, they have no idea what they getting into unless they get help from family or friends, which I never did, LOL. I had a constant yelling to stop stop, thankfully I lived far far away!
Hey, what time is it, yea, it is Starbucks time, you bet I own SBUX. old man got to get some go juice.
It does make sense that psychologists would make good traders. They will rationalize their emotions and try to remain objective. Understanding ego, greed and making honest observations about yourself is critical. Many trading methods are actually very well explained by human psychology, even if arriving at them can be mathematical.