<i>"Well, you always hear stories from successful floor traders about how they faded certain traders (see Swagger's trilogy)."</i>
I'd presume those stories are nothing more than pure crap. What's the strategy there? Fade one guy until he goes bust, sit idle until the next losing trader establishes a pattern, fade him until he goes bust, repeat the process?
Floor traders do have the ability to watch trades taken in real-time, whereas online traders obviously do not. On a similar note, I do know an off-floor trader who bragged about fading other guys in his trading room. Big surprise... he washed out of this industry real soon.
<i>"I did not ask if anyone has made a longterm, successful career out of it. But if 95% of traders lose money, then you fading the trades of others seems like a high probablity way to earn money."</i>
What you failed to mention is that all of them are not on the same side of every trade. 95% wash out while roughly half are long and half are short at the exact-same time. How can that be? Mismanagement of entries, stops and exits kill them, not errant market direction.
How do you propose to "fade" that?