i often wonder how exactly those numbers, 90% fail trade, are studied. not that i doubt the often cited success rate, especially if they try and take into account anyone who has ever opened a brokerage account and lost moeny or clesed it, etc... would be tough to do such a comprehensive study and i never took the time to look at the methedology of any studies... but my only point is the 90% may be misleading, as the creator of this tread implies, that only 10% of people have the "raw talent" to eventually become a profitable trader... certainly many of the, lets just stick with the assumed 90%, COULD become profitable trades however they fail for various reasons: impatience, decide its not for them, lose their capital or were under-funded to begin with, or maybe just chose a different path, all before they had the time to become profitable.
In other words, and although tough to quantify, i would posit that those who are adequately funded, put in at least 1-2 years, are reasonably intelligent, and are genuinely serious, with no other distractions, would experience a higher succes rate. This would explain why many prop firms claim 50% succes rates after a year or two, b/c they have a better somewhat screened pool of traders who are serious enough and capitalized. its in part a barriers of entry thing.
to use the analogy many use, 90% of businesses fail in first year, for many of the same reasons as traders...but talk to any succesful business owner and they tried a business or two before findng one that works, so its not fair to say only 10% of people can or ever will become succesful business owners.
personally i am progressing on a "typical" curve: lost my ass first year, break even during the second, slowly but surely have been growing profitable since, and i love it so i am not going to quit.