(DISCLAIMER :This is my opinion. I am still learning.)

…Bad traders bleed quickly, and a very small number of traders make any money at all, substantially less than that make good money.

”90% of traders fail” is something everyone comes across at multiples while they’re learning about the markets, but obviously not something that most take too seriously. It is probably the same thing that makes people buy lottery tickets. The idea that “I know the odds are really against me, like super against me, but I am special. I am unique. My life’s story has to work out because hey, I’m the protagonist.” While nobody will usually readily admit it, we all secretively believe God/Fate holds us in just a little bit better favor than everyone else.

If you go back through all the old forum posts over the years here, basically every two to three years it is a completely different group of people. While it’s possible they just got bored with these forums, or made so much money that they moved to the Bahamas and retired, most likely they lost, or made so little when push-came-to -shove, that they just moved on to some other way of making their money work for them. Why is everyone selling trading ideas? Why does everyone have a book? If they were reeeaaalllyyyy doing well at trading, they would offer these things for free because they had that kind of time on their hands. Most likely, they know enough to make a little money, but they still need something to supplement their income and they know there is always a new group of people with a few thousand bucks coming up to the plate with dollar signs shining in their eyes.