SEBI has published several studies of individual traders in equity derivatives over the years, and they describe outcomes after costs, and a large majority of participants had net losses in them. The exact percentages differ from study to study and year to year, so please read the studies themselves rather than relying on a headline number.
Three forces that shape outcomes
Costs are certain; outcomes are not. Every trade pays brokerage, taxes and charges, plus the spread. A method has to clear those costs before it can add anything.
Drawdowns are harder to recover than they look. A 50% drop needs a 100% rise to get back to even. The deeper the drawdown, the larger the move needed.
- Costs: a fixed bill on every trade
- Size: the main way a normal run of adverse trades becomes a deep drawdown
- Behaviour: trading to recover a previous result
What helps
None of this removes risk, but it changes the arithmetic. Set a small risk per trade, decide the stop before the entry, count costs, and judge results over many trades rather than a few.
Educational content only. It is not investment advice or a recommendation, and trading carries a high risk of loss. Figures are illustrative.
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