---
title: "The Myth of Profitable Day Trading: What Separates the Winners from the Losers?"
url: https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/ssrn/4977485/
site: ML-Quant (https://www.ml-quant.com)
updated: 2026-09-26
license: Summaries CC BY 4.0; links go to the original sources
index: https://www.ml-quant.com/llms.txt
identifier: SSRN 4977485
source_url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4977485
featured: 2024-10-09
citations: 0
topic: Trading, Microstructure & Execution
---


# "The Myth of Profitable Day Trading: What Separates the Winners from the Losers?"

The research indicates that less than 1% of day traders consistently make profits, with most suffering major losses due to poor risk management, emotional control, and unrealistic expectations fueled by aggressive marketing.

- Source: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4977485
- Identifier: SSRN 4977485
- Released: 2024-08-19
- First featured: Quant Letter No. 69 (2024-10-09): https://www.ml-quant.com/issues/2024-10-09/
- Citations (Semantic Scholar): 0
- Published in: not yet
- Topic: Trading, Microstructure & Execution

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