Here is a link to an earlier thread on this subject, which might contain useful replies.
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...company-2.html
The following is an extract from one of my posts in that thread:-
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...company-2.html
The following is an extract from one of my posts in that thread:-
When you join IG Index, they tell you they don't care if you win or lose, because they hedge their trades in the underlying market. However, when they went public, their prospectus said that they try as far as possible, within the constraints of their capital and prudence, not to hedge their customers trades. This is because they know their customers will nearly always end up losing money, so by taking the other side of whatever the customers do, they will make money. If the previous sentence doesn't scare the sh*t out of you, read it again until the full implications have sunk in. If it still doesn't scare you, find out what the Efficient Markets Hypothesis is, and read "Market Wizards" and "New Market Wizards" by Jack Schwager, which contain a series of interviews with famous traders. Once you've done that, and hopefully gained an appreciation of how difficult trading is, re-read the aforementioned sentence until you no longer feel like trading.
The following blog says what I've already said, at greater length.
Brain drain: The most profound investment strategy of all time?
In "Market Speculating", a book sent to me free by IG Index, the author says that the reason betting winnings are tax-free is because people collectively lose money doing it. If winnings were taxable, losses would be tax-deductible, so it's in the governments interest for winnings to be tax-free.
Some quotes from the Blog, for those with short attention spans.
The following blog says what I've already said, at greater length.
Brain drain: The most profound investment strategy of all time?
In "Market Speculating", a book sent to me free by IG Index, the author says that the reason betting winnings are tax-free is because people collectively lose money doing it. If winnings were taxable, losses would be tax-deductible, so it's in the governments interest for winnings to be tax-free.
Some quotes from the Blog, for those with short attention spans.
These star traders seemed to regard the market as a malignant metaphysical entity, an enemy trying to catch them out. One described the markets as a machine that held up a mirror to each trader, detecting whatever particular flaw existed in his character or personality, and using it to destroy him.
A quote along these lines is to be found in an amusing book, "A Fool and His Money." In it, a commodity trader is quoted telling the author, "When I first came down here I was Mr Big Ego. I had a law degree and here were all these ex-cops and truck drivers and people with 200-word vocabularies trading in the pits. I figured I'd make a killing, right? With this competition, how could you lose? Then I get the sh*t kicked out of me. Then I get the sh*t kicked out of me again. You know what I learned down here? Humility. Discipline. You come into this business with any sense of superiority, and you're dead. Sooner or later you find out who you are. That's what this game is about, finding out who you are. People say the market's this or the market's that, and they begin to think they can understand it. They discover they're wrong. They can't understand it. The market is ... the market is God."
In the same book, an expert estimates that 85% to 95% of people who invest in futures and options end up losing money.
In the same book, an expert estimates that 85% to 95% of people who invest in futures and options end up losing money.
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