Brokers, exchanges, and advisors run marketing campaigns to attract more losers to the markets. Some mention that futures trading is a zero-sum game. They count on the fact that most people feel smarter than average and expect to win in a zero-sum game.
Winners in a zero-sum game make as much as losers lose. If you and I bet $10 on the direction of the next 100-point move in the Dow, one of us will collect $10 and the other will lose $10. The person who is smarter should win this game over a period of time.
People buy the trading industry’s propaganda about the zero-sum game, take the bait and open trading accounts. They do not realize that trading is a minus-sum game. Winners receive less than what losers lose because the industry drains money from the market.
– Alexander Elder, Trading For A Living
