Day trading - who's playing? How much and how?

[Owren]

I was a professional institutional trader (for a hedge fund and later, a commodity trader). The tools that were available to me were incredible: banks of analysts, the very best in risk management systems, the fastest news services. That is a profitable seat.

Now out of that game, I trade for my personal account (mostly crypto and commodities, some indices). Now I am just another retail player against an institution.

Also as a day trader I disagree that it is a zero sum game. That would suggest one winner, one loser. There is a significant third party who always wins and that is the exchange or broker. They take zero risk and skim their spread. So from the start you need to beat two players, the spread and the counterparty.

I stumbled upon some post on Twitter that about 95% of traders in the long run lose their money.