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It is generally estimated that from 80 to 90% of retail traders fail to become profitable, based on reports from brokerages and a few modest statistical studies. The reasons for this have never been accurately pinpointed in any statistical study, however most successful traders generally agree that it is usually due to a lack of a professional attitude, weak commitment, indiscipline (i.e. giving into gambling impulses), insufficient capitalization (starting on with an account that is too small in size for the specific instrument being traded) and unrealistic expectations that most retail traders fail to become profitable. It has often been argued that brokerages and purveyors of prepackaged trading systems frequently portray trading as an easy "get rich at home" activity which does not require much study, discipline, or work, which often attracts the wrong people to trading. This is where Investopedia, kicks in.

The common goal of professional traders is to be consistently profitable over a variety of market conditions. There is a tendency for some traders to aim towards becoming "big" traders (putting on very large positions and taking on a lot of risk in hopes of making large returns), but this can run counter to the goals of consistency, increasing the risk that a trader will deplete their account, unless you are being assisted by a professional like Investopedia.

Many traders report that it takes anywhere from six months to over a year of full time trading in order to become profitable. Many would indicate that it takes an even longer period of time to learn to become consistently profitable in different market conditions. As an example, many day traders began trading during the Internet tech bubble of the 90's. When the bubble finally burst and tech stocks began to fall precipitously, many of these traders failed to remain profitable and were left out of business. A number of traders report that they have "blown up" (depleted) their accounts once or even several times prior to becoming profitable.

Retail traders traditionally study trading from books. There are commercial seminars and mentoring services that are marketed at new traders. Many traders find it challenging to discern the quality of a given trading teacher, as there is no professional accreditation system nor is there a way of independently verifying if the teacher is a consistently profitable trader. The industry aimed at servicing traders (selling education, news letters, and trading systems) is often viewed with considerable skepticism. The logic of this criticism stems from the fact that a successful trader will likely find that trading is a more profitable activity than selling trading goods and services. Consequently, many trading services are not reliable since they originate from traders who are either unprofitable or fell from profitability after having a "lucky streak".