99% of retail investors lose money in short-term trading, mainly due to the following reasons:

1. Emotional Trading

Short-term trading requires decision-making in a very short time frame, and retail investors are easily influenced by market sentiment, chasing highs and cutting losses, lacking calm reflection and systematic strategies. When market conditions fluctuate rapidly, fear and greed often lead retail investors to make wrong decisions.

2. Lack of Systematic Strategies

Short-term trading demands a high degree of strategizing and discipline, but many retail investors do not have systematic trading strategies and often rely on intuition and trending operations, which makes it easy to lose direction amidst volatility. In addition, short-term trading itself requires strong technical analysis skills, but most retail investors lack professional knowledge and practice.

3. High Costs

Short-term trading frequently involves entering and exiting the market, and each trade incurs fees, commissions, and taxes. These trading costs can significantly erode profits for retail investors over time, making it difficult to achieve substantial returns.

4. Information Asymmetry

Retail investors lag behind professional institutions in terms of the speed and quality of market information. Short-term trading has a high demand for timely information, and retail investors often find themselves at an information disadvantage, possibly entering the market before a trend forms or following up only after institutions have profited, leading to losses.

5. Lack of Patience, Easily Follow Trends

Short-term trading requires immense patience.