The Rule of 90 | TrendSpider Learning Center (2024)

3 mins read

Trading in financial markets has always been an alluring endeavor. The prospect of financial independence, the allure of fast gains, and the excitement of the market’s ups and downs attract countless new traders every day. However, the world of trading is not for the faint of heart. It is a high-stakes game where many are lured by the promise of quick riches but ultimately face harsh realities. One of the harsh realities of trading is the “Rule of 90,” which suggests that 90% of new traders lose 90% of their starting capital within 90 days of their first trade. In this article, we’ll delve into what this rule means, why it exists, and how traders can navigate these challenges to improve their chances of success.

Understanding the Rule of 90

The Rule of 90 is a grim statistic that serves as a sobering reminder of the difficulty of trading. According to this rule, 90% of novice traders will experience significant losses within their first 90 days of trading, ultimately wiping out 90% of their initial capital. While this rule may seem like an exaggeration or a harsh generalization, it highlights a genuine issue in the world of trading: the steep learning curve and inherent risks.

Reasons Behind the Rule

Several factors contribute to the high failure rate among new traders:

  1. Lack of Education: Many newcomers to the world of trading dive in without adequately educating themselves about the markets, trading strategies, and risk management. This lack of knowledge can lead to costly mistakes.
  2. Emotional Trading: Emotions, such as fear and greed, can cloud a trader’s judgment and lead to impulsive decision-making. Emotional trading often results in losses.
  3. Lack of a Solid Plan: Successful traders develop well-defined trading plans that include entry and exit strategies, risk management, and clear goals. Novices often trade without a plan, increasing their vulnerability to losses.
  4. Overleveraging: Overleveraging, or trading with excessive borrowed funds, can amplify gains but also magnify losses. Many inexperienced traders fall into this trap.
  5. Unrealistic Expectations: New traders may enter the market with unrealistic expectations of making quick profits. When these expectations aren’t met, frustration and disappointment can set in.

Navigating the Challenges

While the Rule of 90 paints a bleak picture, it’s essential to remember that trading is not inherently a losing proposition. Many successful traders have overcome these challenges through dedication, discipline, and continuous learning. Here are some strategies to help new traders increase their chances of success:

  1. Education: Invest time in learning about the financial markets, trading strategies, and risk management. There are numerous online courses, books, and educational resources available.
  2. Start Small: Begin with a small trading account and trade with money you can afford to lose. This approach reduces the emotional pressure and financial risk.
  3. Develop a Trading Plan: Create a comprehensive trading plan that includes clear entry and exit strategies, risk management rules, and realistic goals. Stick to your plan, and don’t let emotions dictate your decisions.
  4. Practice with a Demo Account: Many brokers offer demo accounts where you can practice trading with virtual money. This allows you to hone your skills and test your strategies without risking real capital.
  5. Manage Risk: Implement strict risk management techniques, such as setting stop-loss orders and never risking more than a small percentage of your capital on a single trade.
  6. Control Your Emotions: Learn to manage your emotions, particularly fear and greed. Emotion-driven decisions often lead to losses.
  7. Learn from Mistakes: It’s essential to analyze your losing trades and learn from your mistakes. Each loss can be a valuable lesson if you use it to improve your trading strategy.

The Bottom Line

The Rule of 90 serves as a stark reminder of the challenges faced by new traders in the world of financial markets. While the road to trading success is riddled with obstacles, it’s not insurmountable. With education, discipline, and the right mindset, aspiring traders can increase their odds of success and avoid becoming a statistic in the Rule of 90. Trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but a journey that demands dedication, continuous learning, and the ability to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the financial markets.

Preview some of TrendSpider’s Data and Analytics on select Stocks and ETFs

Free Stock Chart for AMD$167.08 USD-3.71 (-2.17%)Free Stock Chart for FCEL$1.16 USD-0.05 (-4.13%)Free Stock Chart for WBA$18.05 USD-1.13 (-5.89%)Free Stock Chart for SPCE$1.11 USD-0.06 (-5.13%)Free Stock Chart for MSFT$423.07 USD-3.20 (-0.75%)Free Stock Chart for NVDA$869.65 USD+16.13 (+1.89%)

TrendSpider Strategy Tester: Create, backtest & refine trading strategies without risking capital

TrendSpider’s Strategy Tester is the industry’s most powerful backtesting solution. Best of all, it’s point-and-click easy-to-use. No coding required. If you can describe a strategy to a friend, you can backtest it in TrendSpider.

  • Create, discover, tweak and test/re-test over and over until you find something that works for you
  • Define your own entry and exit rules using any indicators, patterns, or data points you want
  • Test with 50+ years of market historical data
  • Launch strategies as automated trading bots that run with real-time market data

Learn More

The Rule of 90 | TrendSpider Learning Center (2024)

FAQs

What is 90% rule in trading? ›

Broker Forex Global

While it can be a lucrative venture for some, it is also known to be a high-risk activity. This is where the 90 rule in Forex comes into play. The 90 rule in Forex is a commonly cited statistic that states that 90% of Forex traders lose 90% of their money in the first 90 days.

What is the pattern of the FVG? ›

In short, a fair value gap is part of a 3 candle pattern formation. The first candles high, does not touch the third candles low. The distance between the first and third candles high and low on the second candle is the fair value gap. Can you spot the FVG area on the second candle?

What is the strategy of the FVG? ›

There are a number of different strategies that can be used to trade FVGs. Some common strategies include: Buying the gap: This is the most common strategy for trading FVGs. The idea is to buy the market at the price level of the gap, and then sell it once the market retraces back to the gap.

What are the rules for FVG? ›

For a FVG to develop, there must be a set of three candles characterized by heavy buying or selling in the same direction. When there is a large move in either direction, a gap will be formed between the first candle's wick and the wick of the last candle, as illustrated in the figures below.

What is No 1 rule of trading? ›

Rule 1: Always Use a Trading Plan

You need a trading plan because it can assist you with making coherent trading decisions and define the boundaries of your optimal trade. A decent trading plan will assist you with avoiding making passionate decisions without giving it much thought.

Why 90 people fail in trading? ›

Most new traders lose because they can't control the actions their emotions cause them to make. Another common mistake that traders make is a lack of risk management. Trading involves risk, and it's essential to have a plan in place for how you will manage that risk.

Why does FVG work? ›

A fair value gap is especially popular among price action traders and occurs when there are inefficiencies or imbalances in the market, or when the buying and selling are not equal. Fair value gaps can become a magnet for the price before continuing in the same direction.

How do you trade with a fair value gap? ›

A Fair Value Gap is created due to strong buying pressure. Price trades up, begins to top out and then pulls back into the Fair Value Gap. This clears out the imbalance that was made from the move up, and almost immediately after the gap is filled, price is able to continue quite higher.

What is the FVG gap? ›

Fair Value Gaps are price jumps caused by imbalanced buying and selling pressures. These gaps are sometimes called Price Value Gaps, or Singles, and you may also encounter the term imbalance. In this article, we will use the term Fair Value Gap (also referred to as FVG).

What is Soros strategy? ›

The “reflexivity” theory: Reflexivity is the cornerstone of Soros' investment strategy. It's a unique method that values assets by relying on market feedback to gauge how the rest of the market is valuing assets. Soros uses reflexivity to predict market bubbles and other market opportunities.

How do you identify order blocks? ›

How to identify order blocks in Forex? In the chart, an order block looks like one or several candlesticks of an engulfing pattern that breaks out the order block range. The price should break out the range, return within the range, and rebound, which will mark the beginning of a new trend.

What is an order block? ›

Order blocks refer to specific price areas where large market participants such as institutional traders have previously placed significant buy or sell orders.

What is fear value gap? ›

Fair value represents the equilibrium price at which a currency pair should be trading based on various fundamental factors such as economic indicators, interest rates, and geopolitical events. The fair value gap occurs when the actual market price deviates from this fair value.

What is FVG in ICT? ›

Lesson 4: Fair Value Gap (FVG) 1 Lesson 4: Fair Value Gap (FVG) Displacement creates imbalances. These are referred to as FVG's. These are areas of interest to add when we have market structure and trend supporting the idea. A FVG is usually coupled with a/an order block(s).

Is it true that 90 of traders lose money? ›

Actually numbers are following: 70% -75% of people lose money in their first year of trading! Other 20–25 % lose money in next 5 years! And only 3–5% of all traders are profitable or not losing money.

What is the 80% rule in day trading? ›

Definition of '80% Rule'

The 80% Rule is a Market Profile concept and strategy. If the market opens (or moves outside of the value area ) and then moves back into the value area for two consecutive 30-min-bars, then the 80% rule states that there is a high probability of completely filling the value area.

What is the 80 rule in trading? ›

The Rule. If, after trading outside the Value Area, we then trade back into the Value Area (VA) and the market closes inside the VA in one of the 30 minute brackets then there is an 80% chance that the market will trade back to the other side of the VA.

What is the 5 3 1 rule in trading? ›

The 5-3-1 strategy is especially helpful for new traders who may be overwhelmed by the dozens of currency pairs available and the 24-7 nature of the market. The numbers five, three, and one stand for: Five currency pairs to learn and trade. Three strategies to become an expert on and use with your trades.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Terrell Hackett

Last Updated:

Views: 6209

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (52 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Terrell Hackett

Birthday: 1992-03-17

Address: Suite 453 459 Gibson Squares, East Adriane, AK 71925-5692

Phone: +21811810803470

Job: Chief Representative

Hobby: Board games, Rock climbing, Ghost hunting, Origami, Kabaddi, Mushroom hunting, Gaming

Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.