The idea that 99% of traders should stay away from leverage also implies that said 99% cannot manage risk. I will definitely grant that the reason for a high percentage of trader failures is poor risk control, but that’s something which impacts non-leveraged traders as well as leveraged ones (granted, traders using leverage can do a bit more damage faster than those without). Since traders in all markets and all leverage levels are able to act in a responsible fashion with regards to risk, I’m not going to accept that leverage = bad trading.

The bottom line is that regardless of whether you trade with leverage or without, you need to manage your risk. Having an “extraordinary approach” doesn’t change that.

Note: I deleted a bit of blatant promotion from the above comment.

Nice to meet you and I frequent your site on an occasional basis. I like your analysis and I do agree with your last paragraph that different people could be suited for different instruments or else they might underperform. However, that only applies to a very extremely tiny fraction of traders – especially those excellent traders who might benefit with using leverage such as options/futures/forex. But for most people, delving into this even riskier arena will only increase their chance of failure. By far, most people should not get involved with leverage. The appeal to them is big fast money; unfortunately, for the majority of them it means constantly blowing up their accounts. Note that because I’ve discovered an extraordinary approach to the stock market … I feel even more strongly that 99% of people should stay away from leverage.