You're mixing up two things: 1. How well do individual traders (people) perform? 2. How well do most investments perform? The majority of people in the stock m

You're mixing up two things: 1. How well do individual traders (people) perform? 2. How well do most investments perform? The majority of people in the stock market do lose, because it's psychologically hard to buy and hold. A common outcome is to hold for years in a 401k and then panic sell at a big dip, or family emergency. Another is to buy hot stocks on peak years (word of mouth) and then lose (happening right now). The same is true in cryptocurrency. If all you did was DCA buy and hold bitcoin over the past 3-8 years you are doing just fine. I am also not equating stocks and cryptocurrency. Stocks give you a right to cash flow and coins do not. However, similar psychological challenges hinder all investors.