Day trading vs long-term investing — why many people lose every month, and how ETFs differ from CFDs, forex and futures

“Daus, I lose money every month buying and selling shares and IPOs. Should I DCA or trade every day?”

Messages like this come in every week. This page answers honestly, including the parts that aren’t nice to hear. Daus himself invests for the long term, and in Moomoo his biggest holdings are ETFs. Daus doesn’t give daily buy and sell signals.

What studies say about day trading

Two large academic studies that are often cited:

• Taiwan (Barber, Lee, Liu and Odean, Journal of Financial Markets, 2014), data from 1992–2006: fewer than 1% of day traders were able to profit consistently after fees. Every year about 360,000 people day trade there.
• Brazil (Chague, De-Losso and Giovannetti, 2020), futures market 2013–2015: 97% of those who lasted more than 300 days lost money. Only 1.1% earned more than the minimum wage.

This means your chance of being one of those few is very small, even if you’re hardworking.

Why frequent buying and selling usually loses

1. Fees eat into every round. In Moomoo, one RM300 Bursa share order costs about RM4.34 (1.4%). Buy and sell = twice. So the share has to rise about 3% just to break even, before there’s any profit. The full list is in Moomoo fees.

2. Emotions. When the price goes up, you fear missing out. When the price falls, you panic. Decisions made on feelings usually mean buying high and selling low.

3. Chasing IPOs and hot stocks. IPO shares can jump on the first day, but they can also fall below the offer price. If you buy after the jump, the risk is higher.

4. Sale proceeds need to settle. After you sell, that money has to wait T+2 business days before you can buy other shares. Strategies that need money to rotate every day get stuck here.

So, DCA or trade?

DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) means buying a fixed amount regularly, for example once a month, regardless of the price. When the price is high, you get fewer units. When the price is low, you get more units. It doesn’t guarantee a profit, but it removes the need to guess the right timing.

For most people with a steady job, Daus thinks DCA into a broad ETF makes more sense than day trading. The automatic way to do it in Moomoo is RSP. Pick a frequency that isn’t too often, because every purchase costs a fee.

If you still want to try short-term trading

Daus won’t stop you, but do it in a way that doesn’t burn through your money:

1. Test in paper trading first, for at least 2 to 3 months.
2. Keep a journal of every trade: date, entry price, exit price, reason for entering, reason for exiting.
3. Subtract the real fees from every trade in the journal. Check whether paper trading deducts fees; if it doesn’t, subtract them yourself using the real fee schedule.
4. Work out your win rate and your average profit compared with your average loss. If it’s still negative after fees, the strategy isn’t ready for real money.
5. If you want to use real money, use a small amount you’re willing to lose, and never use margin.

Thinking of joining a paid trading class? Check these seven things first

“Daus, I see people running stock trading classes. Do they really teach, or are they just selling classes?”

The honest answer: both exist. Some instructors genuinely teach well. Others make most of their money from class fees, not from their own trading. Daus doesn’t sell classes, courses or paid coaching, and doesn’t trade short term, so Daus has no stake in any class. This is the checklist Daus would use to judge one.

1. Who is the instructor, and are they licensed? Teaching general concepts is one thing. But once a class includes “signals”, “buy stock X now” calls, or a VIP group that gives buy and sell recommendations, that has become investment advice, and in Malaysia that activity needs a Securities Commission licence. Check the person’s and the company’s names in the SC licence register and the Investor Alert List. How to do it is in how to check a licence in 2 minutes.

2. Any promise of profit, a “90% win rate”, or “guaranteed returns”? Nobody can promise profit in the stock market. Lines like these are the clearest sign to walk away.

3. What’s their proof of performance? Profit screenshots are easy to fake, and people rarely show their losing ones. Ask: is there a full record of every trade, including the losses, for at least a year? If the only proof is a luxury lifestyle and student testimonials, that isn’t proof of trading.

4. What exactly is taught? A serious class has a clear syllabus: how many sessions, which topics, and a section on risk management (how much you can lose per trade, when to stop). If the description is just a “secret strategy” or a “formula” with no detail, be careful.

5. What’s the full cost, and is there an “upgrade”? A common pattern: a cheap intro class, then pressure to upgrade to “mentorship” or an “inner circle” costing thousands, plus a monthly fee for a signal group. Ask for the full total up front, and ask for the refund policy in writing.

6. Are you told to use a particular platform, or paid to bring friends? If the class requires you to open an account with an overseas forex or CFD broker that isn’t licensed in Malaysia, or pays you commission for every friend you bring in, that’s a red flag. The full explanation is in investor scams & safety.

7. Is there pressure? “Only 3 seats left”, “price goes up tomorrow”, “don’t ask your family yet”. A good class will still be there next month.

Already paid and feel cheated? Follow the steps in if you’ve already been scammed, do this in order.

Coming from forex or MT5: an ETF is not a CFD

Some forex traders see “S&P 500” and assume an ETF like VOO is the same as US500 in MT5. They’re different:

	ETF in Moomoo (for example VOO, SPUS)	US500 CFD on an MT5 platform
What you hold	Real units of a fund that holds shares	A contract with the broker, not an asset
Leverage	None, if you buy with cash	Usually yes, can be dozens of times
Maximum loss	The capital you put in	Can wipe out your capital fast, with margin calls
Hours	US market hours	Almost 24 hours
Dividends	Yes (taxed 30%)	No actual holding; dividends become a cash adjustment, and there are overnight charges

Before using any forex or CFD platform, check whether it’s licensed by the SC. Many forex platforms advertised to Malaysians aren’t licensed. How to check is in the scams & safety tutorial.

Moomoo also has charts with technical indicators if you’re used to reading charts. The basics are in read stock charts.

Futures (for example FCPO): not for beginners

Moomoo Malaysia offers futures trading, including Bursa Malaysia Derivatives futures. But it needs a futures account and margin trading switched on, and it uses leverage.

Example FCPO (crude palm oil futures): one contract is 25 metric tonnes. At a price of about RM4,000 a tonne, one contract represents about RM100,000 of palm oil, controlled with an initial margin of about RM8,000 (broker rate, June 2026). That’s leverage of about 12 times. A 10% price move (the daily limit) equals about RM10,000, which is more than the entire margin. Losses can exceed your capital.

The numbers above are an illustrative example; real prices and margins change. Daus himself doesn’t trade futures.

This content is educational sharing, not financial advice. Study references: Barber, Lee, Liu & Odean (2014); Chague, De-Losso & Giovannetti (2020).