a loser's game

the idea that trading adds value contains an economic fallacy that can be seen using a simple exercise described by Jack Bogle in a 2009 interview with The Motley Fool.

In this exercise, he suggests imagining that half the shares outstanding of all the stocks in the S&P 500  Index are owned by long-term investors and the other half by traders. By definition, the long-term holders who own half the shares and do not trade them will earn the market return. The traders on the other hand are trading with each other because the long-term investors are not trading with them.

As Jack concludes, “It follows as the night to the day that the traders will lose by the amount of money paid to the intermediaries, the croupiers in the middle [as well as to the IRS!]. It therefore follows logically and mathematically that buying and holding is a winner’s game and buying and trading is a loser’s game. Simple as that. No way around it.”