There's been a long-standing battle between traders and investors. The main issue isn’t who makes how much, but who loses it faster.

Why do traders lose more?
1. Leverage: This is the main "capital killer". Even if a trader nails the direction, a short price swing in the opposite direction can wipe out their account completely (liquidation). In 2025, just from one event in October, positions worth 20 billion dollars were liquidated.
2. Fees and spreads: In daily trading, a significant chunk of capital gets 'eaten up' by exchanges. Even with a break-even result, a trader can lose up to 20-30% of their deposit in a year just on fees.
3. Emotional burnout: Daily stress leads to mistakes (FOMO — buying at the peak, Panic Sell — selling at the bottom).

Risks for long-term investors
While investors lose less frequently, they're not immune:
1. Choosing the wrong asset: If you're holding a 'shitcoin', it may never return to its previous price. About 50% of scenarios holding random tokens for over 6 months lead to losses exceeding 10%.
2. Timing: Investors lose 'on paper' during a bear market. For example, by the end of 2025, Bitcoin performed worse than gold or the S&P 500 stocks.

Verdict
If you want to preserve your capital, the 'buy and hold' (HODL) strategy for top assets (BTC, ETH) is mathematically safer. Statistics show that over 70% of people holding crypto for more than 1-2 years are profitable, while among traders, less than 3% remain profitable.