Not necessarily. You will be surprised that there are many consistent retail day traders.
If you have visited
our thread or the
Fyers 30 Day Challenge on Traderji, you will see that some traders have posted their winning certificates consecutively. They are short-term traders and have disproven the theory that it is impossible to day trade successfully (Which is required to do it for a living).
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they aren't.
Some people are just built for trading and many others learn with experiences. It's all about focus. These theories and research reports are published with so much authority and we all give them the benefit of doubt, instead of our own selves. For all you know, the guys who published the report must have burned their accounts when their trading went horribly wrong.
Who's to say that they aren't biased?
Have you heard of the Efficient Market Hypothesis? It's an investment theory that states that all market information is priced into the stocks/instruments. It also claims that it is impossible to outperform the market by either timing or superior decision making. This theory which is taught to all CFA and finance students has been disproven by many fund managers over the last few decades. Here's
a short interview of George Soros who is a strong critic of the modern-day EMH. He is a living example of the fact that efficient market theory does not belong in the real world.