Consistently Profitable Day Traders

Quote from EricP:

I've been daytrading successfully since 1998. It is a difficult career to be successful in, but it can definitely be done and the rewards are great for the successful. As another poster pointed out, most people are NOT well suited to be daytraders, and it can become costly in terms of time and money trying to determine if you can be a successful trader.

The thread was about "Consistently Profitable Day Traders." Without going much into specific profit numbers, let me provide some of my stats for the last three years.
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I was doing a search on ET and ran across this old thread. I figured it might be interesting to get some comments from traders who may have previously posted on this thread about how their trading has progressed over the years.

First I'll update my trading 'numbers' that I posted in my initial post on this thread:

Profitable months: 93
Average monthly profit: +7%
Largest monthly profit: +37% (September 2008)

Losing months: 9 (7/03, 1/04, 9/05, 12/05, 4/07, 12/09, 8/10, 9/10, 12/10)
Average losing month: -0.5%
Largest losing month: -1.3%

Average trade duration: ~2 hours
Number of trades (executions): 7.06 million

Percentage of days profitable: 72%
Average Daily Profit:Loss ratio: 3.22
Daily Profit Factor: 8.37

Percentage of weeks (5-day rolling avg) profitable: 80%
Average weekly Profit:Loss ratio: 7.25
Weekly Profit Factor: 29.3

Percentage of months (20-day rolling avg) profitable: 91%
Average weekly Profit:Loss ratio: 18.2
Monthly Profit Factor: 181

Best Day: 10.2% (10/10/08)

Annual returns............Max DD......Losing months
2002: 105%.................5%......................0
2003: 120%.................8%......................1
2004: 118%.................4%......................1
2005: 90%.................4%......................2
2006: 57%.................3%......................0
2007: 150%.................1%......................1
2008: 382%.................<1%....................0
2009: 51%..................1%......................1
2010: 31%..................2%......................3

I was interested to see that my percentage of days profitable, percentage of weeks profitable, and percentage of months profitable were all IDENTICAL to what they were in my original post in February 2005. Probably not statistically significant, but just an interesting point to note. My profit factors and avg profit to avg loss ratio are greatly improved from five years ago, as a result of the crazy markets in 2007-09.

2010 has been my toughest trading year in a long time. The declining volatility has resulted in fewer good opportunities for my trading style (and an increase in poor trades). As a result, I have reduced my trading frequency and am content to spend less time trading as I wait for better trading conditions to return.

Reflecting on the past 6 years, most traders will remember 2008 as the best (and scariest) trading environment that they will see in their lives. During the financial crisis (~Aug 2007 - April 2009), there seemed to be great trading opportunities on a daily basis. Stocks were MOVING, and moving sharply, leading to huge profit potential (as well as huge loss potential) for traders.

Sadly, since mid 2009, the markets have cycled back into a 'quiet' mode. The VIX has dropped to levels not seen in several years, and often the entire trading day will conclude with the S&P500 range of less than 0.4%.

The "Flash Crash" in May 2010 made for a wild day and good trading month (57% of my 2010 profits were from the month of May). That volatility sustained decent trading for several weeks, but this volatility quickly dried up into the summer and has continued to decay into the fall and winter.

Trading is a fantastic career for those that are successful. Working for yourself, no boss, unlimited earnings potential, flexible work hours and vacation, etc. However, I don't think I would have much chance of success, if I were starting a trading career today. I believe that the markets are becoming more difficult (HFT's, low volatility, increasingly skilled competition), which even further lessens the odds of success for a beginning trader. That said, a patient trader that can afford to 'sit out' of bad market conditions, will likely be in the midst of the next crazy and profitable market environment.

Anyway, best of luck and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
 
Quote from mustang:

The evidence of successful traders lies in the the fact that there are so many unsuccessful ones giving away money. Someone understands........
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Never seen this thread before... Entertaining read. Lots of BS but this is of the best qoutes on there... Sums it all up perfectly!

The 10% of winners make their $$$ from the 90% of those who lose. In reality it's probably more like 5% make a lot... 20% break even or make a little bit... The rest lose and 10-20% lose a lot.

The problem with posing this question in the first place is that if you get 10 responses there will only be 1-2 maximum that respond who are consistently profitable... So you never going to get an unbiased discussion!

That being said there is nothing to say you can't go from one catergory to another ... Just read The Turtles... And going from being positive to negative is probably easy as well when people fail to adapt
 
Quote from EricP:




Average trade duration: ~2 hours
Number of trades (executions): 7.06 million


[/B]
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I am wondering how did you place these 7 million trades? Manually !! or you are using an ATS. You are executing around 430 trades per minute if i my calculation is right

Very interesting to know
Happy New Year
 
Quote from EricP:

I was doing a search on ET and ran across this old thread. I figured it might be interesting to get some comments from traders who may have previously posted on this thread about how their trading has progressed over the years.

First I'll update my trading 'numbers' that I posted in my initial post on this thread:

Profitable months: 93
Average monthly profit: +7%
Largest monthly profit: +37% (September 2008)

Losing months: 9 (7/03, 1/04, 9/05, 12/05, 4/07, 12/09, 8/10, 9/10, 12/10)
Average losing month: -0.5%
Largest losing month: -1.3%

Average trade duration: ~2 hours
Number of trades (executions): 7.06 million

Percentage of days profitable: 72%
Average Daily Profit:Loss ratio: 3.22
Daily Profit Factor: 8.37

Percentage of weeks (5-day rolling avg) profitable: 80%
Average weekly Profit:Loss ratio: 7.25
Weekly Profit Factor: 29.3

Percentage of months (20-day rolling avg) profitable: 91%
Average weekly Profit:Loss ratio: 18.2
Monthly Profit Factor: 181

Best Day: 10.2% (10/10/08)

Annual returns............Max DD......Losing months
2002: 105%.................5%......................0
2003: 120%.................8%......................1
2004: 118%.................4%......................1
2005: 90%.................4%......................2
2006: 57%.................3%......................0
2007: 150%.................1%......................1
2008: 382%.................<1%....................0
2009: 51%..................1%......................1
2010: 31%..................2%......................3

I was interested to see that my percentage of days profitable, percentage of weeks profitable, and percentage of months profitable were all IDENTICAL to what they were in my original post in February 2005. Probably not statistically significant, but just an interesting point to note. My profit factors and avg profit to avg loss ratio are greatly improved from five years ago, as a result of the crazy markets in 2007-09.

2010 has been my toughest trading year in a long time. The declining volatility has resulted in fewer good opportunities for my trading style (and an increase in poor trades). As a result, I have reduced my trading frequency and am content to spend less time trading as I wait for better trading conditions to return.

Reflecting on the past 6 years, most traders will remember 2008 as the best (and scariest) trading environment that they will see in their lives. During the financial crisis (~Aug 2007 - April 2009), there seemed to be great trading opportunities on a daily basis. Stocks were MOVING, and moving sharply, leading to huge profit potential (as well as huge loss potential) for traders.

Sadly, since mid 2009, the markets have cycled back into a 'quiet' mode. The VIX has dropped to levels not seen in several years, and often the entire trading day will conclude with the S&P500 range of less than 0.4%.

The "Flash Crash" in May 2010 made for a wild day and good trading month (57% of my 2010 profits were from the month of May). That volatility sustained decent trading for several weeks, but this volatility quickly dried up into the summer and has continued to decay into the fall and winter.

Trading is a fantastic career for those that are successful. Working for yourself, no boss, unlimited earnings potential, flexible work hours and vacation, etc. However, I don't think I would have much chance of success, if I were starting a trading career today. I believe that the markets are becoming more difficult (HFT's, low volatility, increasingly skilled competition), which even further lessens the odds of success for a beginning trader. That said, a patient trader that can afford to 'sit out' of bad market conditions, will likely be in the midst of the next crazy and profitable market environment.

Anyway, best of luck and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
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Those statistics are...er...staggering, I'd love to know what it was 31% of...
 
Quote from mcgene4xpro:

I am wondering how did you place these 7 million trades? Manually !! or you are using an ATS. You are executing around 430 trades per minute if i my calculation is right

Very interesting to know
Happy New Year
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McGene: Those numbers are over ~8 1/2 years. Although I do use an ATS for trading, I think it works out to something more like 8.5 trade executions per minute, not 430.

Craig: It's a bigger number than it used to be. While 2010 was my worse year of the decade percentagewise, it was still #4 best all-time in terms of dollars (behind 2008, 2009 and 2007). I should also add that the opportunities for trades has lessened substantially since early 2009. As a result, I've pulled a substantial amount of capital out of the account in the last 20 months.
 
Quote from EricP:

McGene: Those numbers are over ~8 1/2 years. Although I do use an ATS for trading, I think it works out to something more like 8.5 trade executions per minute, not 430.

Craig: It's a bigger number than it used to be. While 2010 was my worse year of the decade percentagewise, it was still #4 best all-time in terms of dollars (behind 2008, 2009 and 2007). I should also add that the opportunities for trades has lessened substantially since early 2009. As a result, I've pulled a substantial amount of capital out of the account in the last 20 months.
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You are right. Still interesting and very impressive, Congratulations. I am wondering what broker you are using for this style of trading? What is the platform you are using? what is your hardware infrastructure? what is the code language of your ATS?

I am developing an ATS that would reach 5000 trades /day and this will require reliable broker, trading platform and hardware.

I would appreciate if you share these info

Thanks
 
I gave 3 years full time but there are bills to be paid and my profits were not consistent. Hence i still stick to my believe.
A consistently profitable day trader is indeed the hardest job to do.
It takes a lot out of you, as you go through the mental stress in front of the PC day in day out.
I have the utmost respect for these people :D
 
Quote from gap969:

I gave 3 years full time but there are bills to be paid and my profits were not consistent. Hence i still stick to my believe.
A consistently profitable day trader is indeed the hardest job to do.
It takes a lot out of you, as you go through the mental stress in front of the PC day in day out.
I have the utmost respect for these people :D
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What if the day trader has an ATS playing day trading for him/her!!:D
 
EricP, like lescor you're an inspiration to all of us on ET.
Enjoyed reading the stats from your past years, can you post 2011's performance as well? Keep up the good work.
 
Quote from EricP:

McGene: Those numbers are over ~8 1/2 years. Although I do use an ATS for trading, I think it works out to something more like 8.5 trade executions per minute, not 430.

Craig: It's a bigger number than it used to be. While 2010 was my worse year of the decade percentagewise, it was still #4 best all-time in terms of dollars (behind 2008, 2009 and 2007). I should also add that the opportunities for trades has lessened substantially since early 2009. As a result, I've pulled a substantial amount of capital out of the account in the last 20 months.
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say it all 8.5 executions per minute , another E T wizard.
 
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