How much do day traders make

The amount you make depends on two simple factors:

1) How much is your capital
2) How much risk are you willing to take

If you have a working capital of 1M you would be needing to make ~15% return per year to meet your present salary. If you bump up your capital to 5M you would only need to make ~3% (and therefore could buy some bonds/dividend ETFs and relax).

However, a lot of people only have a small amount of capital (25k?) and therefore need to take a LOT more risk in order to make your present salary.

We can 'safely' ignore everyone on this board and go with well published/documented numbers on returns of Hedge Funds, known Investors, mutual funds, and various ETFs. If you need to consistently beat 'the professionals' by a large margin in order to meet your financial goals, you may have your work cut out for you.

For those who suggest they are getting 200%-300% on average over the long term (10+ years), then the question begs:

1) Why do they need to still make money (they should be billionaires by now)
2) Why do they spend time posting here? :)

Be wary of those who suggest high returns -- chances are they were during ideal market conditions and will easily/quickly loose it all as soon as the market turns against them.
 
Hooti said:
Some of the consistently profitable traders could be trading a large number of contracts, but instead only trade 10 or so. I know one fellow who made multiples of what you are making, but eventually cut way back to just sustain the lifestyle he wanted and put some away for retirement. He had many reasons but one was that he said he was taking all the risk and the amount he paid in taxes... considering the risk on his part... simply irked him. So he refused to do it
More...

^^^ This +100
 
HappyTrader said:
1) Why do they need to still make money (they should be billionaires by now)
2) Why do they spend time posting here? :)
More...

Why is Warren Buffett living in such a small house? Maybe he is not a billionaire.


Warren-Buffett-Address.jpg


Why is Warren Buffett not driving Ferraris, Lambo's, Rolls Royces or Bentley's? Maybe he is not a billionaire.
Why does he not own private islands, big yachts... Maybe he is not a billionaire.

You probably don't even understand the stupidity of your posting. I tried to lower to your level in my posting. So maybe you will understand my posting.
 
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