So, what does a good trader make per month?

It seems to me there are more gracious ways out than to talk huge returns but people are strange.

Quote from gmst:

I agree to a large extent. Its not because people want to lie about their situation, its just that successful trading is super hard, people underestimate the effort and time commitment needed and jump into it. When they lose all their money etc. they still have to live in society and so they are forced to come up with stories and lies.
 
Thanks for dropping in. My guess is the little you've said may put a damper on some of it.

Quote from Maverick74:

Hey Swan, I don't like to read these types of threads as they make me nauseous. If you were to assume 99% of what you are reading here is complete fabricated bullshit, then you are shooting par. I know what these types of guys make. They traded at my firm. I saw their sheets. I saw their tax returns. Shit I saw their credit reports. I've put all this info on ET before so it's not worth re-hashing except to say it's bullshit. I could tell you some really funny stories but I would never post that kind of stuff online and out anyone. Maybe over beers in person sometime. Some of this shit would make your head spin. :)
 
Quote from Swan Noir:

Guys ... the OP talked about trading a retail account not prop. Prop gives him more tools, access to a much wider range of techniques and access to captal beyond his 100K.

How many straight retail traders can do 1% a day consistently? My guess is very few. Even after hearing your cases I think 8 or 10% a month is a much more realistic (yet still aggressive) goal for the OP and others trading retail. Let's also keep in mind he is actually doing 4% a month. Doubling that might not be so easy.

Aiming for 30-40% per month is not that crazy as long as one can handle the drawdowns that come with using that type of leverage. Some traders prefer to have minimal excess liquidity and can handle the swings while others grind it out with minimal size and fall into a depression if their drawdown exceeds 10%. And yes even with a basic IB retail account these returns are more common than you think among people who actually do this for a living.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

Hey Swan, I don't like to read these types of threads as they make me nauseous. If you were to assume 99% of what you are reading here is complete fabricated bullshit, then you are shooting par. I know what these types of guys make. They traded at my firm. I saw their sheets. I saw their tax returns. Shit I saw their credit reports. I've put all this info on ET before so it's not worth re-hashing except to say it's bullshit. I could tell you some really funny stories but I would never post that kind of stuff online and out anyone. Maybe over beers in person sometime. Some of this shit would make your head spin. :)

Maverick, if you do indeed have a firm, if you are by some fluke my former boss, than you know as well as I do what you expect of traders. I stand by my statement made earlier: when I was hired I was told I needed to earn $2000 in one month trading stocks with no more than $10,000 of capital to graduate to the next stage. This is approximately 1% per trading day. Clearly, this is a goal achieved by only a few number of people.
 
I would say about .25-.5% per day. Or it caps out around 4k to 12k a month. One out of 5-6 months goes bad where I don't make any cash. That's my experience at least.
 
Quote from m22au:

If you make 1% per month consistently, then you're doing very well.

So 1% * 100k = 1,000 per month.

On a 100K account $1k a month, if that is your return you should not be trading find a 9-5.
 
Quote from jb3398:

On a 100K account $1k a month, if that is your return you should not be trading find a 9-5.

If one's goal is only 12%, stick your money in a growth portfolio consisting of ETFs, and leave it alone for the long term. Spend your new found time in a real job or develop new interests and skills.
 
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