Is Day Trading For A Living Possible? The first thing to note is yes, making a living on day trading is a perfectly viable career, but it's not necessarily easier or less work than a regular daytime job. The benefits are rather that you are your own boss, and can plan your work hours any way you want.
Average Salary for a Day Trader
Day Traders in America make an average salary of $106,988 per year or $51 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $180,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $63,000 per year.
Is It Possible to Day Trade for a Living? Day trading is far from impossible. There are plenty of traders who do it successfully. However, as with any other career, those who make the most money as day traders are successful because they have extensive experience, knowledge, and a knack for their craft.
Day traders rarely hold positions overnight and attempt to profit from intraday price moves and trends. Day trading is a highly risky activity, with the vast majority of day traders losing money—but it is potentially lucrative for those who achieve success.
According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules, the minimum equity requirement for a client of a broker-dealer who is designated as a pattern day trader is $25,000, which must be deposited into the client's account prior to any day-trading activities and maintained at all times.
It's fair to say that day trading and gambling are very similar. The dictionary definition of gambling is "the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet." When you place a day trade, you're betting that the random price movements of a particular stock will trend in the direction that you want.
Traders often fail because they do not take trading seriously enough. Most inexperienced traders seek get-rich-quick methods and do not adequately prepare how they would approach the market. In reality, some inexperienced traders are gambling without even realizing it.
The best and richest Forex Day Trader in the world
Bill Lipschutz is a master when it comes to day trading. He's a Cornell University graduate who began trading professionally in 1984.
Most day traders work from home and most have very low public profiles. You hear much more about investing/investors, not day trading/day traders. ... Another reason there are few day trading millionaires is that very few succeed at day trading in the first place, and it takes a long time to master.
Day traders get a wide variety of results that largely depend on the amount of capital they can risk, and their skill at managing that money. If you have a trading account of $10,000, a good day might bring in a five percent gain, or $500.
The faster speeds allowed traders to get in and out of trades within the same day. ... If you're a pattern day trader and you do not have $25,000 in your brokerage account prior to any day trading, you will not be permitted to day trade. The money must be in your account before you execute any day trades.
Despite being able to make $1,000 or $5,000—depending on starting account size—over and over again, most day traders end up being like a recreational fisherman who catches a fish but then throws it back.
As a day trader, I work about 12 hours in a typical week, including trading, review, and some trading improvement exercises.
To sum up, we can say that average individuals start day trading within about three month if they are dedicated enough and spend a lot of time applying their knowledge and using the day trading strategies they are taught on a simulator or demo accounts.
Day traders should strive to keep their win rate near 50% or above; that way, if the reward-to-risk on each trade is 1.5 to 1 or above, you will be a profitable trader.
Shay, aka Humbled Trader, is a Taiwanese Canadian living in Vancouver. She immigrated with her family in the early 2000s from Taiwan when she was around 12 years old. Shay began trading part-time while she was working in the Film & VFX industry.
Unlike position trading, day trading is hard because there are so many time frames above you that can impact your results. By contrast, position traders only have to consider the weekly and monthly traders above them who don't trade nearly as often. Becoming a day trader is like starting your own business.
This brings us to the single biggest reason why most traders fail to make money when trading the stock market: lack of knowledge. ... More importantly, they also implement strong money management rules, such as a stop-loss and position sizing to ensure they minimize their investment risk and maximize profits.
Therefore, with a decent futures day trading strategy, and a $15,000 account, you can make roughly: $3,750 – $1000 = $2750/month or about a 18% monthly return.
Trading in the financial markets is stimulating, exciting, and engrossing. But you can become addicted, just like with actual casino gambling or using illicit drugs. Like any severe addiction, trading addiction can cost you socially and economically.