You average 5 trades per day, so if you have 20 trading days in a month, you make 100 trades per month. You net $7,500, but you still have commissions and possibly some other fees. While this is likely on the high-end, assume your cost per trade is $20 (total, to get in and out).
Average Salary for a Day Trader
Day Traders in America make an average salary of $118,912 per year or $57 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $195,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $72,000 per year.
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.
Key Takeaways
The vast majority of day traders lose money, reflecting the activity's risk. The factors that determine the potential upside of day trading include starting capital amount, strategies used, the markets in which you are active, and luck.
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.
Starting Capital of 100k – 250k
Average Day Trader Salary = 20% annual return. This breaks down to 20k to 50k for an annual salary. Above Average Day Trader Salary = 50% annual return. This breaks down to 50k to 125k.
Yes, living off day trading income is very much possible, but it can be very difficult to achieve. In fact, it's not necessarily easier or less demanding than doing a regular 9-5 job, and you are not even sure that you can be consistently profitable enough to sustain your lifestyle.
If you want to day trade to make millions a year, you'll likely be disappointed. Very few day traders, or even people in other professions, make millions a year. It takes more than just being great at something to become rich…. and becoming great is a lot of work in and of itself.
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.
Assuming a deduction rate of 5%, savings of $240,000 would be required to pull out $1,000 per month: $240,000 savings x 5% = $12,000 per year or $1,000 per month.
Is day trading a good idea? Day trading is not worth it for the vast majority of day traders. Anecdotally, it's been widely estimated that 95% of day traders ultimately lose money, and it's been empirically demonstrated that about the same percentage of unprofitable day traders continues despite losing money.
Some financial experts posture that day trading is more akin to gambling than it is to investing. While investing looks at putting money into the stock market with a long-term strategy, day trading looks at intraday profits that can be made from rapid price changes, both large and small.
You have a capital of 5000 rupees. So it's impossible to make 50,000 rupees in a single trade unless and until the company you're trading with reports huge profits to see 1000 times its growth potential.
Well, the earnings can go up to Rs. 1 lakh a month or even higher if you are skilled enough and your strategies are in place.
If the market is trending down, they would short securities that exhibit weakness when their prices bounce. Most independent day traders have short days, working two to five hours per day. Often they will practice making simulated trades for several months before beginning to make live trades.
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.
Studies have shown that more than 97% of day traders lose money over time, and less than 1% of day traders are actually profitable. One percent! But of course, nobody thinks they will be the one losing out.
With correct knowledge and strategy, you can earn decent money from the markets. One can grow from cash market to derivative market and make leverage their friend. One can also become a researcher or a trainer. One can become a SEBI registered Investment Advisor or SEBI registered Research Analyst and do consulting.
Trading is so hard because there are so many aspects to trading that you need to know. Some of those are the quantity of misleading information out there, your own biases, and the necessity of striking a balance between risk and return.
Unlike gambling, trading has no ultimate win or loss. Companies compete with others to innovate their products and provide better services, thus leading their stock prices to rise. This, in turn, leads the stockholders of that firm to earn greater profits. Hence, trading is not gambling.
Many people have an interest in day trading but don't want to pursue it as a full-time career or give up their day job to do it. In fact, many professional day traders only trade part-time, trading for one to three hours per day, and then they move onto other activities.
It's recommended that day traders start with at least $30,000, even though the legal minimum is $25,000. That will allow for losing trades and more flexibility in the stocks that are traded.