What is a good percentage gain as a day trader?

Asked by: Elwyn Willms  |  Last update: November 5, 2025
Score: 4.3/5 (42 votes)

Most day traders give up after less than a month. It is therefore all the more important to start day trading on a Demo depot to learn. A typical day trading profit per day is between 0.033 and 0.13 percent. This corresponds to a monthly profit of between 1 and 10 percent for successful day traders.

What percentage of day traders make a profit?

The vast, overwhelming majority of day traders lose. They either lose early and quit, or keep trading despite their losses. As we'll see, only 3% of day traders make a profit. And only 1% do so predictably.

What is a good rate of return for a day trader?

A frequently quoted day trader average return rate is 10 percent, but recall that the failure rate is about 95 percent. Moreover, as NYU's 93 years of stock market return data illustrates, the average rate of return for the stock market historically has been 9.8 percent.

What is a good winning percentage in day trading?

Win Rates: Your win rate indicates the percentage of trades you win out of the total trades you make. For example, a win rate of 60% means you win 60 out of 100 trades. Aiming for at least a 75% win rate is a good benchmark for consistent profitability.

What is a good profit target for day trading?

  • Typical Range: Many day traders aim for a daily profit of about 0.5% to 2% of their trading capital.
  • Experienced Traders: Experienced traders with effective strategies might achieve higher returns, sometimes between 2% and 5% in a good trading day.

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22 related questions found

What is the average gain for a day trader?

Only an extremely small number of people make long-term profits through day trading - less than 1 percent. Most day traders give up after less than a month. It is therefore all the more important to start day trading on a Demo depot to learn. A typical day trading profit per day is between 0.033 and 0.13 percent.

What is the 3-5-7 rule in trading?

The 3 5 7 rule is a risk management strategy in trading that emphasizes limiting risk on each individual trade to 3% of the trading capital, keeping overall exposure to 5% across all trades, and ensuring that winning trades yield at least 7% more profit than losing trades.

Can you live off day trading?

It is possible to earn money with day trading and make a living from it and generate high income - but the chances are extremely low. A maximum of three percent of all traders achieve long-term profits; the vast majority lose large sums of money.

What is a good success rate for day trading?

In summary, if you want to make a living from day trading, your odds are probably around 4% with adequate capital and investing multiple hours every day honing your method over six months or more (once you have a method to even work on).

What is the average daily trading value?

Average Daily Trading Volume (ADTV) refers to the number of shares of a particular stock that, on average, change hands during a single trading day. Significant deviations from the ADTV usually indicate greater or lesser buying or selling interest in the stock from large institutional investors.

What is a good day trader salary?

How much does a Day Trader make? As of Jan 6, 2025, the average annual pay for a Day Trader in the United States is $96,774 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $46.53 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,861/week or $8,064/month.

What is considered a successful day trader?

Traders can be successful by only profiting from 50% to 60% of their trades. However, they need to profit more on their winners than they lose on their losers. Ensure the financial risk on each trade is limited to a specific percentage of your account and that entry and exit methods are clearly defined.

How to get 10% return?

Investments That Can Potentially Return 10% or More
  1. Stocks.
  2. Real Estate.
  3. Private Credit.
  4. Junk Bonds.
  5. Index Funds.
  6. Buying a Business.
  7. High-End Art or Other Collectables.

How much can you realistically make as a day trader?

How much can one person realistically earn with day trading or other forms of short-term investing? It depends on how much you invest but as an example, if you trade forex, a 50 pip daily move in your favor with a 20x leverage will earn you $1000,- a day i.e. $5000,- a week.

What is a good profit percentage in trading?

Your profit margin can tell you how well your business performs compared to other market players in your industry. Although there's no magic number, a good profit margin will typically fall between 5% and 10%.

How realistic is day trading?

The success rate of day traders is quite low; only a small percentage consistently make profits. While it's possible to make a living as a day trader, it's incredibly challenging and risky, and many end up losing money. The success rate of day traders is low, with only around 10-20% achieving consistent profits.

What is a good profit for day trading?

0.5%to 2% of the capital approximately daily profit for 3 days in a week. That means you can get minimum profit in a 5day trading week is 0.5% to maximum profit 5%. For 52 weeks you can win minimum 26%profit to 260%profit for entire year.

What are the realistic returns from day trading?

It is insanely hard skill to learn, but any decent day trader should be making atleast 1% per day. It is depending on the account size and risk appetite. You don't want to overtrade (trade positions that too large for a capital you have. ) 6% IS achievable.

What is a good win rate for day trading?

Winning 5 out of 10 trades is a 50% win rate. Winning 30 out of 100 is a 30% win rate. Most professional traders have a win rate near 50% or less. They are profitable because they make more on winning trades than they lose on losing trades.

What is the average lifespan of a day trader?

"If you're not producing," says Handa, "you're gone." The average professional life-span of a trader, says Handa, is from 2 to 5 years. After that, many of them end up becoming trading managers or go to a different division of the bank.

Can you day trade with only $1000?

Believe it or not, you can start forex day trading with $1,000 or even less. It requires mastering position sizing and managing risks, but if you navigate your way to success, the rewards can be significant.

Can you make $200 a day trading?

A common approach for new day traders is to start with a goal of $200 per day and work up to $800-$1000 over time. Small winners are better than home runs because it forces you to stay on your plan and use discipline. Sure, you'll hit a big winner every now and then, but consistency is the real key to day trading.

What is the 11am rule in trading?

The 11 a.m. trading rule is a general guideline used by traders based on historical observations throughout trading history. It stipulates that if there has not been a trend reversal by 11 a.m. EST, the chance that an important reversal will occur becomes smaller during the rest of the trading day.

What is the 50% trading rule?

The fifty percent principle is a rule of thumb that anticipates the size of a technical correction. The fifty percent principle states that when a stock or other asset begins to fall after a period of rapid gains, it will lose at least 50% of its most recent gains before the price begins advancing again.