This might be a sensitive question but I have to sort it out and of course in offline life no one wants to throw in numbers. I have a full time job and I make about 170-200k/year. But people talk about day trading and how some days they make a lot without giving any numbers. So, it makes me think whether the day traders are easily raking in way more than my day job or is it something else. I don't want to hear the stories of one guy who hit it big but I am just curious about some regular dude like me. Edit: (based on some of the replies) So, everyone here is loosing money? Maybe by word "day trader" I meant people who trade for a living .. like all guys here.
Hike your leg and write it in the snow. It's as close to the gold as you will get... or an answer that means anything. 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. There are any number of reasons to trade for more or less once you figure out how to do it. Many never figure it out. Speedo is right... insert any number for any reason. Everyone is different.
So, everyone here is loosing money? Maybe by word "day trader" I meant people who trade for a living .. like all guys here.
What the others make is irrelevant. What you make is important. Just by knowing (fake) stories you will not make more money. Those who make really good money will not tell anything and stay low profile.
i agree with mtrader, what other make is irrelevant and specially in trading, because unlike other jobs where you get an average salary figure from some source, here there isnt that, and even if there is u might not make it, as a general rule in traidng, only 1% make money, thats trading as a whole, and for day trading that means its even less since not all traders are day traders the one thing to also know in trading in general if u do it for living is unlike a job, if one year passes and u didnt make money, then not only lost the time (opportunity cost) but u also lost money if u dont work for one year u simply lose ur salary so u go from positive 170k to 0 if u trade for one year and dont make money then not only u lost 170k u didnt make and went to 0 but u actually went below zero cuz if u didnt make money chances are u lost money so u lost ur 170k and whatever trading losses u suffered on top, double trouble
"In the end if you wake knowing you have risked everything for what you desire...then you can rest for eternity, knowing you have truly lived." -Rudyard Kipling PS also consider this https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/redditor-yoloing-on-aapl.306307/
When you make good money in your day job you would be mad to give it up (unless you really hate it and no longer care much about the money). You would probably want to keep the day job and trade on the side. Either with a day trading algo or a longer term method. You could make 200K in your day job and average 50% a year on your trading capital (with drawdowns about half of that). There is no pressure on you to perform as a trader and the sub par years wont hurt you. Quitting the day job will just put most people under huge pressure and they will most likely fail. More so if the previous job was high paying. So averaging 50% returns with 25% drawdowns is what i aim for as a day trader. Many traders could probably do much better than that but that is what i aim for and I have exceeded by a huge margin some years. And some years i have not made anything at all after commissions. So 50% is an average figure.
Let's just say that a lot of day traders would probably be ecstatic if they made your working salary.