depends what kind of trader you're talking about. At most futures prop firms average income for a trader is anywhere from $0 to minus $150,000. Trading trainers who don't and can't trade will generally make $100,000.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." (British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli)
I worked on this floor in those years it was the refco trading services floor at bishopsgate in London. At its peak it had over 300 traders there. I took part in his first study. I would say the average for the time is accurate, some made millions some much less. 2005 to 2007 were great yrs, decent but not great traders there were making over 30k pounds a month take home after costs and splits, my best month was circa £125k, best day £60k worst day -£42k. Some of the awesome traders knocked out over a million in a day on rare occasion not to say they didn't have some cracking down days. Very few of these traders are still in the business and the earnings of the many I know have dropped back considerably. This user handle was sort of communal so ignore past posts as they came from a mix of people.
very cool! well, since we've got u here, maybe let's do a AMA interview with u: - what made 2005-07 great, compared to the period before/after? - what kind of size were u and ur colleagues trading? - any overnights? swing or price ladder scalping? - where r u & the others trading nowadays? any recommendations on prop shops in London? - the ones who made millions, what made them so awesome? there are stories about locals like paul rotter, lee gibbs, brad young, etc - what was it like to watch them trade?