Crunch the numbers, with a 1% risk and ~1% return on a trade the average intraday player is producing around 10% per month give or take (conservative estimate), without taking excessive risks of 'one large drawdown'. Compounded that's ~200% pa. Now think what I call aggressive compounding (risking a percentage of gains alongside the 1%) and the returns are potentially phenomenal (liquidity allowing).
Yes, however, with such tight risk rules those intraday returns must be backed by a sharp edge (one that lasts and there aren't many out there). Most traders producing 200% pa don't have a sharp edge but are merely taking excessive risk--something that isn't revealed until they blow up (some years later in certain cases). They mentality is, "so far so good".
i trade FX EUR/USD only started 250$ took 1.5 weeks to get to 3.5K .6% per day everyday is alot at the end of the year compounded
Back in November I took $360 and turned it into $1770(http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=2183264) . Nothing spectacular. I would be happy with a micro account with FXCM if it did not subject me to retarded money withdrawing rules. Now I have a mini/standard account and can withdraw money by Wire but I have to fax it in(F' them!). My "dream" broker is dbfx. They offer 100:1 even if you have $1 million. All in all forex is a brutal market and whipsaws are deadly. Whipsaws are what "keeps me up at night" so to speak.