well, then most traders suck and should go back to flippin burgers! Seriously. one may bag 500k or a mil while others might make 10 grand or lose what money they could shake loose from their piggy bank...your question is unanswerable.
kinda like the question "Does money make happiness?". After 5 years, I'd expect to make at least 100k a year. thats not too bad at all .
If your thinking about year 5 and making 100k, 500k etc before making 1 dollar and day/year 1, your in trouble.
Trading income does not rise from year to year. It's not like real estate. You can make less in year 5 than in year 2 and vice versa. Remember, every day your P&L starts at zero (if you're an intra-day scalper). You're at the mercy of the market for the most part. Even if you start becoming more comfortable trading larger blocks in the latter years, your losses and gains will be greatly magnified. Your net P&L won't necessarily change much. This is a very unpredictable business.
this thread illustrates why it's so hard to make a living trading with a small amount of capital. it's hard enough making consistent money, and when you finally do, what do you have? $100K a year. can you retire on that? did you prove all the naysayers wrong? plenty of jobs pay $100K per year if you stay with it for a few years. what if it doesn't work anymore after that first year?
It sounds like you're having a hard time understanding what's required of you when it comes to trading. You've got posts on the tape reading thread, then questions on which indicators to use, then questions on your earning potential. This is going to sound a little zen and irrelevant, but it'll make better sense when you're trading. My advice is that you should only wait to trade when you have that inner voice telling you that you're ready to do the work required without feeling the burden of money needs. The work required is countless hours of looking at charts and the tape, reading about psychology and self-control, reading about what moves the market, until you have a working picture of how and why things move. Risk and reward go beyond the market -- they are fundamental factors of any valuable decision, like a career. Once you feel that you're not risking a lot of psychologial pain, you will be more open to interpreting risk and reward as it applies to the market, allowing you be objective. When you are objective and open to understanding, the information begins to piece itself together, and then you can create a trading plan that matches your psychology. After that, it's simply a matter of growth, taking advantage of every opportunity, and sticking to your trading rules. I only say this because it sounds like you're getting frustrated/confused and trying to find that magic piece of knowledge that will explain order flow and market movement. It's good to find knowledge, but if those questions are taking place of a nagging anxiety in you, then the answers will not help.
very optimistic...but i dont think it is very possible. nice goal though. The average salary for a surgeon is around $200-250 I think...and this is the VERY top of the slary range. there are some surgeons that make $2mm a year...but the fact of the matter is MOST PEOPLE dont have what it takes to be a surgeon. there are restaraunt owners that are broker, and some that are multi millionaires...not everybody has "it". I think if you were to average all retail and prop day traders in the USA...the average salary would be less than $50k. If you were to average highly educated Retail and prop traders that first worked for a major institution that have several years of experience before trading on their own...i think it would top average over $100k.
It sounds like you're having a hard time understanding what's required of you when it comes to trading. -- I've been trading for only 7 months. The work required is countless hours of looking at charts and the tape, reading about psychology and self-control, reading about what moves the market, until you have a working picture of how and why things move. -- What do you mean..what moves the market?..what moves the WHOLE market..or just my stock?... The price of corn means absolutly nothing if i'm trading wal-mart. What moves the martket you say?..the news. I've noticed that earnings reports for just ONE company can push the market down. The fed, oil prices, war... I only say this because it sounds like you're getting frustrated/confused and trying to find that magic piece of knowledge that will explain order flow and market movement. -- Darn right I'm frustrated. this is what really pisses me off.. people say NOT to trade the news..or to fade the news..or to sell the rumor (news) but the facts, and all this fortune cookie BS.. on and ON AND ON!. WHICH is it?.. if news moves the markets, why ignore it. bottom line.. I'm having a VERY hard time understanding what information I should act on period. I'm not mad at you Dogballon, but at myself for not knowing and understanding what everyone on this forum seems to already know. - nathan
- Mike, I'm gonna sue your ass!!! I injured myself when I fell off the chair and spat out coffee all over my monitor..... LOL