How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? (2024)

Are you curious to know how much money day traders make? A quick glance at Instagram and Twitter shows numerous claims of day traders making thousands of dollars daily. Heck, one just posted profits of $115,000 in one day.

Or what about the penny stock trader who turned $12k into $5.4 million? I could name names, but you probably know who they are. Let’s say these returns are outside the norm but not outside of reach. Day trading can be a lucrative careerifyou use the right strategies and techniques.

How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? (1)

Day Trading Course

In this course, you’ll learn how to read day trading charts, premarket preparation, gauge buy and sell zones, scan for penny stocks to trade, and prepare for live day trading action.

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Table of Contents

  • How Much Do Day Traders Make?
    • Salaries of Day Traders
    • Salaries of Day Traders at Public Trading Firms
  • Can I Make a Living Day Trading?
    • How to Be the Casino
    • Two Key Mistakes that Hurt Traders
  • Is It Profitable to Be a Day Trader?
    • How Much Do Day Traders Make Depends on Picking the Right Stocks
    • Practice Makes Perfect
    • Final Thoughts on How Much Do Day Traders Make?
  • Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Do Day Traders Make?

Do you know how much day traders make? This can vary depending on whether the person in question does it professionally or as a supplemental income. The average day trader typically makes $80,000 a year. However, there’s no easy answer to how much day traders make. Read more to find out how to be a successful day trader.

Day trading is buying and selling stock within the same trading day. A day trader aimsto profit from the market’s daily moves.

Surprisingly, the moves don’t need to be big. You can make a substantial profit from a small stock price move. Unfortunately, many new traders are eager to win big, risking their hard-earned capital. According to the North American Securities Administrators Association, 9 out of 10-day traderslose money and eventually deplete their trading capital.

But, those who follow strict trading rules can easily make anincomeof over $100,000 per year or more.

Likewise, the national average salary for day traders who work for a company is $122,724 (source: Glassdoor). You can see below that this average varies based on where you work.

Salaries of Day Traders

  • City Equity – $154, 260
  • Bank Of America – $275, 000
  • Morgan Stanley – $276,000

Does this answer the question of how much do day traders make? Remember, these are individual trading salaries.

Another consideration is that you can earn substantially more as a fund or hedge fund manager.

If you want to be your day trader, ensure you have good technicals.Tradestation indicatorscan work for you quite well.

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Salaries of Day Traders at Public Trading Firms

If you’re wondering how many days traders make at a public firm, your guess is as good as mine. But, you will often find that top traders venture out to hedge funds.

I could give a few different reasons, but the main one would be the freedom to make their own trading decisions and the potential for sky-high pay.

It’s nothing for a top trader to out-earn their boss; I’m thinking of millions. Don’t forget that they have the best laptop for stock trading.

With the lure of lucrative returns, many are quick to jump in. But before you jump off the cliff, you need to ask yourself a few questions first.

Can I Make a Living Day Trading?

If you want to make a living at day trading, you must be good at it. That sounds simple. It’s not. It requires time and practice. How much do day traders make? You have to decide how much you want to make. Then, work towards that goal before going live. You can also decide what style you will trade—for example, trading outside stock market hours.

Some experts consider day trading to be a form of compulsive gambling. And they’re right, to a point. The roller-coaster excitement and the chance to make a fast buck are luring people into the profession more and more.

The desire for quick cash may leave inexperienced traders with a depleted bank account if they don’t properly manage their risk.

Like any undertaking in life, you must protect yourself at all costs. It’s common knowledge in casinos that the house always wins.

Luckily, if done skillfully and artfully, trading can put you in the position of the house. Your goal is to trade like a casino, so you know how to make money day trading.

A casino is not in the business of making predictions; they manage their risk and let their edge play out. So, how much do day traders make?

How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? (5)

How to Be the Casino

Did you know that your position size is more important than your entry and exit points when day trading stocks?

Even if you have the best strategy on the planet, you will lose if you don’t manage your risk. You want a way to minimize losses, which is accomplished by following the 1% risk rule. The rule is simple: Don’t risk more than 1% of your account size. You take your account (whatever size it is) and multiply it by 1%.

Think of it like this: By risking only 1 percent, you must lose 100 trades in a row to wipe out your account. And if you happen to find yourself losing 100 trades in a row, it’s time to take a step back and reflect. How much day traders make depends on how they apply the 1% rule when buying stocks.

Two Key Mistakes that Hurt Traders

  1. A focus only on profit and losses and not on the process. If your strategy is sound, you only need to worry about the consistent execution of your trading plan, and your profits will take care of themselves. Summed up: follow your rules; more on that below.
  2. Constantly changing strategies. Learn one or two that work for you and master them. Bonus for reading this far: alist of strategies you can easily implement! You’re welcome.

If you want to be profitable and know how much ay traders make, ensure you have the best day trading system.

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DESCRIPTION Bullish Bears offer trade rooms in our Discord. Our chat rooms include penny stocks, large caps, options, and futures We offer stock signals and trade alerts through our watch lists and Discord bots using Tradytics Swing trade and day trade watch lists with hand-picked symbols that have the best chance of breakouts. These are stocks to watch
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Is It Profitable to Be a Day Trader?

How much do day traders make to be profitable? You have to decide for yourself how much you need to be profitable. Do you want to do this for a living? What are your expenses? Are you good enough at trading to cover those expenses? What happens if you have a bad week?

We can all learn to trade for a living if we want to, but we need the right rules and attitude. Traders who face the same opportunity must trade the same.

Personal feelings can’t interfere. Unfortunately, those proper rules and attitudes collide directly with fundamental human nature.

Sadly, many panics and sell when the market turns against them or hold on to losing trades for too long. Ensure you know the four tips new traders should follow to know how many days traders make.

“ You are not smarter than the market. You must follow your entry and exit rules based on your trading plan.”

How Much Do Day Traders Make Depends on Picking the Right Stocks

If you want to make a living day trading stocks, it is important to understand the qualities of a stock that make it a good candidate for day trading.

As a rule of thumb, these factors are liquidity and volatility. Liquidity in a stock allows you to buy and sell stock at a reasonable price easily.

Alternatively, volatility dictates the stock price range throughout the day. But remember, higher volatility brings a chance for greater profits but a higher risk of loss.

How much do day traders make? Does it depend on you knowing the intraday meaning? Intraday trading makes you a day trader.

How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? (9)

Day Trade Watch List

The Bullish Bears day trade watch list focuses on the top gappers hitting the premarket scanners. Our list is filtered down to 3-5 stocks with the highest gap percentage, volume, float size, and breaking news.

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Practice Makes Perfect

Let’s say we ask 100 random strangers to hit a fastball going 95 miles an hour. How many do you think would hit it? I would dare to say less than 0.5%.

Likewise, the same rule applies to trading stocks. What would happen if 80 out of 100 people never practiced trading and threw money into a brokerage account? I think you know the answer.

The real question is, how long does it take before a trader begins to make money? That depends on how much time and practice you put in. So before you up and quit your job, make sure you can turn a profit.

If you cannot make money trading a $5,000 account, you will not make money trading a $50,000 account. For these reasons, you need to practice in asimulator. You can’t expect to be raking in six figures a month immediately.

Final Thoughts on How Much Do Day Traders Make?

The lingering question remains: how much do day traders make? Some make enough to support their families. Some don’t make enough to cover their brokerage commissions.

Make no mistake; day trading is hard if you don’t have the proper rules and system. The moral of this story? Instead of focusing on how much money you can make day trading, focus on the process of making the right trades. Once you have your system in place, the money follows.

We understand that no two traders are alike. Luckily, Bullish Bears is in the business of tailoring systems for individual traders. Therefore, check out ourday trading course.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Day Traders Make A lot of Money?

Can day traders make a lot of money? Yes, it's possible, but the reality is that most traders are not profitable. The best day traders can make six figures or more per year.

Can You Make 100k a Year Day Trading?

For a day trader to make 100k a year trading, they need to make $397 per day since there are 252 trading days. Most day traders are not profitable, though.

How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? (2024)

FAQs

How Much Do Day Traders Make Per Year? ›

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).

Can I make a living as a day trader? ›

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).

Can you make 100k a year day trading? ›

The best day traders can make six figures or more per year. Can You Make 100k a Year Day Trading? For a day trader to make 100k a year trading, they need to make $397 per day since there are 252 trading days. Most day traders are not profitable, though.

Can day traders make a lot of money? ›

Day trading is a strategy in which investors buy and sell stocks the same day. It is rarely successful, with an estimated 95% loss percentage. Even if you do see a gain, it must be enough to offset fees and taxes, as well.

How much money do day traders with $10000 accounts make per day on average? ›

Profit Margins: Day traders' results largely depend on the amount of capital they can risk and their skill at managing that money. With a $10,000 account, a good day might bring in a five percent gain, which is $500. However, day traders also need to consider fixed costs such as commissions charged by brokers.

How hard is day trading? ›

Day trading is challenging due to its fast-paced nature and the complexity of the financial markets. It requires traders to make quick decisions based on real-time information, which can be overwhelming, especially in volatile market conditions.

How many hours do day traders work? ›

Most independent day traders have short days, working two to five hours per day. Often they will practice making simulated trades for several months before beginning to make live trades.

Can you live off trading? ›

While some can make a living trading stocks, the majority of day traders lose money over the long term. Education is critical to being a successful trader. You should also develop a trading strategy and stick to it.

Can day traders be millionaires? ›

While it's possible to become a millionaire through day trading, it's not likely. Most traders end up losing money in the long run. A small number of traders, however, are able to consistently make money and achieve success.

Why $25 000 for day trading? ›

If the trader fails to do so, the broker has the right to liquidate the trader's positions to cover the losses. The $25,000 minimum equity requirement protects brokers from potential financial losses in case a trader's account balance falls below the minimum.

Can you make $200 a day 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.

Can I make 1000 per day from trading? ›

Earning Rs 1000 per day in the share market might seem ambitious, but it is achievable with the right strategies, knowledge, and discipline. The share market offers numerous opportunities for traders and investors to generate consistent profits.

What are the realistic returns from day trading? ›

Day traders can risk 1% of their account by trading either large positions with tight stop-losses or small positions with stop-losses placed far away from the entry price. The profit target on these trades should be at least 1.5% or 2%.

What is the best stock to day trade? ›

Best day trading stocks
RankStockDaily trade volume (Nasdaq)
1Tesla Motors169,139,561
2Nvidia Corp50,631,196
3Meta Platforms33,252,404
4Microsoft Corp31,526,278
6 more rows

What percentage of day traders are successful? ›

What percentage of day traders are successful in making a living from their trading activities? It is estimated that around 10-20% of day traders are consistently profitable, while the majority struggle to consistently make a living from day trading.

How many trades should a day trader make a day? ›

Depending on the strategy employed, many day traders make tens to hundreds of trades per day, on average.

How many hours a day do day traders work? ›

Most independent day traders have short days, working two to five hours per day. Often they will practice making simulated trades for several months before beginning to make live trades.

What is the success rate of day traders? ›

Approximately 1–20% of day traders actually profit from their endeavors. Exceptionally few day traders ever generate returns that are even close to worthwhile. This means that between 80 and 99 percent of them fail.

How much money should I have to be a day trader? ›

First, pattern day traders must maintain minimum equity of $25,000 in their margin account on any day that the customer day trades. This required minimum equity, which can be a combination of cash and eligible securities, must be in your account prior to engaging in any day-trading activities.

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