How Much Does the Average Day Trader Make?

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Is it Possible to Make a Living through Day Trading?

Earnings from forex trading are not fixed. It is possible to generate a regular and stable income, but not a fixed income. At any moment, two groups of factors — general and temporary — can affect the success of a trader and, thus, his income. Let's first describe the general ones:

Common factors:

  • Choosing a broker.

    The broker provides the trader with the opportunity to trade currencies and other trading instruments. The amount of leverage a broker offers, opportunities for risk diversification, bonuses, and commission or spread fees the broker charges all affect a trader’s daily income.

  • Choosing a strategy.

    A trader’s chosen trading strategy ultimately determines the amount of the trader's earnings. Some traders open and close many orders each day (scalping, intraday trading), while others focus on long-term trades. Some traders risk more and, therefore, gain more in profits (or losses), and other traders who risk losing only a little, gain (or lose) a small amount per trade.

  • Deposit amount.

    The larger the deposit a trader uses, the higher his earnings will potentially be. With the increase in leverage, the potential profit also increases. However, this also increases financial risk. In general, we can say that the amount of the deposit is a main factor in determining how much a trader can earn per day.

  • Experience of traders.

    The longer a trader trades, the more experienced and skillful he becomes, which improves his chances of increasing his daily earnings. A better understanding of market mechanisms improves your trading strategies.

These are factors that do not depend on time. That is, a trader can work with one broker for years. He can use one strategy for many months until he finds a better one. In general, it can be stated that all these factors combine to affect the maximum income that a trader can generate from his deposit of trading funds.

Time-related factors, unlike general ones, change constantly:

  • Market situation.

    In the world economy and politics, there are events that constantly impact the forex market, which a trader must take into account. His daily earnings often depend on the market situation.

  • Analysis of the previous trading day.

    A trader should always start his working day by assessing the results of yesterday's trading. As this is new information every day, it needs to be analyzed and applied in practice.

  • Signals and analytics.

    These are charts and calculations that a broker can provide to a trader, or that a trader can obtain independently from various sources (programs on TV, podcasts, information from other traders, etc.).

Time factors cannot be taken into account in advance. That is, sometimes traders do manage to predict a stock market crash, a merger of two large corporations, or some other important event. But they can only profit if their trade timing is also accurate.


None of the above noted factors make it possible to give clear, definitive figures on how much you can earn day trading in the forex market. Your profit can be $50, $50,000 or several million dollars. And it may be more helpful to show possible earnings not in absolute numbers, but rather in percentages. Provided that the trader is lucky and all the above factors are positive, he may be able to earn, say, 100% of his deposit during the day. However, positive investment returns are never guaranteed - if they were, everyone would be making millions trading forex.

One Day in the Life of a Forex Trader

So, daily earnings in the Forex market depend on many factors, not all of which a trader can control. But he has the opportunity to analyze all of them, draw conclusions, and based on his conclusions, make his own predictions. Now, we will describe a typical forex trader's working day to help give you a clear understanding of the profession.

One Day in the Life of a Forex Trader

How Does a Trading Day in Forex Begin?

As a rule, a professional trader begins by logging on to his broker’s trading platform, using either his home or office computer and begins evaluating yesterday's market activities, trades, financial news, etc., to get a clear appreciation of the status of what the market is like today.


In the background, he may be watching CNBC or Bloomberg while looking over price quotes on his computer screen. In the morning, one should note potentially profitable currency pairs, key levels, review price signals, and other data points that a trader considers important for his trading strategy.


Each trader has his own approach, but the goal is to assess the results of the previous trading day and their correlation with the current situation in the forex market. Is today’s market trending or consolidating? How are prices moving against key data points? There are dozens of such questions. But for an experienced player, they are not difficult to follow, they just take a little time to incorporate into today’s market strategy after fully evaluating all pertinent factors.

How Does Forex Trading Work?

A trader summarizes the analysis and makes his decisions. If there are worthwhile setups (potential conditions for entering a trade), the trader places an order or several orders at once. Some traders start trading later, some earlier.

Here the trader's actions and his daily earnings are directly determined by his strategy. Here are some examples:

  • Scalping (or pipsing).

    The purpose of a scalping strategy is to be able to open and close a trade within a very short timespan - perhaps just a few minutes - as soon as the trade is showing a profit of virtually any size, small or large. A forex trader may make dozens of such trades each day.

  • Long term strategies.

    Long-term trading strategies require a fundamentally different approach to market analysis. Unlike with scalping trades, traders are attempting to predict the long term, rather than temporary short term, price changes of a financial asset.

  • Intraday (or day trading).

    This is an approach to trading, the essence of which is to complete all trades by the end of each trading day.

Traders do not have to limit themselves to being strictly scalpers or long-term traders. More often, a trader simply sees the right moment and seizes it by combining and applying various strategies and trading techniques. Therefore, the daily earnings of traders also differ. Today it can be $46, and tomorrow it could be $7,200. And, the day after tomorrow, you may go into the negative for the day - because there are no traders who win all their trades every day.


Planning the Next Trading Day

Planning the Next Trading Day

Professional forex traders usually take a break during the workday. For example, from 11:00 to 14:00. At 2 pm, their market analysis and trading strategy either continue “as is”, or the trader implements a new strategy. Also, along the way, the trader necessarily plans the next day by marking down currency pairs in his notebook that may be profitable to work with tomorrow. He notes down important events and trading signals that may affect tomorrow's trading.

An important point: the planning of the next working day does not take place in the evening, or rather, not only in the evening. It happens all the time, sometimes from very early morning or from the first news on Bloomberg. Planning is important because it helps traders approach the forex market each trading day with the best possible trading strategy. Forecasts never produce 100% guarantees, but they need to be done in order to be able to respond to the most promising trade opportunities promptly.


Forex Trading Completion

Each trader has his own closing time of the workday, because it depends not on the schedule of exchanges (after all, Forex operates 24/7), but to a greater extent on his strategies and forecasts.

Forex Trading Completion

For example, a trader may leave several open positions and pending orders at night. He sleeps from 23:00 to 01:00, and when he wakes up, the result is waiting for him in the form of a stop-loss or a profit.


Summing Up Trading Results and Fixing Earnings

Summing Up Trading Results and Fixing Earnings

Before going to bed, a Forex trader usually calculates his daily earnings, because this is also a factor that determines his strategy for the next day. If he is in the red, this is a reason to reconsider his strategy or approach. If he is in the black, he has to identify and analyze all the points that influenced his success.

By the end of the working day, the trader may or may not close all open trades. Some may remain open until the next morning. Still others may remain open for several more days. It all depends on the trader’s trading strategy, and how successful (or unsuccessful) it proves to be.

What Determines a Stable Day Income as a Trader?

A forex trader's earnings per day, as we have just seen, is a "floating value". For example, a trader can keep an open trade for several days and, accordingly, at this time he does not receive any income from it at all. Upon closing the trade, he may realize an excellent profit. Everything is different for scalpers: they receive (or lose) income constantly throughout the day from dozens of trades. Summarizing all the potential opportunities, we list the main factors that determine how much a forex trader can earn per day:

Main factors:
  • Deposit

    again, the more funds a trader uses in trades, the higher his potential earnings will be

  • Volume of Trading

    the number of trades and their volume directly affect the amount of a trader's daily income

  • Forecasts

    the accuracy of a trader’s market forecasts and the success of a trader's strategy ultimately determines whether he realizes profits or losses

  • Stress resistance

    the ability to think sensibly, exclude momentary impulses, often affect how well-considered and thought-out a trader’s decisions are

  • Mood

    the emotional state of the trader influences the decisions he makes; therefore, professionals need to be able to tune themselves into the working rhythm and try to set aside all extraneous thoughts or problems

  • Bonuses

    a trader can participate in various contests and receive brokerage bonuses for winning

  • The market situation

    is an unpredictable factor that can easily devalue even the most well-thought-out strategy or, conversely, makes a trader a millionaire in a matter of minutes

Many more factors affect how much a forex trader can earn per day. But those above are the main ones. And each trader has personal qualities that determine his success. For example, someone does not turn off emotions, but, on the contrary, acts impulsively and fanatically, while managing not to violate the rules of money management.

5 Basic Day Trader Rules to Follow Every Day

To make good money, forex traders must be disciplined and be able to follow an established daily routine. The point is to be aware, moment to moment, of when it is most reasonable to open an order, when you can take a risk, and when there are no suitable setups and it is better not to open trades at all.

5 Basic Day Trader Rules to Follow Every Day

Each trader fashions his own rules to trade by. But we have collected the main points that all successful players must take into account and which are predetermined by the rules of forex trading. The rules are:

  • Trading is a business, not a hobby.


    Forex trading practiced as a hobby will not likely bring you significant income. On the contrary, dabbling in the forex market will most likely result in the trader losing his deposit over and over again. Therefore, trading should be treated as a business, a professional activity that requires skills and experience.

  • "Plan your trades and follow the plan."


    This is simply a reminder that every trade action should be as calculated and planned as possible.

  • Never risk money that you cannot afford to lose.


    There will always be unsuccessful trades. They can be minimized, but not eliminated. Therefore, it is unwise for traders to use money they regularly need for other purposes, for example, to pay your monthly mortgage, your children’s tuition, etc.

  • Use technology.


    Some technologies can significantly facilitate the process of trading, such as high-speed Internet, a powerful computer, and innovative market analysis software, etc. Employ whatever increases your chances of success.

  • Assess the risks.


    Never break the rules of money management. The generally accepted standard for risk in the industry is no more than 2% of your trading capital risked per each trade. You should know how to close a trade immediately when you realize that your chosen strategy isn’t working.

Your list of trading rules should be constantly updated. And the longer a trader trades, the longer his list will likely be. A well-honed list will help to define your trading style and, as a result, help to determine how much money you can earn from forex trading.

The main thing

The Main Thing

The main thing is to learn to plan trades, using a well-chosen and tested trading strategy. You need to expect and accept losses; they will come in any case. However, trading risks can be successfully reduced and managed with good trading strategies or through well-planned diversification of investments. Forex is the market with the highest volatility, but the profit potential is also the highest. The 3-4% that you get from bank deposits per year can be easily earned on a single forex trade.

Is it possible to earn serious capital trading forex?

Today, tens of thousands of professional traders trade the forex market. Not all of them are millionaires, but many — even without higher education or a minimal knowledge of economics — manage to achieve significant income. Here are a few striking examples:

  • Jesse Livermore

    Jesse Livermore

    sold Union Pacific shares in 1906 exactly one day before the San Francisco earthquake, which nearly destroyed the company. It is not known how Livermore predicted this disaster, but he earned £250,000 from his short sell. And in 1907, predicting the fall of the American financial market, he made $1 million in one day.

  • Paul Tudor Jones

    Paul Tudor Jones

    spent months analyzing the chronicles of the Wall Street crash of 1929. In the end, he predicted another crash in October 1987. Two weeks before the expected event, he began to trade aggressively against the market, although other players were moving with the market’s uptrend. On October 19, the Dow Jones fell 22% and many traders lost colossal sums. But Jones, owing to his forecasts and competent strategy, earned $18 million that day.

  • Andy Krieger

    Andy Krieger

    in 1987, during the global crisis, identified the most overvalued currency, which was the New Zealand dollar. With 1:400 leverage provided by Bankers Trust, he entered a short position against the New Zealand currency. The "kiwi" (as traders call the New Zealand dollar) eventually fell to the point that the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. And Krieger made $300 million in a day.

  • Stanley Druckenmiller

    Stanley Druckenmiller

    was the executive of George Soros' Quantum Fund hedge fund. He predicted the crisis of the National Bank of Great Britain and, a few months before the supposed collapse of the British pound, he began short selling it on an incredible scale. The pound fell by 25% against the US dollar. That day — September 16, 1992 — is now known as "Black Wednesday". No one knows exactly how much Druckenmiller made that day, but the Soros Fund made several billion dollars in profit.

Forex traders occasionally do make incredible amounts of money and sometimes become millionaires in a day. There are also opposite situations when millions are lost within a matter of hours. But this happens much less frequently, because professional traders working with such amounts are excellent at assessing and managing risks.


Again, there is always some risk in the forex market. Risk is the cornerstone of the foreign exchange market. But this is the very risk that provides the trader with the potential to make high earnings. And, hopefully, occasional losses give him additional experience and skill, thanks to which he improves his trading strategy and collects more wins.

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How Much Money Do Day Traders Make? Expert’s Opinion

Daily stable income is the goal of any forex day trader. It is clear that it is difficult to achieve significant profit in the first weeks and even months, but over time it is possible.


According to statistics, only 11-25% of novice traders remain in the market. But the majority leave because they violate the basic rules of money management, and often trade based on emotions, without proper planning and market analysis. As a result, they lose most of their capital.


You need to understand that trading is a profession. You can learn the basics on demo accounts and by taking courses and researching trading. But a trader receives and develops professional skills only in the process of real trading. Success is based on the systematization of the workflow, constant market research, and the development of new strategies.


Nearly 95% of a trader's job is analysis and planning. The remaining 5% is order placement and calculation. If you want some numbers, then I would say that, with a competent approach, a forex trader's earnings, with a deposit of $5,000, can be at the initial stage perhaps $50-200 per day. But maybe more, or maybe less - there are simply too many variables in play to make definitive forecasts.

Jacob Jones

Jacob Jones

trader-analyst at Traders Union, Contributor

FAQs Regarding Day Traders’ Income

How much money can you make trading forex in one day?

Some traders have earned several hundred million dollars in a day. If we take the average trader, then it can be $50, $200 a day, or perhaps much more.

What do you need to successfully make money with forex trading?

You need discipline and the understanding that forex trading is a profession, not a hobby. Continuous market analysis, planning, and self-education are at the core of successful trading.

Can I lose trading forex?

Yes. Even Bruce Kovner, one of the most successful forex traders in the world, sometimes loses trades. He just does it quite rarely, due to his experience and professionalism. Forex trading risk can be minimized, but not eliminated.

How difficult is it to make money trading forex?

It is as difficult as making money in any other profession that requires planning and developed skills and knowledge. But forex trading does not require any a priori knowledge - the trader learns everything himself in the process of trading. It is the highest form of “on the job training”!