How much do traders make

Updated: 7 November 2026

In short: A private trader has no salary: income depends on account size, risk and skill, and some months are negative. Experienced traders consider tens of percent a year a good result, not "hundreds of percent a month".

Why social media numbers mislead

People post screenshots of winning trades but not the losing months and blown accounts. It is survivorship bias: nobody writes about those who lost.

How to estimate realistically

Income = account size × return. Even an excellent 30% a year on a $1,000 account is $300 a year. So at the start trading does not replace a job: first the skill and the statistics, then the account size.

A separate route is prop firms: the trader passes a paid challenge and trades the firm's capital for a share of the profit. Most do not pass, and the fee is a risk too.

Why percentages matter more than amounts

A trader making 3% a month on $1,000 earns $30. The same skill on $100,000 makes $3,000. That is why professionals measure results in percent and relative to risk, not in dollars. A social-media figure without the account size and the period says nothing: "+$5,000 in a day" may be the result of reckless risk that wipes the account tomorrow.

Realistic benchmarks

For an experienced retail trader a normal result is 1–5% a month with drawdowns, and far from every month is positive. Most beginners end their first year in the red or around zero, and that is normal: it is the price of learning. That is exactly why it makes sense to pay it on a virtual account rather than with real money.

How not to fall for "profit screenshots"

A screenshot shows one trade but not the ten losing ones before it. Ask for full statistics over 6–12 months: the equity curve, the maximum drawdown, the number of trades. If someone earns more from selling courses than from trading, their trading result is not the main thing they are selling you.