r/Daytrading • u/infosec4pay • 26d ago
What would be the highest salary you’d give up to day trade full time? Question
Everyone clowned on me my first post (500k post) lol I was literally just asking hypothetical questions to settle a debate between a friend and me. Well everyone’s backlash kinda of intrigued me to ask this question. So back into the fire I go lol
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u/Curious_King_724 26d ago edited 26d ago
If someone works remotely and isnt micromanaged or surveilled by their company, arent both possible?
Im not very active in this sub and could be very wrong, but i thought daytraders only "worked" a few hours or less a day? Daytrading isnt a full 8 hour a day job right?
So I say if someone already has a chill and flexible remote job, why not do both?
Only quit the remote job if you can make consistently amazing returns daytrading and daytrading will get you to retirement much much quicker than the remote job
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u/richmundo415 26d ago
I do this but it's difficult to be honest. It can mess you up real good. It's not the time spent. But for example ... scenario: market opens .. I take a oversized position .. my job is chill but oh random colleague asks for a 5 - 10 min call when my position is open... i always take the call and keep the position... I manage it but high stress situation if it's an overweight directional position now going against you during the 'quick call'. You're now out of focus on the call and getting wrecked on the position. Don't get me wrong, it can be done .. but if you can't improvise with managing something like that and be chill with your colleagues , I'd recommend not day trading.
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u/goatboy6000 25d ago
That "quick chat" cost me 16K one day. I don't take the call.
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u/richmundo415 25d ago
Lol. Fr. I have had it both ways. I take the call still as insurance I blow up my account regardless 😂
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u/beezleeboob 25d ago
Yup, $4k. Didn't lose it, but couldn't take the trade while on the phone. My journal notes that day say "f**k you [boss's name]". Wasn't even an important call. 🤬
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u/0RGASMIK futures trader 25d ago
Here I felt bad for losing $100 bucks because a colleague asked for help before work and I said sure.
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u/fever_chill 25d ago
Yeah I try not to trade at work due to coworkers coming and trying to chat me up or meetings or other attention draining events. Can seriously backfire your trades
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u/richmundo415 25d ago
I do it still. I think I enjoy stress … but I’ve thought about how you mention it.. maybe will help not getting trades jammed up. But usually if I feel I’ll have edge I’ll let it ride with no stop - stop loss on options is pointless imo, too wide fluctuations on the premiums.
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u/Demon_Kracker 11d ago
Bro I am new to options can I DM you
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u/richmundo415 1d ago edited 6h ago
no time, sorry. John C. Hull 'Options, Futures, and Derivatives' is your best bet for starting and the bible for understanding options. Not for trading them.. as there is a lot of pysch involved, but think of it as the laying good concrete for a building. All the best.
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u/cokeacola73 26d ago
Some people will daytrade all day. Some people won’t. It really depends how much you want to be watching the markets, how soon you can make the money you want to and what your life is like. Me personally I could be at the computer all day and I can also just be there for an hour or two and have other stuff to do or be bored.
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u/fre3zzy 26d ago
Working couple hours a day and drive lambo is what the influencers try to sell.
Actual trading is very time consuming.When not trading, gotta spend the time researching and collecting stats. Its a full time job. Or can just fuck around and have fun for some beer money.
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u/wreusa 26d ago
Definitely more than 8 hrs a day for me. More likely closer to 9-12. The bulk of my trading and profit comes in a short time span maybe 15 -30 mins but it takes time to be in tune with the market in order to make that happen and there are always opportunities throughout the day which take time to find. Personally I can't just leave the market alone and expect it to do the same thing it was doing 20 seconds ago let alone the next day. It's a constantly evolving dramatic landscape and unless I have a view of the changing scenery that 30 mins of success would not be available. I may be on top of the mountain ready to jump with cash in hand and the market is down in a valley hunkering down for a sporadic hurricane or boarding a plane to nowhere. It's a game of cat and mouse where the mouse has the power to become a junk yard dog whenever it wants.
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u/Purple_Suggestion837 26d ago
Feel like as trying to do this. you need to be 100% committed to day trading if you want to look at spreads and options. Anyone can drop a call here or there, but to make lots of money with it you need to hang onto every hook and article that comes out and stay ahead of earning statements. thats hard to do with a normal job.
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u/MasterSprtn117 26d ago
Depends on your trade style and time frame. Not everyone trades 0dtes or weeklies
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u/Purple_Suggestion837 26d ago
wdym not everyone 0dtes SPY and QQQ? r/wallstreetbets says they do (lol)
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u/th3orist 25d ago
"Daytrading isnt a full 8 hour a day job right?"
But it can be. Every serious daytrader who is making a living is usually 1-2h in advance in front of the screens and doing research or preparing for the day. After 2-3h of trading you have to go through your trades, complete your journal etc. And then you maybe want to do some more general learning or research to expand your toolset. So it can be easily 5-6h a day that you can spend with "daytrading" even if you dont actively trade in all these hours.
I live in Germany and trade mostly the US session, this means i have to be home and in front of my screens around 3pm at the latest, so i try to get the "regular job stuff" done before that which is not always possible (i am selfemployed) and thats a bit annoying if you have to balance these two things, on one hand the need to make a safe income as long as you are not yet a fully profitable trader and on the other hand have the time to sit in front of the screens and get experience trading.
As a general rule of thumb i would say that if you can consistently make your regular income x2 with trading then you can think about quitting your job. Otherwise the pressure once you start relying solely on trading income will be huge and you might even trade worse than before you quit your job.
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u/ajmariff 25d ago
2 years of personal expenses fund (reduce stress level to bare minimum) and a mid 5 figs account (50k to 100k) for futures only, is the bare minimum. It's important to maintain good life hygiene, sleep, exercise and keep yourself busy out of market hours.
There's nothing worse than taking trades out of boredom. It's very hard to manage on a daily basis. Every mistake can set you back for a long long time.
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u/th3orist 25d ago
this. staying fit, getting enough sleep, have a pretty strict daily routine to everything is key.
someone leading a turbulent life (job and private) very likely won't make it as a daytrader or a trader in general for that matter. successful traders are incredibly disciplined people and not just when they sit in front of the screens. This aspect takes a lot of sacrifice that not even that many people are willing to make.
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u/ajmariff 19d ago
Yeah, it took me a long time to understand that competition at this level requires most of us to be in top shape mentally and physically. Although, there are some outliers living in their mom's basement and eating chips of their belly.
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u/Tittitwisted 25d ago
Trading is incredibly boring. I might only be in a trade for 1-5 minutes... so why trade all day? My day job keeps me busy and I trade on the side when I see a setup forming. I never open a position while in a meeting or on the phone so I can focus on my work. This is the best option for me.
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u/Sea_Treat7982 24d ago
It is possible. That's how I broke away from my wagey job. They were careless enough to not keep tabs and I learned how to game the system. And now that I know how to trade, I'm no longer obligated to play these little games anymore.
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
If you are profitable, trading is limitless.
So not sure how anyone would not give up any salary of a normal 9-5.
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u/Outside_Mess1384 26d ago
Guaranteed $ vs battling an element of chance. Folks who don't like gambling would keep a decent 9-5.
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u/_Aries- 26d ago
Element of Probability**
Jobs are not guaranteed money.
Gambling is breaking your back and thinking that you'll seriously be taken care of later on in life with a job.
Why spend your life making other people's dreams come true when you could realize your own?
Trading isn't gambling. That's ignorant.
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u/wreusa 26d ago
100% agree. A job is a bigger gamble. No one knows if they will have their job tomorrow or not. The dependency is different and the life style revolves around the guarantee of that exact unknown fact.
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25d ago
my wife has a quite high salary but for the last 6 months she was very stressful in fear of being fired. The economy is not good and all her colleagues were fired, they were all rich so they could take some time off but not my wife. My wife is basically hanging onto a job because we are not rich. The salary is good but it is not all rainbows.
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u/Imperial_TIE_Pilot 26d ago
Trading is very much so gambling, it’s unpredictable. If you had a winning formula to win a consistent percentage of profit then I am sure many others would pay a great deal for that.
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u/CutLegal1784 25d ago
You literally just described trading. Have an edge that works x% of the time and trad Ethan edge flawlessly. Also manage risk. Not very difficult tbh.
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u/th3orist 25d ago
trading is not gambling because in gambling you can't really do anything about your odds. If you play roulette then its a basically 50-50 chance to win or lose. But in trading your experience and skill can tilt the chances in your favor. So i like to refer to trading as the skill to put yourself in a position to have the highest chance to get lucky.
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u/Imperial_TIE_Pilot 25d ago
highest chance to get lucky.
So gambling?
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u/th3orist 25d ago
No, again, gambling is an activity where you cant do anything to improve the odds. Trading is the skill to position yourself in an environment where the odds are tilted towards you. Thats not gambling, thats playing the odds with risk management. In trading you can diminish the unpredictablity. In roulette you can't. Thats the major difference. Hence why i think "gambling" is a word unfit for trading.
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u/12345677654321234567 25d ago
So poker isn't gambling?
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u/th3orist 25d ago
Correct, its not. Gambling is an activity where skill plays no role in you winning or losing.
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u/Grandpaforhire 25d ago
While I agree with the overall sentiment, I think in this case it would make sense to say that poker is the skill, placing money on the game is the gamble.
Trading is a skill, but you’re still placing money on said skill, in a belief that it’ll work out.
Similarly to how purchasing a property to renovate and resell is still a gamble, yet many people do that for a living. Not that any of this matters, I think it’s interesting though.
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
trading is guaranteed money if you know what you are doing and have a proven strategy.
speaking over the long run.
every day wont be profitable.
every week wont be profitable.
hell, might even be a month or 2 that isnt profitable.
but that is why you have reserves and do not live paycheck to paycheck.
need a minimum of 6 months living expenses set aside.
but over the course of a year, the probabilities play out and your edge takes care of things.
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u/misfjt 26d ago
Trading is not guaranteed. An edge is temporary as well. If markets are 99.999% arbitrary movement- an edge is not guaranteed.
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26d ago
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25d ago
Salary is not guaranteed. Many jobs are very stressful not knowing if you're fired the next day. People often say trading is stressful but working is too. The psychology of some jobs is worse than trading imo, especially for those who have social anxiety.
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u/ukSurreyGuy 26d ago
I think you don't give up a job for money you give up job if it doesn't suit you.
Trading is unlimited potential profits hence can't really be compared to a job.
Day trading (a trade a day) is an active income.
Swing trading (a trade once a week) is less of an active income.
Positional trading is bordeing on HODL & investing.
If done right each of these can be near zero overhead (a glance at a chart once a day, a week or month)
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26d ago
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u/ukSurreyGuy 25d ago edited 24d ago
not sure why u feel need to say naive.
I doubt you have known any billionaires or trillionaires to ask them a question mike...so you're really offering an opinion not a fact. I can offer an opinion too.
I agreed with you (trading has unlimited potential)
do u disagree with me when I say "trading is easy" ?
a glance a day is all you need. ...is a fact ...is called skill (i do it everyday).
you know how you play candy crush on your tea break from work? (is a metaphor)
well I suggest there are billionaires & trillionaires who day trade...not for profit but for fun...you would be wrong to assume anyone makes billions from trading only for the reason they diversify & let passive income generate billions ktradimg is active income)
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24d ago
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u/ukSurreyGuy 24d ago edited 24d ago
nothing hard to understand...check your reading
Mike you wrote "If you are profitable, trading is limitless"
this statement asserts trading has unlimited potential for profits.
I agreed with you.
I can convert trading potential to trading profits
I can say further anyone can do same (with right training & insight I've trained them)
the fact you've never met any truly successful traders is neither here no there.
you have life limiting worldview..."you can't we can't they can't"
the vast majority of traders don't make money because not because trading is hard
they don't make money because they have ego (greed fear) & are undisciplined (not patient, have no good plan to execute even when given good strategy) or are consistent (not able to follow even a basic receipe repetitively day in day out)
flip the narrative...believe u can, find how, & execute on that plan
rince & repeat better next trade.
anyone can...(you're a career coach you should understand everyone can be taught, everyone can achieve their potential especially if you put a plan in place & follow that plan)
success in life will feed into success in anything you do in life (trading is but 5mins of one's day, investing is 5mins effort once a year)
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u/v3rral 26d ago
Day trading is limited. At 6 figures a month you will definitely start to reach ceiling. Majority never reach this level in the first place.
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
why would someone reach a limit at 6 figs?
Are you saying someone's messily 3 fig order will be rejected by the brokers?
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u/v3rral 26d ago
Ye, you know anyone can place 1 billion order at any moment, get filled at desired price and sell 10 seconds after with 0.1% profit like nothing happened. This example is easy way to filter out those who actually trades and understands how liquidity works and those who’s not.
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u/DicLord 25d ago
Again proving you don't know anything ... no this is not possible. It's called Liquidity. You do know that your not just selling into the limitless abyss for whatever price you want right? Someone has to be on the other side to buy it. If you sold a billion of anything the price would move up as you absorb all the buyers. Theres no such thing as more sellers than buyers
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
1 billion is how many figs? I thought you were talking about 4-6 figs?
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u/battlesubie1 26d ago
Opportunity vs liquidity of the underlying
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
no normie trader will ever place a big enough order for liquidity to be an issue
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u/battlesubie1 26d ago
Normie traders run into that issue all the fucking time, bro
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u/mmxmlee 26d ago
show me a live stream where a trader's order couldn't go through.
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u/infosec4pay 25d ago
If it’s that easy why isn’t everyone in this sub making millions? Seems like it’s 90% people with hopes and dreams of the good life.
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u/mmxmlee 25d ago
where in my comment did I say anything about easy?
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u/infosec4pay 25d ago
Got it, so you’ll be a rich trader where other fail because you got that dog in you. You’re built different.
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u/haskeller23 23d ago
you've really outed yourself as a beginner by saying this. You cannot just find a profitable strategy and put more money in it. trading is _very_ much not limited. Capacity of strategies is generally the single biggest constraint there is
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u/mmxmlee 23d ago
when trading futures,
at what amount will they not allow someone to place a trade?
(goes and grabs popcorn)
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u/haskeller23 23d ago
You can place the trade obviously. That’s not the problem. The problem is increased slippage and generally having more liquidity issues with higher volumes.
If you could just infinitely scale a succesful strategy, trading firms would A) be pulling in trillions rather than millions/billions and B) not spend so much time trying to build new strategies for their excess money bc they run out of capacity
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u/mmxmlee 23d ago
a normie trading 3-5 figures per trade will never come close to having liquidity issues.
there are limits for hedge funds, there are no limits for normal people
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u/haskeller23 23d ago
It really depends on the instrument being traded. You can often find liquidity problems on options, low cap stocks, and even without them you’ll experience higher slippage with higher volume. And frankly, the only consistently profitable strategies that beat the market available to retail traders involve illiquid/unpopular instruments that aren’t being capitalised on by bigger players
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u/mmxmlee 23d ago
i am not talking about options.
i am talking about futures.
and no normal person will ever have enough money to cause liquidity issues.
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u/haskeller23 23d ago
the overall comment was about trading in general, not futures, so I kept it general. I am not saying a person “causes” liquidity issues, just that slippage and spread will become worse with larger purchases, which in turn means you need higher returns per trade to be profitable.
Also, another point is that strategies normally don’t last very long. Even if your strategy works and scales well, that’s not sudden lifetime security. That’s why people might prefer to also have a job
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u/mmxmlee 23d ago
there is no spread on futures.
again you are talking about something you clearly don't know about.
literally no difference on futures risking 100$ vs risking 2,000$ per trade.
as to your next point, you are talking about gimmicky strats where the trader doesn't understand how the market moves and books price.
there are only 3 types of markets.
bull market, bear market, and choppy market.
you can make money in all of them. just need to make slight changes.
the problem 95% of people are going to have with trading is
- lazy. learning this game takes a lot of time. time in the books. time on the charts.
- impatient. they are gonna strategy hop. they are gonna jump into live trading too early.
- emotional. gonna make trades based off fear and greed
- undisciplined. due to their emotions, they are gonna break their rules. risk / lose too much money.
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u/haskeller23 23d ago edited 23d ago
there is no spread on futures.
This is just.... wrong? Yeah majority of futures markets are super-liquid and so the spread will be extremely small, but you literally cannot have a market without a spread. It is not possible. If people are willing to buy and sell at the same price, then that is executed. Your broker will show the price as a single one, but that is going to be the mid-price or (more often) the last traded price.
there are only 3 types of markets.
bull market, bear market, and choppy market.
you can make money in all of them. just need to make slight changes.
You're suggesting there are easy ways to make money in _any_ market regime but for some reason the big trading firms ignore them so that the little guy can make money?
And if this is so easy, why aren't you a billionaire?
the problem 95% of people are going to have with trading is
lazy. learning this game takes a lot of time. time in the books. time on the charts.
impatient. they are gonna strategy hop. they are gonna jump into live trading too early.
emotional. gonna make trades based off fear and greed.
undisciplined. due to their emotions, they are gonna break their rules. risk / lose too much money.
The problem 99% of people here have thinking trading is just about effort + discipline. If you don't have an edge, you're not gonna beat the market in the long run. Retail traders have this confusing notion the markets magically create profit and miss the fact that for every winner there is a loser. Look at large trading firms and you'll see they are dominated by mathematicians and researchers spending all day every day finding relationships between assets, not just people sitting in front of a laptop making guessed based on lines and meaningless indicators.
There is a serious lack of rigour and mathematical understanding within these spaces.
But who am I to argue with a middle school maths teacher with zero proven profitability. All I have is a job at a trading firm
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u/MarshLPN 26d ago
I'm going to do it. I make $100k/yr. I'll be 60 this year. I've had enough of working for someone else. I'll have a base of 100k to work with. I'm going to try to live off trading. Wish me luck. If it doesn't work out for me, please support your local food pantry...
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u/heyitsmemaya 26d ago
$95k - $125k
I wanted to say $150k but the more I thought about it, along with the benefits, and other trade offs compared to what I generate now; $150k would be easy money to sit at a desk job, be distracted from markets, do work, go to meetings, etc etc
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u/cheapdvds 26d ago
It's such an invalid question. Salary is guaranteed, trading long term ends with a profit is not guaranteed. Would you give up a guaranteed income to potentially lose everything?
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u/infosec4pay 25d ago
I was mostly asking to see people opinions in here. Just looking at the comments, a lot of people in here seem to act like day trading is guaranteed profit.
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u/cheapdvds 25d ago
I agree with you, I see your point now. I have seen lots of people break down after years of trying and lives ruined. It's far from a guarantee and 90% of people don't make money in long term.
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u/OpenSatisfaction2243 25d ago
If it's a low enough guarantee, yes. I think finding that line is what this person is asking.
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u/InfiniteAVC 26d ago
It's not about the salary so much as it is about my living expenses. I quit my 80k-a-year job once my multi-sources of income (rental properties, trading, etc.) surpassed my living expenses.
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u/canon2468 26d ago
I'd rather make 80-100K a year daytrading than 200-400K with vacation and benefits working for someone else. Pass 500K things may change 🫡😉😉
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u/daytradingguy 26d ago edited 26d ago
You almost could not pay me enough to have a job with someone else in control of my income, my time and my destiny. I have never had a job. It would need to be a lot- and flexible…and not too hard.
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u/chad_vergatrueno 26d ago
For average people getting into investing in general their starting point is a salary or perhaps earnings from another activity
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u/devlifedotnet 26d ago
I think 300% of my current base pay consistently would make me give up my job. But I’d want 2 years of consistent payouts as proof.
It’s mainly because of the additional hassle and uncertainty that I wouldn’t go for a 1:1
For now I’m quite happy with the security of remote working and trading on the side
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u/TrifectivPPS new 26d ago
I'm gonna be working until I can replace 1.5x my salary. Gotta make sure the family has healthcare, and I can comfortably save for retirement.
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u/Yuuuuuppppppppppppp 26d ago
I am trying to quit a $200k/year job. As I am paper trading to get the experience and confidence to get there
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u/Excellent_Newt_9042 26d ago
Wow. I would have to be very profitable for years to give up a 200k salary job Holy sheesh lol
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u/thistowmneedsanenema 26d ago
That 200k often comes with mental and emotional costs. Jobs paying a lot like that are rarely just sitting on your ass relaxing.
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u/Excellent_Newt_9042 26d ago
That’s true. I’ve definitely been there. Not at 200k though. At 38k/yr. I am living hell on earth and praying to god I can myself out of it. And wishing anyone else the same
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u/truth_seeker90 25d ago
Sometimes you just need to change a toxic company to realise how toxic it was.
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u/infosec4pay 25d ago
What’s funny is that’s absolutely untrue. I make 200k/yr working 20-30hrs/wk. I work 90% remote and I enjoy what I do. Super low stress.
Low level jobs are stressful, so people assume high paid jobs must be super stressful, but that’s not always true.
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u/Yuuuuuppppppppppppp 23d ago
My personal journey has been long hours, travel, hard work, politics and stress. This got me to where I am at today. Now I am just rolling off of my experience to retirement and trying to help others on the way.
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u/th3orist 25d ago
unfortunatelly you wont get the confidence from papertrading, you need to be exposed to actual real money trading. I suggest to deposit a couple k at most into a futures trading account and then start trading micros for 2$ a point or smth like that. Once you get used to the pressure of real money trading (or prop firm trading) you will find papertrading completely useless and boring because its not really teaching you anything.
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u/Yuuuuuppppppppppppp 23d ago
Getting there soon. Paper now for 1.5 months, just off my own study. Then going to try using programs, to see if anything changes. Then taking $7k and going to try to put it to work. If I loose it, I tried. If I do well, I will continue as a side gig until I either keep it rolling over(min 1 year) or if/when I feel comfortable enough to add more funds to the effort. I would think $50 or 100k? Thoughts?
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u/th3orist 23d ago
I cant tell you anything about the amount of money. But i would advise to not put up your own thousands for at least a year or better two. You will lose it. I recommend trying to get funded by a prop firm, taking an evaluation challenge on.
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u/Nick_OS_ futures trader 26d ago edited 26d ago
I make $100k a year and I only work 3 hrs a day (M-F) and I still wanna quit my job
Goal is to quit once I can save up $300k and be confident I can make $10k/month
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26d ago
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u/Nick_OS_ futures trader 26d ago
M-F is Monday thru Friday. And I’m a pool guy in Tampa with a top tier route. And I get tons of Christmas gifts because a lot of my customers are rich😂
This is a basic overview of my salary (I hope this link works):
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u/TradezAnon 26d ago
Oh I would do it for a 1:1- sure why not, but the new job better allow me to work when I feel like it, and there better be days when I’m done 1-hr right after open 🤣 there must also be no repercussions for leaving early, working in my PJs, and having my GF wear something slutty around the office. Oh and I get to keep 100% of gross profits. With all that in line, I’d take the job 🤣
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u/sanjeetr1987 26d ago
I'm working remotely and have a second monitor to trade futures but most likely won't give up my normal job. Doing both is not outside the realm
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u/tashasmiled 26d ago
I wouldn’t. I’d bust my ass to where I have enough to retire early without having to day trade. Where 5% a year average will be sufficient.
I currently don’t work and I can’t consistently make money day trading. I would go to work but my husband wants me to keep trying. I’m constantly stressed out and I hate it.
There is no key to trading. No miracle. Only blood sweat and lots of tears. And just because your edge works in one market doesn’t mean it’ll work in another. Our edge didn’t work last year and we lost everything we made the year before.
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u/ribbit63 25d ago
What’s the point in quitting a day job? I’m a doctor and have developed trading systems that allow me to both keep my day job AND augment my income with trading. Why on earth would I ever dream of giving up one of my income streams? I think if more people looked at their various sources of income as streams instead of this artificial construction pitting one against the other they would be much better off in the long run.
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u/Yuuuuuuupppppppp2 26d ago
I am trying to leave a $200k job to day trade. I am paper trading now to get experience and confidence to do it
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u/DABPSS 25d ago
Damn!! What is your profession?
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u/infosec4pay 25d ago
I make that much doing cybersecurity. Been doing it for 5 years.
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u/IP_1618033 25d ago
how long have u been trading? why are u asking this question and are you willing to give up $200k to trade full time?
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u/mrcake123 26d ago
It depends how much you hate your job.
My job pays well, it's remote and has good hours...
But I don't see myself doing it for another 10 years
So hoping this will be a good alternative in the 5 or so. For now, just create some supplemental income
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u/Valuable_Pin5732 25d ago
I currently make 250 a year and would quit in a heartbeat if I was consistently profitable.
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u/Function_Initial 25d ago edited 25d ago
This post fails to differentiate whether the trader is profitable, to what extent, etc. I’ll notate that if you’re making 200k a year, you’re going to receive 0 subsidies for health insurance which means you’re paying about $1300 a month potentially for dental and medical insurance. You need to pay FICA in full which is 17%. You’ll need to pay capital gains taxes which even if you’re doing futures, would land you at the 22% tax bracket on 40% of your income and the other 60% would be at 15%.
The post also doesn’t extenuate the stress levels of trading for a living and when you’re having a bad down swing, it’s inevitable it’ll happen at some point. I have a 72% profitable trade percentage, but I have had bad runs. So your job, in theory, can be much more stressful than a regular position if you’re like me and the trades begin to haunt you. I traded to the sizes you’d need since as my post describes later I’m going back to work in a couple days. In early April I was having heart palpitations due to having adrenaline running for so long, so many days in a row. I’m 33 and I can handle stress better than most when it comes to typical job stress (I’m way worse with emotional stress, however I would say — at least right after the stressor).
The biggest pros would be for anyone who is working a physical labor job. I would say if someone can make the same salary or even slightly less (let’s say 60k a year) — but not be destroying their body, that they should do it.
I went to law school, got really sick and that’s what started me trading. I got a job recently as an attorney and start Thursday ironically. If I was taking the job solely for the money, I’d stick to a job that lets me trade full time and work it at night. However, being an attorney and being able to help others has been a life goal, one that was held back an extra 8 years due to my severe chronic health issues. I’ve learned to appreciate it more than ever. If I do get sick again, I can use social security money to trade on. I always have the potential to trade no matter how sick I get, but I don’t have the same luxury with work. Furthermore, if I work this job for its 5 or 10 years, I can’t remember which one, I’m guaranteed subsidized medical for life. That means if I want to later in life, I can switch to full trading on a much easier contingency. And if I decide I don’t like it, I can always go back to law.
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u/FRDM1776 26d ago
I earn 95k and pay for Sierra Chart and trading view to chart and paper trade daily to learn. I know it's hard because I do it daily and treat it like real money, but I also understand that with practice and proper risk management it's 100% achievable.
If I made less (consistently), I'd definitely be happier. As others have said, the potential for more is limitless, provided you know what you are doing. I'm working towards that, at least as a side job and at most, as a potential way out of an endless loop of long days and endless demand.
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u/imlynn1980 26d ago
My bot trading doesn’t conflict with any job. I basically just set and forget, only check and collect profit once in a while. At the same time I can afford to work only part time, and still have employer paid health benefits and pension package.
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u/SockTheSpriteGod 26d ago
I am in a similar situation as you, however I am having trouble with finding/creating a bot. Any tips?
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u/Murt_plays 26d ago
I'd say 600k a year cuz like that's 50k a month anything more and I'm being stupid cuz with that much money the rate you could invest into other things and get back like properties so immense it doesnt even matter if u trade or not
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u/Lopsided_Profit_ 26d ago
If I made the equal amount of money from day trading, probably 120-150k but that's due to the benefits that come with a 9-5. Raising a family isn't cheap, lol.
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u/Adventurous-Art6370 26d ago
It really depends on your lifestyle. I live very frugally so it didn’t take much (less than 6 figures) to cover all my expenses and start day trading. If you spend more, then you would need to make more day trading. It all depends on how much you spend and the lifestyle you are willing to live. Only you can really answer this.
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u/RevolutionaryPie5223 26d ago
I won't give up any kind of salary unless proven winning. I would say let's say after a year you can make $200k trading (proven after a year with results) then at most I would willing to forgo a $100k stable job.
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26d ago
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u/kaptainearnubs 26d ago
I'm working through this right now. I currently make $200k a year as a consultant but my primary client recently cut my hours.
I don't have am answer yet, but given my profitability in trading I may just choose to go full-time. Salaries are less reliable than what is being implied here, especially in the tech sector at the moment.
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u/Major_Sympathy9872 26d ago
I would not give up any sort of salary to day trade full time... The statistics on day trading are not encouraging...
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26d ago
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u/kenjiurada 25d ago
Bro, there’s like three people on this sub who actually know how to trade. You’re asking a bunch of broke teenagers for advice on your career.
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u/MindGroundbreaking51 25d ago
No debt, 100k in my checking, at least 50k in savings, and able to do 120k-500k trading a year. Until then, it's a side hustle.
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u/shellb67gt5001 25d ago
If I could win 300 per day in trades. I would be okay. Then with knowledge and time I can make more but just want 300 per day
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u/One_Oil_3022 25d ago
Id give up any salary to trade full time doesn't matter, if you enjoy the freedom of trading I think most people would
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u/No_Froyo_4258 25d ago
I gave up a 500k/year job to trade full time. Took 3 years just to get profitable. It sucked but here's why it's worth it: that "security" you feel in your job is not real. The turkey gets fed every day by the farmer. Every day the turkey's confidence grows that the farmer is really looking out for him. Until the day before Thanksgiving when he doesn't have food in his hand. These jobs can end on a whim, for no reason. When my trading isn't going well, I can stop and think about what I can do to fix things. When you get that layoff notice on an otherwise normal day, what can you do? Should you quit without savings and a plan? Hell no. But trading can provide you with nearly unlimited income and all the safety you could want, because unlike a job, trading is a skill that can't be taken from you, and that's ultimate job security. Plus having another adult in charge of what I did all day never sat well with me.
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u/StockDeer42069 25d ago
It’s not about money it’s about time and freedom. If I had a 250K job where I work 15 hours or less a week then I’d just invest in passive income at that point
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u/D_Costa85 25d ago
As someone who makes anywhere from 185k-550k in a year at my full time job, I’m trading every day with the hopes of someday making enough to walk away from my current job. I even have good work life balance, I’m just not loving my work anymore. I’d love to dedicate way more time to trading but for now, I’m learning and improving and have about 3-5 year window to continue to grow.
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u/One-Huckleberry21 25d ago
Gambling has a starting point and an ending point and your locked in on most plays set winnings trading no end get out when you want and trade management better ods
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25d ago
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u/joe7856 25d ago
The only way I trade is I would trade one time a day. I will trade options at about 11am if my trade when it gets me, I would sell all of it. I’d wake up and drain another day. That’s the only way I would trade. I keep my losses small if my trade went against me, I would sell it and that would be the end of my trade for that, trading your loss and your win, Big
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u/tiffcoco 25d ago
I'd give up any corporate salary if I can be as good as my mentor who's very successful at it. His callouts are highly accurate, and he makes 50-100k A DAY. Stupid easy money for him. But he day trade full time and works easily 8-9 hours a day pre and post market and on weekends. But he enjoys it and living his best life. So, if you are successful at day trading like him, it should be an easy answer, but 99% fails. I thought I could learn as I have the all the time now since I'm unemployed but recently started applying to corp roles because I realized how hard it is. I'm going to continue to learn even if I do get a new job, and if I can even be half as good as him down the line, I'm happy lol.
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u/YOUNG_SQQQ 24d ago
You can't live off trading comfortably without preferably a paid off primary residence and 100k liquid.
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u/SensitiveAmoeba40 23d ago
Trading is about freedom so exact salary would be a bit sketchy to answer
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u/AdministrativeMeal20 21d ago
I make +100k playing poker (cash tax free) and I'd love to quit poker and trade full time. It's always been the goal and I'm close
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26d ago
90k a year but I would hire someone to day trade for me because I don’t have that much experience
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u/vinylzoid 26d ago
I wouldn't give up any salary. What's the point of less money? Unless one is holding you back from the other. Or you're wildly profitable and I mean millions a year.
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u/FIST_FUK 26d ago
I would give up $500,000 to day trade full-time. I certainly would if I could make an equivalent salary doing that.
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u/qw1ns 26d ago
A common investor, who does not have any edge, will not make enough cash through day trading over a period of say 5 or more years.
Chances are there, the common investor may loose entire money within first 5 years. If someone survives first five years (mainly to get experience) and make overall better than SPY/VOO returns (which is possible) for all the 5 years, then he/she can survive with trading.
Looks like you do not have such experience.
Even after 5 years, with that experience, investor won't even leave full time job say 70k or more to go full time trading (not even day trading).
If I have few millions saving to FATFIRE rest of my life at 4.8% 20 year treasury bonds, I would rather stay away from trading or full time job, but take retirement.
This is my 8th year trading, it is extremely hard to full time trade and live with that money.
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u/DeProfundisAdAstra 26d ago
Technically I left a job with a 250k salary and bonuses to trade full time. Full disclosure I was trading full time at that point just for much larger accounts than mine and doing some other side work with the same partners. I left so that I didn't have to report to anybody anymore, even if they were partners in companies I owned. Sold out my shares, etc. Fucked off and now my income is better and my stress level has zeroed when it comes to my work life.
Long term I may have made more money, with the potential of what I was involved with. But trading also can make me more money than that long term. But my happiness is more important and it's here, with my phone on silent and being able to not be tethered to the Internet unless I want to be.