Is day trading worth it? What the research on real traders shows
By Karel Moreau, editor of tradingmentorreviews ·
For most people, no. Two of the largest studies of real day traders' accounts found that fewer than 1% in Taiwan could predictably earn a profit after fees, and that 97% of Brazilians who day-traded futures for more than 300 days lost money. Day trading can be worth it as a skill you pay to learn with small, defined losses — rarely as a replacement income. Here is the evidence, and what a mentorship does and does not change.
What the research found
| Study | Market and period | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Barber, Lee, Liu & Odean, The Cross-Section of Speculator Skill | Taiwan, all day traders, 1992–2006 | Less than 1% of day traders predictably and reliably earned positive returns net of fees |
| Chague, De-Losso & Giovannetti, Day Trading for a Living? | Brazil equity futures, everyone who started 2013–2015 | 97% of those who persisted more than 300 days lost money; 1.1% earned more than the minimum wage; 0.5% more than a bank teller's starting salary |
Two things stand out. The samples are complete populations, not surveys, so they cannot be skewed by who chose to respond. And persistence did not rescue people: even among Brazilians who kept going for more than 300 days, 97% lost money.
How much do day traders make?
The honest answer from the evidence is that the typical retail day trader makes a loss. A small minority earn a living, and they are hard to identify in advance — including by themselves. Numbers you see quoted as "average day trader salary" usually describe employed traders at firms, who trade the firm's capital with its infrastructure, not individuals trading their own accounts.
Add the cost of learning
The 49 trading mentorships we track cost a median of $100 per 30 days — about $1,217 a year if you stay subscribed. On a $10,000 account, that is a 12% annual hurdle before the trading itself breaks even. On $2,000 it is more than the account. That arithmetic is the reason small accounts rarely come out ahead with a paid mentor: the fee has to be recovered from trading returns first.
| Account size | Mentorship cost per year (median) | Return needed just to cover it |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $1,217 | 61% |
| $5,000 | $1,217 | 24% |
| $10,000 | $1,217 | 12% |
| $25,000 | $1,217 | 5% |
| $50,000 | $1,217 | 2% |
When day trading can be worth it
- As paid education with a fixed budget. Decide in advance what you are willing to lose learning — subscription plus trading losses — and stop when it is spent.
- When you can measure yourself. Keep a trading journal and judge your own expectancy over 100+ trades, not your best week.
- When the risk per trade is small. See the risk-of-ruin tables: at 1% risk per trade, bad streaks are survivable; at 5% they usually are not.
- When the method is testable. Written rules you could backtest, not a mentor's gut feel.
Red flags when someone says it is worth it
7 of the 49 mentorships we track make income claims in their listing and 2 use language implying guaranteed results — we flag both on every review. Anyone selling day trading as a quick replacement income is contradicting the best evidence available. Our guide to spotting a bad mentorship goes through the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Is day trading worth it?
For most people, not as an income. Studies of complete populations of day traders found fewer than 1% (Taiwan) predictably profitable after fees, and 97% of persistent Brazilian futures day traders losing money.
What percentage of day traders lose money?
In the Brazilian study, 97% of those who day-traded for more than 300 days lost money. In Taiwan, less than 1% were predictably profitable net of fees.
How much do day traders make?
The typical retail day trader loses money. In the Brazilian data only 1.1% of persistent traders earned more than the minimum wage.
Does a trading mentor improve the odds?
There is no evidence either way that it does on average, and it adds cost: the median mentorship we track is $100 per 30 days, about $1,217 a year.
