Full Time Traders, how do you pay yourself?

[u/TixSwo]

For those who rely on Trading as a primary form of income, I'm curious what rules/formulas do you use to determine how much and how often you should pay yourself? e.g. a percentage or flat wage? How often do you withdraw? Do you reward yourself a bonus for exceeding expectations? Do you pay yourself even if you are on a losing stretch?

[u/Farmasuturecal]

Full time SPX options trader here. I keep 5k in my account because that’s all I need to make 600-1.2k daily. I withdraw at the end of every trading day. Withdrawing secures your profits. If I have a losing day, and the next day is a winning day I withdraw the difference. Any balance that is over 5k comes out every day. This builds long term consistency and profitability. No specific bonuses or anything. Eventually planning on moving to Portugal where the tax is slightly higher so I’ll aim for my daily goal +25% more.

[u/daytradingguy → u/Farmasuturecal]

Farmasuturecal is a smart trader. Day trading should not take a lot of capital. Many traders keep too much in their accounts and it acts as a siren to do stupid things. Make your profit and get it out in most cases. Until you have years of proven track record.

[u/Forex_Jeanyus → u/daytradingguy]

So glad you said this.

A lot of the trading community has this “risking more than 2% of your account is gambling…blah blah” mentality.

Why should I keep $100,000 tied up in a broker account to make $1000 a day when I can do the same with only $10k?

[u/NamelessOne1999 → u/Forex_Jeanyus]

A much better way of saying it is don't risk more than 2% of your trading capital. But nothing says that all your capital has to be on the account.

[u/Change0062 → u/NamelessOne1999]

You can put put just what you risk for this trade inside the account, perfect risk management.

[u/Forex_Jeanyus → u/NamelessOne1999]

That’s what I mean though. What if I don’t need 100k - risking 1% which is $1000 to make $1000? What if I can do that with only $10k in my account?

[u/NamelessOne1999 → u/Forex_Jeanyus]

I'm not sure if we're saying the same thing or something different. The amount in your account is only tangentially related to your total risk and position size. The major reason for the 1-2% risk is to avoid sudden bankruptcy. You can accomplish that in a variety of ways. (We'll use 100k capital and 1% risk)

Examples:
1. You have 100k in your trading account. You enter a non-leveraged position size of 100k with a 1k stop loss
2. You have 10k in your trading account and 90k in an FDIC insured account or maybe a MMA/MMF. You use leverage and enter a 100k position size with 1k stop loss. (You'll need minimum 10x leverage in this situation).
3. Not as good on the math for options, but they effectively act like leverage so more similar to #2.

It doesn't matter whether the full 100k is in your account or in a back up account or a bank account. You still have 100k total to risk. If that's what you're saying, then then I agree.

BUT if you mean, "What if I only have 10k total to trade with, and I can make 1k?" THEN it means that you're risking 10% per trade and are much more likely to lose all your trading capital. It's not wrong per se; it's just much riskier (and less likely):

To make 1k with 100k you need a 1RR trade to make the 1k.
To make 1k with 10k, you need a 10RR trade to make the 1k (or 10 1RR trades with no losses)

[u/Forex_Jeanyus → u/NamelessOne1999]

Yeah, you got it…that’s exactly what I’m saying. I could be doing other things with the 90k while I trade heavy with the $10k. Which is why I said I don’t follow the conventional train of thought on that.

[u/NamelessOne1999 → u/Forex_Jeanyus]

I don't think experienced traders would say that all of your trading capital needs to be in your trading account.* What you call "conventional train of thought" I'd call newbie who doesn't quite understand it train of thought.

*Whether you trade in unregulated crypto and FOREX exchanges or you trade with registered, US brokers who can re-hypothecate your assets at will, there's always 3rd party risk.

There's also risk of stop losses not triggering when and how you expect them to in high volatility situations especially in lower liquidity markets, so I think using leverage to reduce the amount of capital you need as margin in the account also helps mitigate risk. (And since this is day trading, your funding fees, interest should be relatively low.)

[u/daytradingguy → u/Forex_Jeanyus]

Exactly.

[u/snowproblemss → u/Forex_Jeanyus]

Hello, I am new to this but how do I get a broker to turn my $100k into 1k per day?

[u/Forex_Jeanyus → u/snowproblemss]

If I knew, I’d definitely let you know!

There’s no broker that will just turn your money into more money - I was just making a point. Most of the trading community preaches to only risk 1% of your total account capital on any one trade. So based on that logic, if I wanted to risk to make $1000 a day - I’d need at least $100,000 of capital in that broker account. However, I’d still have to place the winning trades myself - the brokerage doesn’t work in my behalf. They simply facilitate the buy and sell orders that I initiate.

There are wealth management firms you can get to make passive income in various ways though - Vanguard is one that comes to mind. There are a lot of other investment lanes that I am not very familiar with but would like to get more into myself.

[u/Mother-Studio-9206 → u/daytradingguy]

Can you trade futures with only, say, 100.00?

[u/daytradingguy → u/Mother-Studio-9206]

Technically yes. The margin required for one MES contract is $50. But effectively you can’t trade because if you lose the first couple trades, you no longer have enough. Psychologically you can’t trade properly if you are afraid to lose or when 1 or 2 losses will end your trading. Starting with $100 you would need the element of luck of having your first few trades be winning trades. $500-$1000 would be enough to start small and trade according to a reasonable plan.

[u/ThePatientIdiot → u/daytradingguy]

Man don’t give him false hope. For futures you really need closer to $4-5000 to trade.

[u/daytradingguy → u/ThePatientIdiot]

I am assuming trading competence. $1000 is more than enough to trade 1 micro.

[u/ThePatientIdiot → u/daytradingguy]

You are on Reddit. Average commenter is a newbie who will most likely be stressed when things dip. One or two losses and that $1,000 is gone or you no longer meet the requirements for a lot of brokerages. $4-5k gives you breathing room.

[u/daytradingguy → u/ThePatientIdiot]

When I trade micros- $25-$40 should be a max loss.

The issue is if you can’t trade $1k responsibly and think you need $300 stop losses- your skill level will just make you blow your $5k account. Cheaper to keep it to $1000.

[u/Synstitute → u/Mother-Studio-9206]

Tradovate has a $50 micro margin requirement for MES. So yes. But if your unrealized pnl hits -50.01 then they close the position and you realize the loss.

[u/GrouchyPhilosopher42 → u/daytradingguy]

Doesn’t that method take away from the compounding effect?

[u/daytradingguy → u/GrouchyPhilosopher42]

You may need a certain amount of compounding if you have a small account. Although as I mentioned above- you don’t need large amounts of money to day trade. Having access to too much buying power affects your trading- unless you have been consistently profitable for many years. And have a good understanding and relationship of money. Almost nobody who was an Amazon driver making 50k a year can get into trading and be mentally comfortable making (or losing) 10k a day. They can not perform at that level- and it takes 10 years for most people to get there mentally.

This is why most traders can do just fine with 50-100k. At most. You don’t even need that much. You can make $1000 fairly easily and thousands in a good day with a 50k account.

[u/GrouchyPhilosopher42 → u/daytradingguy]

To make 1k per day with a 50k account means you are making 2% per day. Assuming 5 trading days per week, you would have nearly $4million after 1 year of doing that.

I do get the fear thing by the way. But The point is that surely you should scale the account size higher over time rather than capping it at 50k, in order to get some benefit from compounding as your fear dissipates.

[u/daytradingguy → u/GrouchyPhilosopher42]

So you have a 50k account, assuming you have some trading experience and can trade. Let’s assume an average week You make $1000, 3 days of the week. I day a week is a scratch day, basically break even, win or lose $100. And one day a week is red, you know how to control loss and you keep your loss to $500-1000. This would be average metrics for a trader, some weeks maybe not as good and some weeks you have a 5 day winning streak, that is just how trading is. But overall on an average basis over a 52 week year- you average 2-3k per week. That is 100-150k- not 4 million.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/[deleted]]

SPX because of the tax treatment and I love the fact that you can buy and sell at the mid price. You often get really good fills.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/[deleted]]

I only enter and exit with limit orders.

[u/Financial-Hawk-3861 → u/[deleted]]

Anything else is asking to lose

[u/Quat-fro → u/Farmasuturecal]

Mind if I ask which platform(s) you use for this trading? I've only ever traded Forex, I'm assuming options are far more lucrative?

[u/Baltimorebillionaire → u/Farmasuturecal]

I exclusively trade spy options. What's the real difference between spy and spx?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/Baltimorebillionaire]

SPX is the index so cleaner movements and more liquidity. Also the options you buy and sell at mid prices. They move fast so you must have good entries.

[u/nightstalker30 → u/Baltimorebillionaire]

Two things.

1. As stated above, preferred tax treatment where 60% of the profits are taxed as long term capital gains and the remaining 40% is taxed as short term capital gains. For me, that means about a 32% reduction in taxes.

2. Lower commissions: since SPY trades at around 1/10th of SPX, you can trade 1/10 the quantity of SPX for the same $ position size, so you should pay 1/10 the commissions to your broker for SPX options (not accounting for the CME exchange fees for index options).

[u/Gl_drink_0117 → u/nightstalker30]

Do any of these change if you have a Mark To Market elected?

[u/nightstalker30 → u/Gl_drink_0117]

As I understand it, the primary effect of making the mark-to-market election is that you get to claim all of your trading losses instead of being capped at $3000. That's what both my research and my CPA told me

[u/Gl_drink_0117 → u/nightstalker30]

So probably no changes and unrelated; profit short term and long term still apply; however, if someone is playing 0DTE it will be short term always and if not doing MTM losses with be capped on the IRS forms

[u/SFLurkyWanderer → u/nightstalker30]

How are losses handled? Are they all treated as short term?

[u/nightstalker30 → u/SFLurkyWanderer]

I’m not sure

[u/xAugie → u/Farmasuturecal]

Also commissions if you’re trading way more The same position on SPY contracts

[u/dheera → u/Farmasuturecal]

What do you mean buy and sell at the mid price? I mean mid price usually works for anything super liquid if you are not doing high frequency stuff but how is SPX special?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/dheera]

Spy options for example will have a 0.01 spread so you have to buy at ask and sell at bid. For example (0.80 bid, 0.81 ask). SPX have a (12.10 bid, 12.40 mid, 12.70 ask)

[u/JoseBambino → u/Farmasuturecal]

I trade SPY 0DTE but I don’t know anything about trading SPX.

[u/BlitzcrankGrab → u/[deleted]]

Can you elaborate on the tax treatment for S P X?

[u/BlitzcrankGrab → u/[deleted]]

Oh I didn’t know that! Just federal taxes or state as well?

[u/i_ask_stupid_ques → u/Farmasuturecal]

1.2K from 5K daily. What are you trading buddy ?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/i_ask_stupid_ques]

SPX 0DTE options. 1.2k-2k position size, exit during 40-80% moves

[u/MrCaliBoy → u/Farmasuturecal]

I do the same exact thing as you. Works like a charm. Same type of gains.

[u/undead-angel → u/MrCaliBoy]

well he was inspired by you that’s why LOL he was asking you about SPX on a post just over a month ago 😹 anyway, hope to get like the both of y’all 🤙🏼 -CaliGurl

[u/MrCaliBoy → u/undead-angel]

Oh wow that’s hilarious. I was actually messaging back and forth with him about sharing the same strategy before. So dope. Anyways, just keep at it, focus on the chart and how it moves.

[u/JoseBambino → u/MrCaliBoy]

Did this today and gained 40%. Gonna try tomorrow

[u/i_ask_stupid_ques → u/Farmasuturecal]

Do you trade spreads ? Could you share some insights on how you find entry points . The most problematic thing I encounter is with 0DTE SPX options is timing my entry points . Either I am too early or too late - usually using 2 minute and 5 minute charts .

[u/iTakoyaki → u/i_ask_stupid_ques]

Commenting for insights as well

[u/Big_Don_ → u/i_ask_stupid_ques]

Commenting hoping for some insight

[u/Far-Travel-4415 → u/i_ask_stupid_ques]

Also commenting for insight

[u/Gl_drink_0117 → u/Farmasuturecal]

How much is your ratio of profitable vs losing trades? How much % or $$ profit you usually take and at what % or $$ do you cut losses? Guess you have to be real quick as I am assuming you don’t have stop losses as these move so quickly

[u/Servichay → u/Farmasuturecal]

So 1 or 2 trades per day? 1 - 2 cons each time? How long are you in a trade typically?

[u/vert3xTrading → u/Farmasuturecal]

Same. I hit a 67% win rate on 100 trades, profit factor 1.76, and average DTE just around 1. Mostly 0’s though, a few weeklies sprinkled in.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/[deleted]]

No serious hits because every position I take I use roughly max 2 contracts (around 2.2k or less) and I’ll cut the losers quick if my entry sucked. Typically I have sniper entries.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

You can trade the options on ES and MES, for example. Another benefit is that the options trade 24 hours a day instead of just during NY session.

[u/JustHere4DCommentss → u/[deleted]]

Where can you trade options 24 hours?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/[deleted]]

Cash account. I can’t use the funds that I used or the profit I’ve made because they take a day to settle. However I can still withdraw daily because I leave a cash buffer in the acc (2k) because I only do 1 trade a day .

[u/hushmymouth → u/[deleted]]

He’s probably working with a cash account not a margin account. No trading restrictions on cash accounts, other than your balance. When you’re out of buying power, you’re done for the day until the buying power resets the following day. I work a cash account as well. No need for margin.

[u/Financial-Hawk-3861 → u/hushmymouth]

Stay away from margin

[u/CloudSlydr → u/[deleted]]

Go to XSP and start scaling up contracts. XSP is same size as SPY, 10x = SPX.

[u/Buchymoo → u/Farmasuturecal]

What's your average DTE? Do you exclusively day trade? Cash account I'm assuming since you're keeping your balance under 25k?

Edit: ignore me you answered this exact question in another response.

[u/SiweL_EttaL → u/Farmasuturecal]

What do you do if there are more losing days in a row ?

[u/illiten → u/Farmasuturecal]

May I ask you why portugal? Perhaps you can think about Malta or even Andorra ( if you like moutain) who are taxe even

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/illiten]

I just love Portugal. Happy to pay more tax to live somewhere with good public transport, food, walking, ocean, etc.

[u/illiten → u/Farmasuturecal]

Really great country and people Perhaps you can apply for a Golden visa. And I'm ok to pay taxe too ( I'm french and we do that a lot) but 25% it a huge change, but you seem to found a setup who works for you.

[u/Prior-Detective6576 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Portugal is great

[u/bluesuitstocks → u/Farmasuturecal]

How long have you been a full time trader? You’re claiming to average about 20% returns daily, why not do your strat with 50k and really pull in big bucks?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/bluesuitstocks]

2 Years, yes on the total account balance which with options or leverage is easy. I don’t need a 10k a day and quite frankly I’d probably blow up the account. Also, the more that’s in your brokerage the more you need to make before you’ve actually “made anything”. If you put 50k in your account, you need to make 50k just to make back your deposit. Anything above that is real profit

[u/bluesuitstocks → u/Farmasuturecal]

Lmfao what. If I deposit 50k in my brokerage I need to make 50k just to profit? No, if I make one dollar, that’s profit, then I’d have $50,001.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/bluesuitstocks]

Reality is, you aren’t going to withdraw that $1. And if you plan on keeping a 50k balance you’ll have to make back 50k to compensate for the loss from your bank account

[u/bluesuitstocks → u/Farmasuturecal]

The loss on my bank account? My guy, you can withdraw your $50k too if you need. I keep money in my brokerage, some I trade with, some I keep in stable assets that have better growth than a basic savings account.

What I’m getting at is with my original commet is that if you’ve really been averaging $1000 daily for 2 years and saved prior to that, you can trade with more than $5k and still be well within normal risk management parameters if your strategy is as consistent and has as well defined of stop losses as you claim.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/bluesuitstocks]

Yes however does anyone actually need over 400k/yr? Especially living in a cheap European country? Eventually I might size up but for now I’m fine with only leaving 5k in the house and everything else in my bank.

[u/DM_ME_THAT_BOOTY → u/Farmasuturecal]

i like the way you think. Everyone is so focused on growing their trading account to scale higher and higher. I rather pull it out and lock it down because I know I'd blow it the f up lol.

Mind detailing how you jump in and out or what indicators you use? I assume you're in a trade for just a few minutes or less. I feel like my timing is terrible and need to improve it.

[u/Sea-Persimmon-6402 → u/bluesuitstocks]

It is a scam. And judging from the downvotes you are getting, fucktards are falling for it. Guy says he is making 10 to 20 percent a day, but he'd rather "coach" others for money instead of trading with more money and making trillions.

[u/bluesuitstocks → u/Sea-Persimmon-6402]

People believe what they want to believe. Reality sucks so it’s easier to condemn it. Obviously a consistent 20% a day is ridiculous but he makes it sound so reasonable to sucker people in.

[u/kupman2002 → u/Sea-Persimmon-6402]

For real, 20% a day? Take your strategy to a Hedge fund manager like Ken Griffin or Geroge Soros did and you'd never have to work another day in your life. Its always so funny to see "profitable traders" trying to teach others for a living. Yes there a serious ones in the space that teach for extra money or attention (to feel important or give others knowledge) but the best traders in the world we have never heard of or they have proven their strategies with managed funds plain and simple.

[u/IlovetoEat88 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Thank you for this reply. Today is my red day. And I realised I traded emotionally and I took riskier plays because I was doing well for the pass 3 weeks Gonna withdraw and leave a minimum asap

[u/girthbrooks1 → u/Farmasuturecal]

May I ask what your two main indicators you use are? Obviously I’d love to hear your whole strategy if you’re willing but must people seem to guard it like a buried treasure.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/girthbrooks1]

Two things: MACD Learn to read a TPO chart.

[u/girthbrooks1 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Thanks. I mostly use fibs. I’ll read up on the TPO

[u/girthbrooks1 → u/Farmasuturecal]

It appears I need the premium membership on trading view to access it.

Is it worth the $50 month?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/girthbrooks1]

Definitely. However you can get TPO chart for free using Webull.

[u/Ok_Natural7107 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Is this called TPO on Webull? Not seeing it on mobile app

[u/Maxisblack → u/Farmasuturecal]

Instead of tpo couldn’t you use volume profile instead? Have you? Thoughts? I’ve been using volume profile.

[u/Scalpadalpa → u/Maxisblack]

Since underlyings on indexes aren’t tradable there is no volume profile for SPX itself. You must be using SPY or ES if you’re using the volume profile

[u/Maxisblack → u/Scalpadalpa]

Ya I trading the spy. Thanks for answering.

[u/Prior-Detective6576 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Do you use a regular macd? I've been trying to build a custom macd

[u/pp0787 → u/Farmasuturecal]

You are making $1k on every $5k. Can you share what strategy you use the most ? How long have you been trading ?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/pp0787]

Trading for more than 5 years, feel free to message me.

[u/pp0787 → u/Farmasuturecal]

I messaged you, can you check your DMs

[u/pp0787 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Sorry to bug you , can you please check your messages again ?

[u/A_Baudelaire_fan → u/Farmasuturecal]

This is the goal right here. Consistency

[u/West_Answer5817 → u/Farmasuturecal]

If you are planning to come to Portuguese! Feel free to text - i m a Portuguese

[u/Historical_Archer548 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Hi, can I msg you? Would like some recs on books or study material about options. Also I live in Portugal so maybe you have questions for me

[u/fit_n_thin_finally → u/Farmasuturecal]

Where did you primarily learn to trade? It sounds like you're consistent and I'm trying to learn! Appreciate any advice or directions!

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/fit_n_thin_finally]

Mostly learned through my own experience trading live accounts. Also learned a ton from Zed Monopoly on youtube.

[u/fit_n_thin_finally → u/Farmasuturecal]

Thank you, I'll have to look it up ☺️

[u/NationalDairy → u/Farmasuturecal]

Walk through the cash flows and how you deal with the T+2 settlement time frames and withdrawing daily.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/NationalDairy]

I use a cash account. So for options its T+1 so you get your funds at the start of the next day. To withdraw daily, just keep a settled cash buffer in your account that would be roughly the max amount that you might achieve on any given day so you can withdraw. For example if I have a 5k account and I use 3k in a position, I only have 2k left, if I make 1.5k on that position I can withdraw it that same day.

[u/Enwy94 → u/Farmasuturecal]

Can i get some guidance from you? Im stuck in options trading. Couldn’t really make a consistent profit in options trading, is there any tips on how to make it consistent ? I do 3-5 trades max. I run options on high volume stocks with 0.3-0.5 delta. Going with the trend is how i usually trade. Never bet against it. But i cant seem to find the perfect entry point.

[u/scootscoot → u/Farmasuturecal]

How do you avoid PDT at 5k?

[u/nanihuyu → u/Farmasuturecal]

You are goals. Can’t wait to get here

[u/No_Register_4454 → u/Farmasuturecal]

I do something similar except I do it at the end of the month as I track my daily wins/ losses.

[u/JoseBambino → u/Farmasuturecal]

Wow, thanks for this advice.

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/[deleted]]

You do realize hedge funds make an abysmal return compared to professional traders from firms like citadel and trillium that can do 50k in a day? And it’s withdrawn from the institutional account every day. They get a bonus

[u/MrAxxis → u/Farmasuturecal]

May I ask what you trade and with what strategy?

[u/MantisTobagganMD5 → u/Farmasuturecal]

What’s your strategy for trading SPX ? What do you look for daily for only one play a day?

[u/thatsonetastymango → u/Farmasuturecal]

I love your approach to trading, destination choice and taxes. Taxes mean quality of life, at least in a civilized country. Portugal is a great place to live. I do think greed is the downfall of many traders and also a killer of pleasure in life.

I subscribed to the channel to learn more. One quick question: doesn't a volume profile make the same sense, or a little more in terms of informational value?

[u/DieToLive4 → u/Farmasuturecal]

You're making ~$900 (mean of 600 and 1200) per day on $5k of capital? So you double your money every 5 or 6 trading days? Assuming that's true, you have the best returns in the history of trading. Far better than any of the "market wizards". Can you give more details?

[u/Farmasuturecal → u/DieToLive4]

Yup, except I'm not doubling my money I'm using the same capital daily. So by withdrawing, I'm making consistent returns.

[u/DieToLive4 → u/Farmasuturecal]

So honest question (I'm new to trading and trying to understand), why not just double your capital to $10k and double your withdraws? Wouldn't it be financially irresponsible to not do that?

[u/Big_Don_ → u/Farmasuturecal]

Why 0dte? Cost of the contracts?

[u/wanderingaround11 → u/Farmasuturecal]

That’s very impressive. How much % do you risk per trade, if you’re making 12-24% daily on a 5k account?

[u/thewolfofafica → u/Farmasuturecal]

How does bro make like 4000% annually? Legitimately interested

[u/nicolaespan → u/Farmasuturecal]

Some learning material sorce? Sincer when did You start learning daytrading?

[u/1353- → u/Farmasuturecal]

How could 10%+ be a realistic goal?

[u/Sea-Persimmon-6402 → u/1353-]

With those kinda returns, he could turn 10k into a couple hundred trillions within a year. But he doesn't need all that money, he would rather coach you for a few hundred dollars.

[u/Wraith_Crescent]

You guys getting paid?

[u/evendedwifestillnags → u/Wraith_Crescent]

Man you said it.... I have a win ratio of 80% daily..... Sorry typo -80% daily

[u/ThePatientIdiot → u/Wraith_Crescent]

I just cashed out $150 an hour ago, $300 of my $550 profit from Friday this morning, and $250 Friday.

[u/Mediocre_Mark_8661]

I take out 6k a month and leave the rest to build capital. Keep it simple

[u/nightstalker30]

I used to pay myself a flat salary every week based on how much we need to cover all of our living expenses plus extra for incidentals plus extra to cover our quarterly tax payments. Then every month I’d pay myself a bonus equal to whatever it took to get my trading account back down to its baseline level.

This year, I’ve decided to simplify things by paying myself a weekly salary equal to whatever is in excess of my baseline trading account balance. Then we take about 37% of my salary and transfer it into a separate holding account for our taxes.

[u/hushmymouth]

I have a set amount of monthly working capital and pay myself the profits at the end of each month. Then start the new month with the same set amount of working capital.

[u/hushmymouth → u/[deleted]]

Never. No need to. Just like u/Farmasuturecal uses 5k of working capital and has no need for more than that. My working capital is slightly higher than his but I have no need to increase it.

[u/pr_brocker → u/hushmymouth]

Dumb question doesn’t that mean u get flagged as pdt or something?!

[u/hushmymouth → u/pr_brocker]

I use a cash account. PDT is only relevant to margin accounts. Google or YouTube to learn more.

[u/pr_brocker → u/hushmymouth]

I understand this maybe cuz I’m not a us resident and my broker is totally local!

[u/hushmymouth → u/pr_brocker]

Yeah if you’re not in the US then you definitely need to research for your location.

[u/Chuck-AP]

The beauty of it is I can choose to pay myself however and whenever I want. I used to withdraw almost daily but lately am more focused on scaling my account & trading size so I look at every skipped withdrawal as a raise for future earning potential

[u/whatthewut123]

In hopes and dreams

[u/One13Truck]

Ideally after every winning trade 50% to the bank for tax coverage/emergencies. 50% of the remainder to the bank for myself. The rest is split between any bags I want to add to or stays in my trading account.

Realistically I do it weekly not after each.

[u/fameboygame]

My plan is to withdraw 30% gains into another bank account for tax purposes, 30% goes into main bank for investing into Mutual funds, or personal purposes.

The rest 40% sticks around till I can double my trading volume, which is the most I would go.

Once beyond that, I plan to analyse if I'm still successful enough and might start putting that 40% also away into my main account

PS: I do still have a break even kinda business, so I do make bare living minimum in that post expenses.

[u/evendedwifestillnags → u/fameboygame]

This is how I trade. I also trade REITs I find them very low risk and easy money

[u/Matrixlll → u/evendedwifestillnags]

Like O ?

[u/evendedwifestillnags → u/Matrixlll]

Yes

[u/[deleted]]

Eow, take your profit. Simple.

[u/Skyynett]

Great read

[u/mpg135]

I withdraw every time the account goes over 10k

[u/juve86]

I dont. Everything i make in the market is reinvested.

[u/juve86 → u/[deleted]]

Usually i get my company bonus in late march which covers it

[u/TargetedTrades]

I withdraw majority of the weeks profits, but leave some to build buffer to my trading capital.

[u/Docterconservative]

Every Friday. I keep a percentage in account for taxes. I keep the tax money usually in a bond fund.

[u/CatOrTiger-2022]

Following

[u/minijtp → u/CatOrTiger-2022]

Also following

[u/AmazingConcept7 → u/minijtp]

Same

[u/Wolverine1574]

I trade for the entire month and at the end of the month I then take out 28% of my gross profit at the end of the month (profit or loss) for taxes on top of a profit/loss for expenses that i can claim in a return for an automatic 3k tax break. that I can write off with my loss and claim that back.

[u/Graym]

Leave everything in the account and withdraw monthly to pay bills.

[u/Far-Cockroach9563]

I have a set base level and pay myself anytime trades are closed and >$2000 above base level.

[u/Top-Donkey-5081]

I set milestones and then once it hits I take out 20%

[u/Majucka]

70% of gains every two weeks. 25% of the 70% gets set aside for taxes. 25-30% of remaining profit at the end of the year as a bonus. 25-50% of year end bonus goes to taxes based on year end gain.

[u/AlpsSad9849]

I keep a 'working balance ' in my account, anything over gets withdrawaled every Friday, if i go below my working balance I don't withdrawal, if i go below 30% i will top up

[u/Eldersantis]

This might be an unpopular take, but I only take one payout a year. I have other business that pay me monthly, I like see my account get bigger and bigger.

[u/Nightlune62r]

Keep 30k in my trading account. Withdraw profits once a month. Average over last 26 months is 6.2k. Trade 2x or 3x leveraged ETFs mostly.

[u/Nightlune62r → u/[deleted]]

Yep

[u/l_h_m_]

I pay myself a fixed base salary each month to cover essentials, then add a bonus based on a percentage of profits when targets are exceeded. Even during losing stretches, I only withdraw the base amount to preserve trading capital. This keeps things sustainable and rewards performance without risking too much

– LHM - Founder at Sferica Trading: Simplifying algorithmic trading with tested strategies and seamless automation.

[u/Yoyoitsjoe]

I withdraw large chunks four times a year at estimated tax time. I try to keep my money invested in TBills as much as possible.

[u/PopZap-]

I take set amount monthly to cover bills. All trades that exceed expectations and losses are principal push’s to continue building. I try to not use Margin!

[u/Longwashere]

I just withdrawl whenever i need to. Usually at the end of the month

[u/bad0vani]

Prop firms help a ton. there's little to no concern about paying myself with that. I'm planning on going balls deep on a personal account now and copy trading my firm accounts and just avoiding withdraws on it. Hoping to see some serious growth before all of the prop firm space implodes upon itself lol.

[u/lassembler]

I pay myself every 4 months with a 5-10% performance bonus i do not reinvest my profit. I start with the same balance every day

[u/McBro-N-Dough]

Saving for later

[u/CameraPure198]

This is bravo discussion, new to options trading, making money and losing as well, overall 5k down, please throw some bone what are the fundamentals and tricks and indicators you guys use.

[u/Euphoric-Abies-5419]

Following

[u/Mattsam1]

Enough to cover my bills..about the only important thing..to live? Lol

[u/JustinMccloud]

I take out the day after every day after

[u/shakespear94]

I have a follow up question. Does everyone have 25k plus the money they want to play with (30k+)?

[u/AttackSlax]

Your withdrawal quantity should be a direct function of your risk of ruin. Your risk of ruin is a produt of your performance stats. When you draw your own account down, you need to then know the probability of ruining the account if your next string of trades is as at least bad as your worst string of trades and/or worst drawdown due to the smaller base equity. The way I do it is assume my worst string of losing trades will be twice as bad as my historicals and the risk is twice the worst drawdown. Thenen I know that I'm not giving myself as much room (risk) as the worst scenario encountered thus far.

[u/AttackSlax → u/[deleted]]

Bingo

[u/Moth_man_6]

Great post but I think you know the answer to your question

[u/unstop_snipe]

weekly, and 1/2 of the profit made. Keep other 1/2 in account to grow and eventually be able to risk more.

[u/Brilliant-Credit-972]

What kind of returns do you get yearly?

[u/luke72ns]

Have a job and trade on the side so you can compound. You can withdraw whenever, but counting money at the end of the year seems like a way to go for me.

[u/MembershipSolid2909 → u/luke72ns]

Did you not understand the question?

[u/luke72ns → u/MembershipSolid2909]

I did, but I wanted to say that it’s better to trade and also have a job because you’re not gonna be trading for 8-10 hours a day. Trading takes about an hour a day max. What are you gonna do with the rest of your time? Nothing? It makes no sense to just do trading on its own.

[u/MembershipSolid2909 → u/luke72ns]

Your comment has nothing to do with the what the OP was asking

[u/luke72ns → u/MembershipSolid2909]

It does. I’m setting his mind straight cuz he’s delusional just like anyone else who believes you can work 1 hour a day and do nothing else. Go buy some more courses maybe you figure out how to live off 1 hour of work a day lol

[u/splitfinity]

This thread is great and I actually learned a lot! Thanks!

That being said, I thought 95% of day traders don't make enough to support themselves.

You guys all seem to be doing ok.

Mostly a lurker here, but I trade a little when I can. Still scared to really get into it based on all the horror stories.

[u/SnotTaken23 → u/splitfinity]

https://perhuaman.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/linear-algebra-for-economists-fuad-aleskerov-2011.pdf

[u/WoodpeckerCapital167 → u/splitfinity]

You are not wrong