What's a realistic annual return for a professional trader?

What would be a realistic annual return for a professional trader? (in percentage)

I ask this because there are a ton of sites where you can find the same things:

Technical Analysis (Bollinger Bands, Moving Averages, Fibonacci, etc.)
Money Management (what is the Risk: Reward, investing 2% of capital, etc.)
Psychology (mental attitude, zen, self-discipline, etc.)
Some mention of Fundamental Analysis

But anyone who publishes an example of annual yield.

So I decided to open a poll trying to put more percentages options

20% ~ 80%

You may vote again for the poll?
I realized just now that I haven't selected the option of "allow multiple choice"
I deleted it and recreated a new poll
Thanks

The more % he has the more risk he goes into , so I think he as a professional trader will not go into a big risk so It would be like %10-%25 . At the same time being professional means he has built a large capital therefore the %10-%25 can mean any number in 5 or 6 figures .

You forgot to include a loss option.

A money manager will make 25% or so....two reasons, they are trading huge sums of money and they can't get into a super large trade as fast as you or me..2nd, they can't get out as fast either....which means they leverage in and leverage out......now, a professional trader to me is someone that does it for a living....easily a 100k account can and will double every year in the right hands and without excessive risk....... I am up 61% in my live account since Jan 1st, a chunk of that is because I saw the SNB action coming....41% profit in closed trades in Jan, and just closed the book on Feb at 16%......not every month will do that, especially aug, sept, and Dec......IF I trade those months at all, I am trading for small in and out profits. thus, I have the same problems those months as money managers...unless I enter a trade full in, balls to the wall. I don't have time to leverage myself into a trade to full exposure...hope this helps answer the question. Good luck trading.......

That question is not at all important for trading success. It really depends on the trader, the methods, the plans, the execution of those plans, the instruments, the volume that he trades, the risk that he finds acceptable to take and many many other factors... Do you really think there is a typical annual return for professional traders? And all of them are the same - typical traders? There is no limit, no defined boundaries, everyone is trying his/her best. % gains are measured in relation to the risk that has been taken. Trader A can make 50% this year with less than 1% chance that he will blow the account, at the same time trader B has made 1000%, but had a 60% chance of blowing the damn thing. yet he survived and is considered to be more profitable than the other trader, is he better? So which one is the professional? You decide.
Everything is realistic when you know how to do it and very unrealistic when you don't have knowledge.

The keywords are realistic and professional trader. 1 to 2.5% rather u put it in bank or invest in other products than be a trader.

Anove 300% is not realistic, though can be done.

Large fund professional traders yield from 20% to a maximum of 80%. This is not the case, as many before me posted above, with an individual trader; in this case it ranges from 10-20% / month to 300-500% / month depending on many things and relative to the trader; if it's a scalper with a good MM and strategy or if it's long term wit ha medium strategy, depending on the loss size and whatnot. Rarely someone achieves more than 150% / month but there are traders that in a good month earn even 500%, of course depending on the risk and traded lot sizes.

It depends at account size , if someone have a 500000 dollars 50% is enough or even 20% for a living , but if u have 50 000 or 100 000 u need at least 100% .
Just my Point of view ..

Maybe an outcome and not a percentage return.

No such thing as realistic. Proper way to ask what you say your asking is what does everyone feel comfortable with making once you start trading for a living.
If it's been done before, it can be done again. Some traders have friends in a bank and can make 3000% a year just by front running their transactions. Then again, all things being equal, if you have 3 mil in assets, income of 300000 - 400000 from other than trading efforts, and keep 200000 in your trading account, you can stand the account swings that may occur if your aim is 1000%.

It's really relative to where you start and how you plan your life. Don't set limits on yourself by creating this idea of a "professional realistic gain." Let the market tell you that you've hit a turning point in your trading by the amount of slippage you're starting to experience, not the ideas of others that cannot execute your trading plan. Set your income target, focus on it, and achieve it.

I think there's so many different variables that can go into this, but I selected 10-25% just on the basis that a lot of professionals I think hedge their risk thus preventing huge gain/losses.

Bit of my experience while im still here:
A professional trader strive to yield 25~30% or more annual result. Because usually 20% p.a is a good number when you're investing in business that have quite low risk.

High rating hedge fund company can make 40~50% p.a. While making 70% p.a or above is like a making a magic.

That's for pro trader that trade large sum of money though, like many of the poster above write.
For low capital traders that want to get rich quick, I saw that some get annual result of 1000% or more. Most are about 100~300%

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hey lucacol..... your most likely referring to a forex professional..... my guess is their return might be low as 20% or high as 50%, both non compounded, once they are established.....

my reasoning and rough figuring is, here in the states a professional trader would need to make 100k /year at an absolute minimum..... total combined taxes would take 50%, leaving only 50k.... other trading related expenses might run 5k/year after deductions..... your gittin kinda close to only 40k a year left....

so you'd have to make 50% on 200k balance every year just to scratch out a living..... wonder how many ff members can claim that.....

the figure would depend in a large part with what he traded.... very few professional managed funds beat the return of the s&p 500 or wilshire 5000.....

kids today are much smarter than some of us were at their age.... so i'd give an extra 5%/year to those under 40.....h

I would be greateful with a consistent 20-25% P.A.. If i can show such a track record during 6-10 years people will be throwin' money at me and i will become a millionaire before i turn 40. (22 now)

100k/year as an absolute minimum? I wonder how the average american manage to survive on <55k P.A.

hi all
as you know i have a bipolar disorder under treatment now so i will write few words
return in investment depends on my factors which the most important is your goals and if it is a need or for luxuries acts like me here
i see that also return on investment depends on your account size
there are three kind of trades which share the same act but different in account size
so small account you don't care about a lot and you can aim higher return on it like 30% during a short period then you should withdraw profit not to keep in mind that you wined and it will effect your decisions
this small account size i consider from 20$ up to 800 from many aspects
medium account size and this in its self carries a variety because of its range
it is what brokers are looking for because it is wide and middle class are many out there
it is from 800$ up to 80000$
once you passed 100000 you are a big guy it is the market that control this numbers .
for such an account monthly 2.5 % is a good target
accounts more than 80000$ are few because market is not easy and they usually invest with hedge funds
my philosophy is not to aim a fortune so i withdraw my profit when it reach a certain level
last Friday i deposited 10$ i made 10$ so 20 then i have withdraw it to my payoneer card i needed to buy internet security and antivirus on line for my tablet and my smart phone i advice with bitdefender 1.4$ per month
today i deposited 20$ again and i will make 20 from it then withdraw it .
my plan is to deposit about 300$ next week make it 450-600 then withdraw it all
this a broker i am trying now because may be i will deposit medium range funds one day lets see what happen
i like the payoneer card it is a dream that came true but they charge 4$ from me if i count how much the made from my withdraws it is about eight withdraws up to now 8 *4 =32$ +18(card fee) so about 50 $ actually cards coast nothing it is plastic .
banks takes 2 - 5 days and some times more but my withdraw takes one day as maximum it can be credited in time i withdraw .also banks dont accept small money that can teach you if you can bear that .
this is how you should do .trade and withdraw all take here money and they are happy
that's better find a good broker put money that you dear and bear to loss not effecting your life style .giving that you have a system that you have tested for a long period minimal 6 month and good money management plan .
sorry for my bad english
all have a nice day

I have invested in stocks for a number of years holding stocks from anywhere from weeks to years. I was based in Hong Kong did the HK market. Over the years I became more knowleable about the companies and how the HK market behaved, as result losses were rare even when I had motivation and time to increase frequency of trading.

I am now in UK and for tax and time zone reasons HK market not so suitable, so I am looking at spread betting currencies. I am also having career break so interested if I can make a go of trading for income. I believe that it may take a year or so to develop skill at chart reading and mental discipline to manage fear and greed, once skill level goes up I think you will become more comfortable with bigger trades.

there is no such thing, sometimes you could win for months and years and sometimes lose for several months
the only thing that would be prooper to say is, how much anually can a trader make for a period of 20 years,
could be millions, could be just to make a living, it depends on who the trader is and his personality,
he's strategy and so many things that would make a book to write here