What does a full-time trader actually earn? Survey of 200 EU traders

Method

200 respondents, recruited via our community and 4 other EU trading communities. Anonymous, with validation questions to filter out bots.

Questions: years of experience, capital in account, average monthly result, hours per week, and whether trading is your primary income.

Income distribution

27% (54 people): negative monthly return. Lose more than they earn.

31% (62 people): break-even to €500/month. Trading is not an income source, more an expensive hobby.

23% (46 people): €500-€2,500/month. Side income, but not livable as primary in EU.

13% (26 people): €2,500-€7,500/month. Real full-time income for those who can sustain it.

6% (12 people): €7,500+/month. The top, often with €100k+ capital.

Time investment

Median for traders earning >€2,500/month: 35 hours per week. Not the '2 hours per day' from influencer videos.

Median for traders earning <€500/month: 12 hours per week. Indication: not working hard enough? Or: spending time on the wrong things?

Interesting: the top 6% often report fewer hours (15-25/week) because they use automation (bots, alerts, scripts). The €2,500-7,500 group sits at 35-50 hours/week with manual trading.

Capital needed

Under €2,500 starting capital: 84% earn less than €500/month. Too little leverage to generate significant income.

€10,000-€50,000: 38% earn €500-€2,500/month. Sweet spot for side income.

€50,000+: 41% earn €2,500+/month. Real trading capital.

What the top 6% does differently

84% uses automation (bots, scripts, alerts). No manual chart staring.

92% trades only 1-3 markets. Specialization over diversification.

100% has hard daily/weekly drawdown limits and sticks to them.

78% comes from a stats or programming background. Not from business or marketing.