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Bailey Nevener

[TABLE] Account Size Required To Make a Living

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This table does not apply to all traders, but for those that have a strategy that is very buying power intensive.  It takes in consideration that IBKR and other brokers actually limit us to 25% margin in several volatile tickers, so this table is actually conservative on what could possibly be done with consistency.

I made this table to clearly display what the ideal scenario is for someone who has a successful strategy that is reliant on the upper limit of their buying power available. 

Several of my win days are larger than my goal amount ( x3 ) and some are SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than my goal amount ( x10 ), so I decided to simplify this table and go with a "If I never lost a single day at bare minimum goal amount" approach.

With a starting balance of $25,000, 0.05% risk per trade, 5R goal amount, and big winners every so often, you would still have to wait probably at least 2 1/2 years before living off of this income was easily achievable. (assuming you want to continue to build the account while living off of the income)

 

At first the numbers seem way too conservative, but then all of a sudden they seem unbelievable.

Year $ Gain Risk Bump @ +10% Intervals Goal Amount 5R Risk Per Trade 0.05% Total Trading Days Years Months Days
$15,263
$25,000 $63 $13 40 0 1 28
$27,500 $69 $14 80 0 3 25
$30,250 $76 $15 120 0 5 23
$33,275 $83 $17 160 0 7 21
$36,603 $92 $18 200 0 9 19
$40,263 $101 $20 240 0 11 16
$27,039
$44,289 $111 $22 280 1 1 9
$48,718 $122 $24 320 1 3 7
$53,590 $134 $27 360 1 5 4
$58,949 $147 $29 400 1 6 32
$64,844 $162 $32 440 1 8 30
$71,328 $178 $36 480 1 10 27
$47,901
$78,461 $196 $39 520 2 0 20
$86,307 $216 $43 560 2 2 18
$94,937 $237 $47 600 2 4 16
$104,431 $261 $52 640 2 6 13
$114,874 $287 $57 680 2 8 11
$126,362 $316 $63 720 2 10 9
$84,860
$138,998 $347 $69 760 3 0 1
$152,898 $382 $76 800 3 1 29
$168,187 $420 $84 840 3 3 27
$185,006 $463 $93 880 3 5 25
$203,507 $509 $102 920 3 7 22
$223,858 $560 $112 960 3 9 20
$246,243 $616 $123 1000 3 11 18
$165,367
$270,868 $677 $135 1040 4 1 10
$297,954 $745 $149 1080 4 3 8
$327,750 $819 $164 1120 4 5 6
$360,525 $901 $180 1160 4 7 4
$396,577 $991 $198 1200 4 8 31
$436,235 $1,091 $218 1240 4 10 29
$292,958
$479,859 $1,200 $240 1280 5 0 22
$527,844 $1,320 $264 1320 5 2 19
$580,629 $1,452 $290 1360 5 4 17
$638,692 $1,597 $319 1400 5 6 15
$702,561 $1,756 $351 1440 5 8 12
$772,817 $1,932 $386 1480 5 10 10
$518,994
$850,099 $2,125 $425 1520 6 0 3
$935,109 $2,338 $468 1560 6 1 31
$1,028,619 $2,572 $514 1600 6 3 28
$1,131,481 $2,829 $566 1640 6 5 26
$1,244,630 $3,112 $622 1680 6 7 24
$1,369,092 $3,423 $685 1720 6 9 21
$1,506,002 $3,765 $753 1760 6 11 19
$1,011,372
$1,656,602 $4,142 $828 1800 7 1 12
$1,822,262 $4,556 $911 1840 7 3 10
$2,004,488 $5,011 $1,002 1880 7 5 7
$2,204,937 $5,512 $1,102 1920 7 7 5
$2,425,431 $6,064 $1,213 1960 7 8 33
$2,667,974 $6,670 $1,334 2000 7 10 30
$2,264,355
$2,934,771 $7,337 $1,467 2040 8 0 23
$3,228,248 $8,071 $1,614 2080 8 2 21
$3,551,073 $8,878 $1,776 2120 8 4 18
$3,906,181 $9,765 $1,953 2160 8 6 16
$4,296,799 $10,742 $2,148 2200 8 8 14
$4,726,479 $11,816 $2,363 2240 8 10 12
$5,199,126 $12,998 $2,600 2280 9 0 4

 

With a 3k account this last year I was able to make 34k (Totaling 37k), paid off my debt, and then made another 6.5k from only 8k starting balance in the last 3 months. 

I'm only 'flexing' these numbers because there isn't very much announced success on here to the point that it can be discouraging. 

I wasn't profitable for 3 years, and before I started making money I literally lost all of my money and money that wasn't mine.

If you are someone reading this that doesn't have very much money, I would really encourage you to find good investments rather than day trading, while you learn to trade. 

Learn to do the conservative routes like selling covered calls and selling puts so you can get the confidence under your belt and build your equity.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Eventually you will stumble upon opportunities that are obvious rather than forcing trades because you won't have the stress of 'making it' as a day trader. 

Those opportunities will build your account and give you peace of mind while you chip away at this skill.

All that being said, this table is actually achievable.  Stay the course my friends.

 

Bailey Nevener

Edited by Bailey Nevener
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Thank you for sharing! I love this visual table. One thing I'm struggling with now with a small cash account is waiting for the cash to settle so I can trade again. How did you manage trading with this?

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On 9/27/2021 at 6:48 AM, cindyishh said:

Thank you for sharing! I love this visual table. One thing I'm struggling with now with a small cash account is waiting for the cash to settle so I can trade again. How did you manage trading with this?

Essentially I was investing in companies I knew that would do well initially.  

Anytime that an extremely obvious day trading opportunity happened, I would liquidate my investment position, increase my account balance, and then reinsert my funds into the investment. 

The purpose of the investment is to keep yourself relatively mentally involved with trading by feeling like you are 'doing something'.  This is key because you need to really only be taking high probability ever-so-often trades with a catalyst.  

There were often weeks at a time where I would not take a trade, but each time I did, I substantially increased my account balance.

This was one of my best risk-to-reward trades I've ever had.  I was -$50 premarket at the largest drawdown.  I had many days similar to this.

image.png.b0795e7abbeb916702733275da8cad8b.png

I would only trade if a catalyst pulled me to the market, rather than trying to trade and looking for a catalyst.

This is just how I did it.  It helped me make big trades, avoid PDT, and finally get over $25k with stability.

I was definitely not perfect with this approach, but you have to find out what works for you.

Edited by Bailey Nevener

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I'm having a substantially easier time working with the current margin requirements.  So much so, that I actually have updated this table to reflect more accurate numbers.

 

Year $ Gain Risk Bump +10% Intervals Risk Per Trade 0.05% Goal Amount 5R Weekly Amount Monthly Amount
$ 46,328
$ 25,000 $ 25 $ 125 $ 625 $ 2,500
$ 27,500 $ 28 $ 138 $ 688 $ 2,750
$ 30,250 $ 30 $ 151 $ 756 $ 3,025
$ 33,275 $ 33 $ 166 $ 832 $ 3,328
$ 36,603 $ 37 $ 183 $ 915 $ 3,660
$ 40,263 $ 40 $ 201 $ 1,007 $ 4,026
$ 44,289 $ 44 $ 221 $ 1,107 $ 4,429
$ 48,718 $ 49 $ 244 $ 1,218 $ 4,872
$ 53,590 $ 54 $ 268 $ 1,340 $ 5,359
$ 58,949 $ 59 $ 295 $ 1,474 $ 5,895
$ 64,844 $ 65 $ 324 $ 1,621 $ 6,484
$ 71,328 $ 71 $ 357 $ 1,783 $ 7,133
$ 145,397
$ 78,461 $ 78 $ 392 $ 1,962 $ 7,846
$ 86,307 $ 86 $ 432 $ 2,158 $ 8,631
$ 94,937 $ 95 $ 475 $ 2,373 $ 9,494
$ 104,431 $ 104 $ 522 $ 2,611 $ 10,443
$ 114,874 $ 115 $ 574 $ 2,872 $ 11,487
$ 126,362 $ 126 $ 632 $ 3,159 $ 12,636
$ 138,998 $ 139 $ 695 $ 3,475 $ 13,900
$ 152,898 $ 153 $ 764 $ 3,822 $ 15,290
$ 168,187 $ 168 $ 841 $ 4,205 $ 16,819
$ 185,006 $ 185 $ 925 $ 4,625 $ 18,501
$ 203,507 $ 204 $ 1,018 $ 5,088 $ 20,351
$ 223,858 $ 224 $ 1,119 $ 5,596 $ 22,386
$ 456,318
$ 246,243 $ 246 $ 1,231 $ 6,156 $ 24,624
$ 270,868 $ 271 $ 1,354 $ 6,772 $ 27,087
$ 297,954 $ 298 $ 1,490 $ 7,449 $ 29,795
$ 327,750 $ 328 $ 1,639 $ 8,194 $ 32,775
$ 360,525 $ 361 $ 1,803 $ 9,013 $ 36,052
$ 396,577 $ 397 $ 1,983 $ 9,914 $ 39,658
$ 436,235 $ 436 $ 2,181 $ 10,906 $ 43,624
$ 479,859 $ 480 $ 2,399 $ 11,996 $ 47,986
$ 527,844 $ 528 $ 2,639 $ 13,196 $ 52,784
$ 580,629 $ 581 $ 2,903 $ 14,516 $ 58,063
$ 638,692 $ 639 $ 3,193 $ 15,967 $ 63,869
$ 702,561 $ 703 $ 3,513 $ 17,564 $ 70,256
$ 1,432,120
$ 772,817 $ 773 $ 3,864 $ 19,320 $ 77,282
$ 850,099 $ 850 $ 4,250 $ 21,252 $ 85,010
$ 935,109 $ 935 $ 4,676 $ 23,378 $ 93,511
$ 1,028,619 $ 1,029 $ 5,143 $ 25,715 $ 102,862
$ 1,131,481 $ 1,131 $ 5,657 $ 28,287 $ 113,148
$ 1,244,630 $ 1,245 $ 6,223 $ 31,116 $ 124,463
$ 1,369,092 $ 1,369 $ 6,845 $ 34,227 $ 136,909
$ 1,506,002 $ 1,506 $ 7,530 $ 37,650 $ 150,600
$ 1,656,602 $ 1,657 $ 8,283 $ 41,415 $ 165,660
$ 1,822,262 $ 1,822 $ 9,111 $ 45,557 $ 182,226
$ 2,004,488 $ 2,004 $ 10,022 $ 50,112 $ 200,449
$ 2,204,937 $ 2,205 $ 11,025 $ 55,123 $ 220,494
$ 4,494,606
$ 2,425,431 $ 2,425 $ 12,127 $ 60,636 $ 242,543
$ 2,667,974 $ 2,668 $ 13,340 $ 66,699 $ 266,797
$ 2,934,771 $ 2,935 $ 14,674 $ 73,369 $ 293,477
$ 3,228,248 $ 3,228 $ 16,141 $ 80,706 $ 322,825
$ 3,551,073 $ 3,551 $ 17,755 $ 88,777 $ 355,107
$ 3,906,181 $ 3,906 $ 19,531 $ 97,655 $ 390,618
$ 4,296,799 $ 4,297 $ 21,484 $ 107,420 $ 429,680
$ 4,726,479 $ 4,726 $ 23,632 $ 118,162 $ 472,648
$ 5,199,126 $ 5,199 $ 25,996 $ 129,978 $ 519,913
$ 5,719,039 $ 5,719 $ 28,595 $ 142,976 $ 571,904
$ 6,290,943 $ 6,291 $ 31,455 $ 157,274 $ 629,094
$ 6,920,037 $ 6,920 $ 34,600 $ 173,001 $ 692,004
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On 9/27/2021 at 7:48 AM, cindyishh said:

Thank you for sharing! I love this visual table. One thing I'm struggling with now with a small cash account is waiting for the cash to settle so I can trade again. How did you manage trading with this?

Also trading long At the money Put or Call options with the nearest expiration date in a cash account allows the cash to settle overnight.  Therefore you can trade everyday. 

Just make sure you pay attention to elevated levels of Implied Volatility if you ever Buy to Open anything out of the money.  That can really cause problems for some of these stocks in play as the day drags on.  Not to mention you will be fighting theta which is a real problem with the closest day expiration.  It works well (in terms of controlling risk) in scalping.

On top of that, make sure that the underlying stock has elevated volume because the spreads can get crazy on options.  On any given day you should be able to trade a high volume tech stock or a sector ETF with no issue.  If you trade a sector ETF, be extra careful, the leverage even at the money is insane.  However the spread is extremely small!

Edited by Bailey Nevener

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