Yes, you can day trade on Public, but you are subject to the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule if you have less than $25,000 in equity, which limits you to three day trades (buying and selling the same security on the same day) in a five-business-day period. Crypto, Alts, and Treasury trades do not count towards this limit, only stocks, ETFs, and options.
With $1,000, most day traders realistically make 1%–3% per day, or about $10–$30, depending on strategy, risk control, and market conditions. Beginners often earn less or lose money initially, while consistent profitability requires discipline, experience, and strict risk management rather than aggressive trading.
3 = Do not risk more than 3% of your total capital on a single trade. 5 = Keep your total exposure to open trades less than 5%. 7 = Aim for at least a 7:1 profit-loss ratio on each trade. For example, if you risk $500, your potential profit should be around $3500.
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How did one trader make $2.4 million in 28 minutes?
For one trader, the news event allowed for incredible profits in a very short amount of time. At 3:32:38 p.m. ET, a Dow Jones headline crossed the newswire reporting that Intel was in talks to buy Altera. Within the same second, a trader jumped into the options market and aggressively bought calls.
One popular method is the 2% Rule, which means you never put more than 2% of your account equity at risk (Table 1). For example, if you are trading a $50,000 account, and you choose a risk management stop loss of 2%, you could risk up to $1,000 on any given trade.
Many people have made millions just by day trading. Some examples are Ross Cameron, Brett N. Steenbarger, etc. But the important thing about day trading is that only a few can make money out of day trading and the rest end up losing their entire capital in day trading.
Over the last 100 years, the S&P 500 has averaged a return of around 10% before inflation. If this remains true, and you put $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund now, your money would grow to $6,727.50 in 20 years. The sooner you invest, the more time your money will have to grow and benefit from compound returns.
Day trading presents similarities with some types of gambling, mainly with online and skill-based gambling. Even though day trading is not solely based on chance, due to its characteristic of short time between purchases and sales, it is often vulnerable to sudden price changes.
The 1% risk rule means not risking more than 1% of account capital on a single trade. It doesn't mean only putting 1% of your capital into a trade. Put as much capital as you wish, but if the trade is losing more than 1% of your trading capital, close the position.
If I am day trading stocks, I typically start around 7:30 am Mountain time and can go as late as 9:30 if there is good action. I may also come back to look for trades just after the New York lunch hour (about 11 am for me). There may be no trades, or I may end trading a bit more if something is setting up.
The "90 Rule" in trading, often called the 90-90-90 Rule, is a harsh market observation stating that roughly 90% of new traders lose 90% of their money within their first 90 days, highlighting the high failure rate due to lack of strategy, poor risk management, and emotional trading rather than market complexity. It serves as a cautionary tale, emphasizing that success requires discipline, a solid trading plan, proper education, and managing psychological pitfalls like overconfidence or revenge trading, not just market knowledge.
An article in Forbes quoting someone from an educational trading website stated that "the success rate for day traders is estimated to be around only 10%, so ... 90% are losing money," adding "only 1% of [day] traders really make money."
Takashi Kotegawa, also known as BNF, is a legendary Japanese day trader who famously turned an initial capital of around $13,600 into an astounding $153 million in approximately eight years.
AI trading does not currently offer the average market participant any measurable, long-term return advantages either. However, artificial intelligence can support you at various points in your trading activities and thus optimize your approach and save a lot of time and energy.
Trading is often seen as a fast track to wealth, but the cold, hard truth is that most traders lose money. In fact, 75% of traders go broke, and the reasons are rooted in mathematics, psychology, and a lack of preparation.
The wealthiest 10% of U.S. households own approximately 93% of the stock market's value, a record concentration of wealth, with the top 1% holding over half of all stocks. This ownership is concentrated among the richest Americans, while the bottom half of households own a very small fraction, illustrating significant wealth inequality in stock market participation.
Nikhil Kamath (born 5 September 1986) is an Indian entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of Zerodha, a retail stockbroker, and True Beacon, an asset management company. As of December 2025, Kamath is worth $3.3 billion, according to Forbes.
