Post job

Day trader vs futures trader

The differences between day traders and futures traders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a day trader has an average salary of $116,895, which is higher than the $109,622 average annual salary of a futures trader.

The top three skills for a day trader include technical analysis, equities and market trends. The most important skills for a futures trader are technical analysis, futures markets, and financial markets.

Day trader vs futures trader overview

Day TraderFutures Trader
Yearly salary$116,895$109,622
Hourly rate$56.20$52.70
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs3,81210,795
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Average age4343
Years of experience--

Day trader vs futures trader salary

Day traders and futures traders have different pay scales, as shown below.

Day TraderFutures Trader
Average salary$116,895$109,622
Salary rangeBetween $68,000 And $198,000Between $64,000 And $186,000
Highest paying City-New York, NY
Highest paying state-New York
Best paying company-The Citadel
Best paying industry-Finance

Differences between day trader and futures trader education

There are a few differences between a day trader and a futures trader in terms of educational background:

Day TraderFutures Trader
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Most common majorBusinessFinance
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Day trader vs futures trader demographics

Here are the differences between day traders' and futures traders' demographics:

Day TraderFutures Trader
Average age4343
Gender ratioMale, 90.5% Female, 9.5%Male, 94.1% Female, 5.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage6%6%

Differences between day trader and futures trader duties and responsibilities

Day trader example responsibilities.

  • Day-Trade stocks on the NASDAQ and NYSE, and achieve positive returns through an analysis of trends base on moving averages.
  • Manage business, sales, marketing, international negotiation and communication for a commodities business.
  • Trade equities and derivatives for long term investment and short term trading purposes while utilizing proper risk management
  • Engage in market speculation of various commodities, rapid scalping of mini futures contracts & ETF's.
  • Perform a financial analysis, risk assessment of various publicly trade companies on the NYSE, NASDQ and CME.
  • Enter buy/sell orders for NASDAQ stocks
  • Show more

Futures trader example responsibilities.

  • Coordinate MBS and whole loan delivers to ensure settlements are achieve to minimize extension and pair off fees.
  • Trade a variety of investment vehicles including commodity futures, FOREX, equities, options and energies.
  • Create and report the trends of both international and domestic economy and finance status, and the trends of commodities prices.
  • Implement complex excel spreadsheets for derivative trading strategies.
  • Operate a commodities trading business as an independent business enterprise.
  • Participate in constructing equity trading strategies utilizing one or more medium-to-high frequency statistical arbitrage models
  • Show more

Day trader vs futures trader skills

Common day trader skills
  • Technical Analysis, 15%
  • Equities, 10%
  • Market Trends, 6%
  • Fundamental Analysis, 6%
  • Global Financial Markets, 6%
  • Risk Management, 5%
Common futures trader skills
  • Technical Analysis, 8%
  • Futures Markets, 7%
  • Financial Markets, 7%
  • Derivative, 6%
  • Risk Management, 6%
  • Futures Contracts, 6%