Day trader vs investor

The differences between day traders and investors 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 $88,055 average annual salary of an investor.

The top three skills for a day trader include technical analysis, equities and market trends. The most important skills for an investor are financial statements, IR, and press releases.

Day trader vs investor overview

	Day Trader	Investor
Yearly salary	$116,895	$88,055
Hourly rate	$56.20	$42.33
Growth rate	10%	8%
Number of jobs	3,812	8,409
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	43	42
Years of experience	-	4

Day trader vs investor salary

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

	Day Trader	Investor
Average salary	$116,895	$88,055
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $198,000	Between $36,000 And $214,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Alaska
Best paying company	-	Goldman Sachs
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between day trader and investor education

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

	Day Trader	Investor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Northwestern University

Day trader vs investor demographics

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

	Day Trader	Investor
Average age	43	42
Gender ratio	Male, 90.5% Female, 9.5%	Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
Race ratio	Black 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, 10.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 5.3% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	6%	12%

Differences between day trader and investor 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

Investor example responsibilities.

Manage $250K portfolio with exposure to commodities, futures, and equities.
Manage a grand opening, create business website and Facebook marketing, implement marketing campaigns and sales events.
Manage nation-wide CRM application between technical teams and business departments.
Manage commercial and multifamily REO portfolio preparing property operating plans to enhance value and marketability of REO asset
Prepare and review necessary reconciliations to ensure assets balance and agree to FNMA actual/actual and schedule/actual reports.
Procure replacement instruments regarding lose securities.

Day trader vs investor skills

Common day trader skills

Technical Analysis, 15%
Equities, 10%
Market Trends, 6%
Fundamental Analysis, 6%
Global Financial Markets, 6%
Risk Management, 5%

Common investor skills

Financial Statements, 9%
IR, 8%
Press Releases, 7%
Investment Community, 5%
Real Estate, 5%
Reconciliations, 4%