There are at least 7 or 8 of us, whom I know, and I suspect probably quite a few more, but we’re still doubtless a very small minority of the membership here.
There are also quite a lot of “subtle vendors” (and a few remarkably unsubtle ones, too) who are here to promote things. You might decide (as I have) that their income actually comes from plying their wares rather than from trading themselves.
I’m a “price action” trader (no indicators), using fast-moving, intraday charts.
Monthly averages mean something; daily averages barely do at all, because the variability of results is typically too high for that to be a very useful parameter. Numbers of pips also aren’t the most useful way to measure results, overall: long-term, successful trading is all about risk-management (not profit maximisation as many aspiring traders mistakenly imagine), so a parameter (such as “profit factor”, but there are other alternatives) that takes that into account is much more worthwhile and indicative, really.
I’m in my eighth year of live trading, now, (and my 12th year overall), and for the last two years of that it’s been my [I]sole[/I] source of income.
After about three years’ experience of real-money trading, which followed an initial four years of education, analysis, learning, and demo trading.
Making a living? About 7 years altogether.
A mixture of reading established, orthodox textbooks published by mainstream publishers (there’s been real quality control in their publication) and getting screen-time experience is the mainstay, I think. Be wary of internet “information”: there’s no quality control behind most of that, and anyone can self-publish anything, these days.
Statistics and probability, in my opinion.
Here’s a book to start you off: “Profitability & Systematic Trading” by Michael Harris (Wiley, 2007).
And here are the five mistakes to avoid.