Day traders' after-market lounge September 5, page-29

In general, results are going to be higher when trading a smaller account, since it allows one to enter & exit higher risk microcaps. Also, what you say about being able to choose from a bigger number of instruments is relevant. The TV competition doesn't allow you to bet the whole 100k at once. That also brings down the figure. I think one is limited to betting about 10% of capital at the time.

On the other hand, the people in the comp were not professionals or trading geniuses. Paul Rotter (aka 'The Flipper') once turned 1.3M into 6.5M in 3 months, a staggering 500% return. Even better, Takashi Kotegawa turned 13k into 153M in 8 years. But these guys are the Roger Federers of trading. They represent the 1 in 1 billion.