Australian Quant Trader Says He Earns Up to $25,000 a Month
Video interview on jobs app highlights high earnings, self-taught pathways and mixed social media reaction
A young Australian who identifies himself as a quantitative trader said he earns between $10,000 and $25,000 a month, or roughly $300,000 a year, in a video interview posted on a jobs app and shared on social media.
The trader, who spoke to the Getahead jobs app in Brisbane and was not named in the footage, described his role as one that relies on "mathematical models and computer algorithms" to execute trading strategies across assets, commodities, cryptocurrency, stocks and exchange-traded funds.
Asked how he entered the field, he said he had been "willfully obsessed with making more money than my parents combined." When pressed on whether he was self-taught, he did not give a direct answer but said people can teach themselves and recommended networking with those already in the sector, calling it "a bit of a black box industry."
The trader told the interviewer that "maths and statistics" are the biggest challenges for people seeking the role, adding that many potential candidates are held back by the belief that they are "not a numbers person."
He said he currently works for himself but has interviewed with several firms. The interview clip, posted on TikTok, has been viewed more than 23,000 times and attracted a range of responses from social media users.
Some commenters downplayed the earnings, with one writing, "10k a month. So not that much," and another calling the pay "insulting" for a quant professional. Others questioned the trader's living arrangements. Defenders of the subject pushed back on critics, saying the reaction amounted to "always hating other people’s success." The video was republished by news outlets covering the interview.
Quantitative trading is a specialised area within the financial sector that typically combines programming, statistics and financial theory to develop automated trading strategies. Practitioners use models to identify and execute trades at scale; firms and individuals in the space vary in structure, from proprietary trading shops to independent operators.
The trader’s public account underscores growing attention to niche, high-skilled roles among younger workers and the visibility social media can bring to private earnings and career paths. The claims in the video were not independently verified by this outlet.