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Its study found 12% of Brits who have bought or sold shares during the Coronavirus crisis - some 2.2 million people - are trying to make it as day traders and make a living out of this. Two thirds (66%) of them are men and 34% are women.

Of those people interviewed who are trying to be day traders, 16% are aged 18 -24, and 43% are between 25 and 34. One in five (20%) are aged between 35 and 44, and the remainder are 45 and over.

The most popular reasons for trying to make a living through day trading are a near tie between people believing they can earn more through trading and those who say Coronavirus has inspired them to work for themselves.

Around 43% of would-be day traders believe they can earn more than in their regular job compared with 41% who have found working from home during the crisis has convinced them to start their own business.

Furlough and redundancy have also played a part in the rise of the day trader - 23% of the new day traders have struggled to find a job after redundancy while 18% have been furloughed. Nearly a quarter (23%) say they got a taste for trading during lockdown and now want to go full-time.

Will Rhind, Founder and CEO at GraniteShares said: "Significant numbers of people are aiming to become day traders and the research shows the growth in popularity with the Coronavirus crisis playing a major role.

"It is interesting that more people have been inspired to try day trading because they want to be their own boss rather than because they've lost their job and cannot find another. "But it is slightly concerning that so many believe they can make more money than in a full-time job. Markets were extremely volatile last year and despite a strong start to this year there are still significant risks in staking your livelihood on trading.

"Professional investors are making strong returns from day trading but in order to do so investors should be looking at a wide range of strategies including making greater use of shorting and leveraged investment strategies."

GraniteShares offers a number of 3x leveraged and 3x short ETPs on FTSE 100 and S&P 500 stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange. The value of money traded through these products in the first quarter of last year was $3.3 million, which compares to $228.5 million for the period 1 st November 2020 - 31 st January 2021.