Quote from lcranston:
I'll have to go with Hurricane on this one. To state that one has to be working for someone else to be considered a professional makes the definition of trading professional to be unique as it does not apply to any other profession. This serves no other purpose than to dilute what separates the professional from one who is not.
Prior to the internet boom or .com day's of the 90's...everybody knew exactly what was a "professional trader" (e.g. floor trader, bank trader, institutional trader, hedge fund trader, private corporation trades and so on).
Yet, when the Etrades and Scottrades showed up in the 90's along with every Job Bob opening a discount trading account along with quitting their jobs...we had a new type of trader...called "discount trader" by the industry. Yet, that term didn't stick too long for use and we quickly became known as "retail traders". Slowly, in the span of a few years" after being called discount traders, some profitable retail traders started calling themselves "professional traders" because they were consistently profitable along with thinking they had access to the same resources as the big boys.
Retail traders are self-employed or entrepreneurs if you want a business label slapped onto it. By the way, I'm a retail trader from a family of traders (pro and retail) along with having close friends that are professional traders. They would laugh if I ever refer to myself as a pro trader when they know I'm only retail.
You really see the difference when (assuming you're trading for a living) you go to your bank, mortgage agent, buying a car, house or something that requires you to fill out financial paper work...
If you put down job title "professional trader", it will prompt them to ask for you to fill in the
missing information about your employer. In contrast, put down "retail trader" or "self-employed"...they will not ask for information about your employer.
Same with many countries tax info. Tell them you're a professional trader and they want to know whom you work for because they know the difference between "professional trader" versus "retail trader" (self-employed).
Thus, it's some of us retail traders diluting the term "pro trader" that was designated for traders working on Wall Street long before the 90's.
With that said, if you're retail with a very large trading account, renting an office space, treating your trading like a business like any other firm/company...I'll cut the person some slack and let him/her call themselves a "professional trader".
