Being Professional

Being a professional in any arena means you i) get paid doing it, and ii) are way better than 99% of the population in doing it (which is the reason why you are getting paid doing it).

NBA players shoot the ball better than most people who aren’t in the NBA.

Professional golfers go under par far more often than non-professional golfers.

Lawyers know the law better than 99% of people who are not in the legal profession.

UFC fighters can fight better than 99% of people who do not train MMA.

So to be professional day trader, you need to ask yourself: How are you better than 99% of people out there who also have access to a computer and a brokerage account?

In my opinion, it’s not really about the strategy.

I mean, finding a good day trading strategy is not all that difficult.

A 30-minute search on YouTube will probably give you some really good ones that are potentially profitable.

I believe your “professional edge” comes from the following areas:

• Trading discipline – Being able to take only the highest-quality trades, and foregoing the sub-optimal trades. Not letting FOMO affect your decision-making. Not being greedy. Not revenge-trading after experiencing losses.
• Risk management – Knowing exactly how much to risk per trade and no more than that. Not over-extending yourself at any point in time.
• Consistency – Being able to execute everything on a very consistent basis.

I believe that by mastering the above three points, you should be way ahead of most other traders out there.

Believe me, the above three points are far more difficult to master than they may seem.

I am nowhere near being able to master the above three points yet, but I’m working hard to get there.