Professional trader?

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Derek27
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I know it's literally gambling. As you alluded to, any decision you make in life is a gamble. Anyone who's got married or taken out a mortgage to buy a house is probably a bigger gambler than I am.

But in the public perception of gambling, I would say that a sports trader who is consistently profitable for several years is no more a gambler than a shopkeeper. Or perhaps even less so, because if your industry drastically changes and becomes less profitable, a trader can adjust quickly to the markets or even quit whereas the shopkeeper will be stuck with stock, staff and all sorts of bills and commitments.
ged1200
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Briefly off topic - I'm not the only one having trouble sleeping then? Or are you chaps trading?
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Derek27
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ged1200 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 3:43 am
Briefly off topic - I'm not the only one having trouble sleeping then? Or are you chaps trading?
I've been kneading dough to make a pizza, I'm just trading while I'm waiting for the dough to rise. :)
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ShaunWhite
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Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 3:03 am
I know it's literally gambling. As you alluded to, any decision you make in life is a gamble. Anyone who's got married or taken out a mortgage to buy a house is probably a bigger gambler than I am.

But in the public perception of gambling, I would say that a sports trader who is consistently profitable for several years is no more a gambler than a shopkeeper.
I agree. Do anything well enough, long enough, give yourself a fancy title and bingo, joe public sees you in a different light.

Let's face it though everyone here will describe themselves in a way they feel gives of the impression of themselves they want to portray. If you're wearing a suit in fancy wine bar you might call yourself a pro trader or such like, if you're necking a few Guinesses and listening to a rock band in a grimy pub, you'll probably say you're a gambler. One gets you respectablity because they don't get it, the other stops you from getting the sh!t kicked out of you for being a 'banker', because they don't get it. I think everyone has a touch of the Zelig's about them, or should have :)
vankancisco
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I can't see how you can be a professional trader on a platform such as Betfair. It's not a form of employment or an occupation and it isn't tangible. It's a term that only exists in the mind of the self.....self-styled. This is how society sees it.
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Derek27
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vankancisco wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:23 pm
I can't see how you can be a professional trader on a platform such as Betfair. It's not a form of employment or an occupation and it isn't tangible. It's a term that only exists in the mind of the self.....self-styled. This is how society sees it.
If a professional trader doesn't call himself a professional trader, what does he say when somebody asks what he does for a living?

If he says he's unemployed but makes a living trading surely that's the same thing?
Trader Pat
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vankancisco wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:23 pm
I can't see how you can be a professional trader on a platform such as Betfair. It's not a form of employment or an occupation and it isn't tangible. It's a term that only exists in the mind of the self.....self-styled. This is how society sees it.
I dont know, a 6 figure income seems pretty tangible to me
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PDC
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Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:17 pm
If a professional trader doesn't call himself a professional trader, what does he say when somebody asks what he does for a living?
They call themselves a trader, just like any one else asked what they do for a living they don't feel a need to prefix their job title with the word 'professional', unless as I said earlier in thread you want to try and make yourself sound better, which in reality you don't do but instead make yourself sound like a cock.

I had this exact situation last night at the gym, in the changing room we were chatting among a group of 5 and myself and the inevitable question came up, what do you do for a living then? Each person replied in turn, one was a builder, another a carpet fitter, lecturer, between jobs at the moment - starting a new position in the NY, IT support, then it was my turn, I replied I am a trader.

I can just imagine what a cock they would have thought I was had I said I was a 'professional' trader. Not one of them felt the need to say they were a professional xyz.
vankancisco
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I can understand the will to portray. I went down that road myself many years ago using words like work, job, analyst, etc. If there's no need or motivation to be seen in a certain light, I think the most accurate description is a gambler. I think that is most suited to someone who uses betting exchanges and betting markets. At the end of the day it's pretty self-explanatory. I suppose in financial markets you'd be called a retail trader or investor. I don't think the amount of money has got much to do with. The amount earned doesn't define the activity.
mambapeter
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Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:17 pm
vankancisco wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:23 pm
I can't see how you can be a professional trader on a platform such as Betfair. It's not a form of employment or an occupation and it isn't tangible. It's a term that only exists in the mind of the self.....self-styled. This is how society sees it.
If a professional trader doesn't call himself a professional trader, what does he say when somebody asks what he does for a living?

If he says he's unemployed but makes a living trading surely that's the same thing?
i call myself a risk manager..i trade stocks full time..if had realised sports scalping as similar wouldve started ages ago
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Derek27
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PDC wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:36 pm
Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:17 pm
If a professional trader doesn't call himself a professional trader, what does he say when somebody asks what he does for a living?
They call themselves a trader, just like any one else asked what they do for a living they don't feel a need to prefix their job title with the word 'professional', unless as I said earlier in thread you want to try and make yourself sound better, which in reality you don't do but instead make yourself sound like a cock.

I had this exact situation last night at the gym, in the changing room we were chatting among a group of 5 and myself and the inevitable question came up, what do you do for a living then? Each person replied in turn, one was a builder, another a carpet fitter, lecturer, between jobs at the moment - starting a new position in the NY, IT support, then it was my turn, I replied I am a trader.

I can just imagine what a cock they would have thought I was had I said I was a 'professional' trader. Not one of them felt the need to say they were a professional xyz.
This thread isn't so much about what you call yourself but how you define a professional trader. If someone asks what you do for a living then obviously you can drop the word professional because it's part of the question, but it would be your profession.
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PDC
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Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:32 pm
This thread isn't so much about what you call yourself but how you define a professional trader.
I don't recognise such a term or a need for it so therefore I can't define it, hence my point.
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Naffman
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PDC wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:36 pm
Derek27 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:32 pm
This thread isn't so much about what you call yourself but how you define a professional trader.
I don't recognise such a term or a need for it so therefore I can't define it, hence my point.
I think its because its so commonly used to describe yourself if you're a profitable gambler, you don't ever hear of anyone calling themselves a gambler, they call themselves professional gamblers. Trading isn't too different from gambling so that's why people use it imo.

Just call yourself a sports trader if you don't want to sound like a nob
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Derek27
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vankancisco wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:42 pm
I can understand the will to portray. I went down that road myself many years ago using words like work, job, analyst, etc. If there's no need or motivation to be seen in a certain light, I think the most accurate description is a gambler. I think that is most suited to someone who uses betting exchanges and betting markets. At the end of the day it's pretty self-explanatory. I suppose in financial markets you'd be called a retail trader or investor. I don't think the amount of money has got much to do with. The amount earned doesn't define the activity.
We're all adults on here so I doubt anyone gets a boost or has a desire to portray themselves differently. Trading is gambling as has been said so often, but it's not possible to have a discussion about gambling without stating the nature of your gambling so you have to make a distinction between trading and, shall I say, betting on the nose.

They are after all worlds apart. Unlike a trader, a horse racing punter would never back 20 winners on the bounce.
Trader Pat
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Everynow now and then when somebody new comes around and they ask what I'm doing and what the numbers mean I just tell them I'm gambling, saves a lot of time. Occasionally somebody will delve a little deeper and ask about the charts , ladders etc. and I'll explain a little more. Very very rarely you'll get someone who grasps the concept and understands the difference between gambling and trading but in my experience if you tell everyone who asks that you're a trader most of them will assume you're a just a gambler anyway so it wastes a lot of time to tell them otherwise.
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