Not much difference. Both of them could have the same - education background - computers, trading platforms, charting software - trading coaches the successful one can center the mind easily
Why, that's simple. It all comes down to RISK MANAGEMENT. Professionals take controlled risks. Amateurs take on huge risks and end up blowing their accounts. For instance, professionals know exactly when to bail out of their trade if they're wrong. Amateurs either have no stops in place or, worse, widen their stops when they're wrong (and some fools even add to their loser by doubling down). And BTW do you know this chick? You two should tie a knot, since you both ask some silly questions.
Consistency over 100s (1000s) of trades over years. Anybody can string together a few dozen wins in a particular market (Bull, Bear, transitioning). Those that crow about it are often the ones who are toast once the market changes. Even more sad are those who blow it BEFORE the market changes because they think they are "gurus", "experts" or "masters". As Schizo says, in the details of the F-ups, is always risk management. All you have to do is press the right buttons at the right time, 90+% of the time, over a year or two. What could be so hard about that?
The difference is in their thinking and preparatory steps. An expert trader first analyze the market and then take decision of opening an entry. On the other hand an ordinary trader takes rush decision.
Experience. "I will start my first topic on this forum by given reason why professional traders are better than Ordinary trader. In my on definition as a professional trader that have been trading for 15 years, traded with various Fund companies, A professional trader follows all the rules set for trading each day, but Ordinary Trader do not. This is why professional traders makes profits week in, week out. Examples to say are; Each day as a professional trader, before any trading for the day, you checklist your rules and follow it each time you place a trade, But ordinary traders don't take stick to rules. Professional trader can wait patiently for the for several hours for the market to hit a lowpoint before placing buy, or to hit highpoint before placing sell,But ordinary traders tend to gamble with the market positions. Professional traders can use 1 hour from several hours after eating for like 8 hours or more, and capitalize on that one hour to make all profits for the day, But ordinary trader can wast several hours gambling and losing money. Professional traders accept loss at the bearest minimum, in otherwords we know when we are wrong and take loss, because that is part of trading, But ordinary traders do not accept when they are wrong, instead they keep hoping for market reversal in their favour, thereby taking in more loss than never should have been. Professional trader are extremely patient, but Ordinary traders do not. Professional traders uses risk to reward rations for each trades, like for me, for each one dollar is risk, I expect 10 folds in return, but Ordinary traders do no trade with risk to reward rations. Professional traders are very mindful of Drawdown. I keep my Drawdown 10% to 20% maximum, But Ordinary traders don't keep those records. Professional traders risk not more than 2% or below account balance to gain 10%, But ordinary traders risk 100%. Professional traders know when to quit even though they can still be making profits, but Ordinary traders tends to overtrade. I will stop here and wish you all GreenPips." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The difference between Trading experts and ordinary people: overall vision and the View of detail Overall vision, that is, the trader's overall judgment of the macro and micro position of the market, the long-term and short-term trend of the market, and the detail view, that is, the trader's ability to actually deal with all kinds of new situations and challenges faced by the trading position. Successful trading is inseparable from the integration of macro and micro judgment, as well as the unity of knowledge and action. The ability and accuracy of trading experts to judge the overall situation and details of the market is far from comparable to that of ordinary people. Before trading, he will focus on the following aspects of the market and give a clear answer: Is the current market environment suitable for operation? Is there a trend in the market? If there is no trend, what kind of shape is the market likely to be building? Is it the bottom reversal form, the top reversal form, the trend relay form or temporarily disoriented remains to be seen? Where is the important level of support or barrier? If there is a trend, what level of trend is it? A bull market or a bear market? The early, middle or late stages of a bull or bear market? If it is a secondary reversal trend, which position has it retracted to the trend length of the front wheel? 33%, 50% or 66%? What is the status of the daily, weekly and monthly charts? What is the relationship between the long-term, medium-term and short-term trend direction of the market? Are there any iconic K-line, resonance, anti-vibration and overshoot signals on the daily, weekly and monthly charts? If so, what level of market does it indicate? Are there any important technical phenomena such as gap, one-day / week / month reversal, over-rise, over-fall and so on? Is the market in a state of regular advance or extreme? Does the trading volume (position) verify the price change? This is overall vision, that is, the overall judgment of traders on the macro and micro position of the market and the long-term and short-term trend of the market. From this judgment, traders draw the conclusion that the market is bullish or bearish in the long and short term, and operate accordingly. Usually, trading experts enter the market only when the long-term and short-term markets are moving in the same direction. If the long-term and short-term direction of the market is not the same, he either does not trade or engages in short-term trading. Before actually entering the arena, he will also figure out the following questions: What is the maximum likely evolution of the market in the coming week to January? If you decide to wait and see, how long will it take to wait and see? If you decide to enter the market, how much position do you hold, long or short? At what point does the entrance take place? Where is the profit target? What kind of trading orders are used to enter the market? Where is the protective stop order placed? How much risk am I going to take if my judgment is wrong? This is the level of detail, the ability of traders to actually deal with the new situations and challenges that trading positions are constantly facing. Overall vision belongs to the category of trading technology, and the concept of details belongs to the category of trading strategy. Overall vision focuses on "knowledge" and the concept of details on "action". Successful trading is inseparable from the integration of macro and micro judgment, as well as the unity of knowledge and action. We call traders' views on the overall pattern and long-term trend of the market as macro-judgment, and their views on the local position and short-term trend of the market as micro-judgment, both of which are called overall vision. From the perspective of actual combat needs, the two should not be neglected, otherwise neither of them can be regarded as having a good overall vision. Generally speaking, non-margin trading depends more on correct macro judgment, while margin trading depends more on correct micro judgment. Traders who are longer than micro and shorter than macro can protect themselves and earn more money in margin trading than in non-margin trading, but a common feature is that it is difficult to make big money in these two markets; traders who are longer than macro and shorter than micro can make a lot of money in non-margin trading, but will cause huge losses in margin trading. Because of the nature of leverage and their unwillingness to stop losses, they will die in the dark before dawn until the day when the market proves them right. Therefore, for individual traders, they cannot engage in margin trading if they do not understand micro-trading. Since a trader lacks a highly accurate macro judgment or cannot stick to it, he will not be able to make a lot of money, so to some extent he must trust his macro judgment. Because of this, macro judgment can easily be reduced to stubborn preconceptions. If the position is in trouble, it may be wise to put aside your overall judgment and long-term view of the market for the time being. Perhaps it is urgent to clear or reduce the position in time so that it does not interfere with personal life. You should know that all major trends start from a small trend, and you should know the truth of "a dike of a thousand miles is broken by an ant's nest".Although it is unpleasant to admit mistakes, sometimes it is necessary for us to ask ourselves: Am I really wrong? Even if I am only temporarily wrong, can I bear the loss caused by maintaining my position? Thus it can be seen that there is a contradiction within overall vision, that is, the contradiction between the macro and micro trend of the market, and there is also a contradiction between overall vision and the view of detail, that is, the contradiction between "opinion" and "fact". And stop loss is to admit mistakes, and to stop losses in time is to admit mistakes at the minimum cost.
Expert traders never take rush decision but ordinary traders do take this and it makes them suffer by the end of the day.
Many thousand trades each year for many years. Each trade has an expected negative outcome due to transaction costs, but you turn in a profit year after year after year.