Ah, you greedy MOFOs. When you're worth over $100 million, why bust you balls to make more? Shouldn't that be enough for you to live as a good-for-nothing for the rest of your life? Geez, you would have depleted half of your lifespan by that point anyway.
I think you fail to understand how large fortunes are created. The reason a good individual trader is unlikely to get that rich is that they 1. usually start so small and 2. It is very hard and perhaps even unwise to continue compounding ones own capital beyond a certain point. most great traders reach a comfort level, then start pulling most of the profits out and diversifying. If you are still in your 20's i know this may sound stupid, but just wait... 3. Becoming one of the richest people in the world requires that one use more than financial leverage, which is perhaps the least important/valuable kind today. Using the leverage of networks, Sales forces, Teams of great employees, building a brand, etc all act as a force multiplier for wealth creation. Trying to become vastly wealthy while not using any of these things is kind of like that guy who competed in UFC who was born without arms and legs... a severe disadvantage. A great trader who has even an ounce of business acumen and people skills will start a hedge fund, because any great trader realizes that being given a free call option on ones performance that also pays a dividend rather than decays is worth a hell of a lot. By the way I disagree with the notion trading is a profession. It is purely entrepreneurial, which is completely different. There is no state sanctioned cartel that supports us.
Riskfreetrading (this is the re-worded version 2.0), I don't want to argue, but take this like a losing trade. Admit that your opinion was wrong. You are being outnumbered 10:1 from the answers of all other posters. Supply = Riskfreetrader, Pa(b)st Prime Demand = Everyone else Demand is overwhelmingly dominating, and our "herd mentality" will prevail... we have the cash flow to make sure this trade is going our direction. Be disciplined and listen to your stop loss! Don't defend your opinion against every poster. You're not going to change anyones mind. Kindly surrender and move on to another trade. I compliment your contrarian view and your guts, but its still not going your way. You have balls, but its smarter to just use that stop loss.
It turns out the entire premise of the OP's question is faulty. He calls trading a profession (which I happen to disagree with, but regardless..) Then says a trader who holds themselves out as a money manager and provides a service is not in the trading "profession" WTF, is there ANY profession that does not hold itself out to the public? Yet this person considers this as a valid screen for determining if a trader is in the trading "profession". Sure, ya know cause all those Dr's and Lawyers and Accountants.... The real-deals only Provide services for themselves! True, genuine Surgeons insist on being their sole patients, Lawyers refuse to represent anyone but themselves... cause if they did that they would be in the client servicing business, not actual lawyers or Dr's! So the real deal Lawyers are mighty dumb, cause not only will they not be able to be a billionaire, they will not be able to afford a home! Yep, thats it!
riskfreetrading, your question does not make any sense! Let me ask you one question: what's Bill Gate's profession? He made it to become a billionaire so maybe if you join the same profession you can get on the Forbes list. The reality is that you start somewhere, do your stuff and you end somewhere else. Your chances of getting on the Forbes list is almost nil no matter what you do just because of a simple probability. To be there you also need to be lucky and end up in the right places at the right time but that still does not mean that you can't do great for yourself. If you're not happy with trading the best thing you can do for yourself is to go do something else which suits you better.
From the OP's profile .............. "I love reading and writing about markets" That right there is the difference between you and the rest of us. We love TRADING markets with actual money. Your opinion is basically the same as Bob Costas telling Sandy Koufax how to throw a fastball. You're just a Marketsurfer wannabe. So sad. I have no idea how you managed to escape my ignore list until this time.