[dalby]

yes

when i am teaching traders, i emphasize the business plan and risk management aspects first and foremost.

most traders (retail/non-professionals) do not TREAT their trading like a business, and are thus not professional.

Every trade decision is a business decision. People who trade impulsively or without stops, are not being professionals. They are being gamblers, imo. (as a semantical distinction).

Trading is SO simple to do - fund an account with a few thousand, and then press buttons. But that is not how a professional approaches it.

Most businesses require much greater capital investment to start, and much more extensive hoops to jump through. I think this (as much as i hate govt. regulation btw) does give most business owners at least the proper mindset to some extent before they enter.

Another thing is that professionals keep RECORDS. They go over their past activity to see how they can improve, what they did wrong etc.

Non-professionals do not analyze their past trades in detail and usually do not keep extensive data on their activities.