Most at-home traders are enthusiasts, clever, ambitious, passionate, inspired and focused. But for all of their redeeming qualities, there’s still a gap between at-home traders and the big wigs sitting in fancy offices on Wall Street. At the end of the day, there’s only so much one can do in the face of big money. It’s sort of like modern athletes. They’re incredibly talented and have worked harder than anyone I’ll ever meet. But they also have the benefit of being backed by billion dollar institutions. They get to dedicate their lives to watching tape, having nutritious food cooked for them, working out, and trying new strategies. How could the best YMCA baller in the world ever hope to compare? Fortunately, for us traders at home, there are ways to close the gap. And the ways of closing these million dollar gaps won’t cost you a million dollars. That is, of course, if you know what you’re doing. I’ve spent my time researching ways of being more like a professional from the comfort of your homes. These are the three best ways I’ve found to stay a step ahead of the game and compete with the big names. Practice, practice, practice. As the old adage goes, the best way to get to Carnegie Halls, or the pros, is practice, practice, practice. In my experience, this is undeniably true of trading as well. However, practicing trading can be a bit trickier than playing hoops eight hours a day. But there are ways to find trading simulators that will let you put in the hours you need to trade like a pro. Personally, I used Try2BFunded, which let me compete with other traders in order to access big pots of money to trade with. Not only did this let me figure out the lay of the land, it let me play around with different strategies to see what worked best. I gave it time every day—I called it getting in reps—and was amazed at how my talent and skill grew. 2) Learn From The Pros If you want to stay ahead of the game, you should be doing research every day. Combining a wide slew of influences, opinions, takes and ideas from publications across the web. You should know enough about your chosen sectors to be able to give a lecture on them. There is literally an endless amount of information out there, so you have to pick and choose where you put your time. I found that listening to certified experts like Marc Chaikin and the writers of his invaluable newsletter at Chaikin Analytics was a great way to aggregate information. Which leads me directly to the third way to get, and stay, ahead of the game. 3) Use Analytics. They use analytics on Wall Street, in basketball, baseball, and everything in between. So why don’t you? For a long time, I didn’t for fear of cost. But then I found Chaikin Analytics, which combined expert opinions and raw, comprehensive analytics. For $25 a month I was getting information that would have only been accessible by bank-backed pros 30 years ago. The combination of these three things can help you stay ahead of the game and be as informed as a pro—no suit and tie needed.