its a common urban legend that you can use your own money to play the stock market and use this to impress an employer. in real life it will never happen because any trader worth his stock will know that performance measurement and tracking is not so simple just do a print screen of your e-trade brokerage acc showing gains and loses amount. also professional trading is a completely different game with advantages and disadvantages compared to personal punting. most of what works for small amounts of punting for personal pleasure doesnt work in a professional setting.