Do you think trading is an addiction? Can a person actually become addicted to trading? Wow! That seems like a loaded question. My answer is "yes." Trading can be addictive, much as gambling can be addictive. One trader wrote a book about what he learned by losing $1 million. Recently I received a call from a trader who told me he had reached a milestone: he has now lost $1 million, and continues to lose even more. He trades like a wild man. He seemingly cannot stop, despite his huge losses. Imagine your own existence without knowing a single market tick in any market for an entire trading day. Does it bother you to not know? Do you have to look at some market, any market, to know how things are going? Imagine a day where you don't know - where your perception of the world is not through the markets. How long ago was this imaginary day your reality? Would you feel anxious if you couldn't see the market for a couple of trading days? If so, you may be a borderline trading addict. When you win, is it one of the greatest days of your life? Do you feel triumphant? Let's compare a winning day with some other events to gain some perspective. Can you remember your favorite sunset or sunrise? Who was with you? Where was it? To sleep under the stars and walk with nature for an entire day, perhaps without speaking a word to a human being, is a spiritual experience of highest caliber that makes trading seem a little less important, and life seem a little more meaningful. Have you ever spent hours watching eagles soar, or spent the entire day inside the Grand Canyon from sunrise to sunset? Eyes are just small windows to a magnificent and wonderful world meant to be experienced. If you are sitting and staring at a screen all day long, what happened to your life? There is no doubt in my mind that trading can be addictive. At Trading Educators we have seen traders lose everything, come back, lose it all again, then come back for a third time once they have put together sufficient funds to try again. If that is not a sign of addiction, what is? Sometimes they come back after many years of being out of the markets. Doesn't that remind you of an addict who goes through rehabilitation, stays clean for a number of years, and then returns to his/her addiction because he never really kicked the habit? If trading is the most important thing in your life, then you haven't lived.
Maybe it is. If you are successful at it... are you still addicted? or does that apply only if you lose money? Jacob
Interesting... I have a day job that I hate....But I have to make money to pay the bills...I have done that day job for 7 years going on 8...am I addicted? or would addiction only apply to something that one likes? why does one like it? what if he makes more money on what he likes? addiction...hmmmm....maybe its the "love" of money...no? ES
it is addictive if you are hitting the button to elevate your serotonin level ie getting a high from executing a trade,
I would say you are only addicted if you continue to lose money. Food for thought: To complicate things even more, keep in mind it's possible to be addicted to paper-trading. Sure you are not losing money but you are still addicted. Pretty much like addicts who grow their own pot, they are not spending money on their addiction but it's still an addiction.