I used to think it was gambling, but recenty tried some new methods that made me change my mind. Michael B.
But what if you didn't care about the direction? and just "volatility grabbing"? Good to see you on the boards today Quah...Thanks..
When I say "the outcome is uncertain" - I mean that "making a profit is uncertain". How that applies to direction, I'm not sure. If you are referring to a system that has no chance of NOT making a profit, then I guess it wouldn't be gambling. But, IMO, if there is any chance of not making a profit, then it is gambling.
Lets examine this example. Please be patient with my simple minded ways and plain talk... You trade an instrument and go long and short at the same time in it. You set up your trades with targets in equal increments. So lets say were long on EUR/USD and our profit targets are 20 pips. As the long side goes up we are entering and exiting each 20 pips. The short side is accumulating entries temporarily. When it reverses then the opposite will happen. You would need to learn to carry high unrealized P/L. but your profit comes from the boxed in volatility grabbing.... Take a trade size based on a 10 year range of the instrument.
I'd say any trader who readily accepts unknown outcomes, whether he calls it gambling or not, is far better off than the trader who is so stubbornly sure of his views or methods that he feels insulted by being called a "gambler". Beyond that, it's a matter of semantics.
LOL- I wish trading was as easy as gambling somtimes. I made $5500 last week in a poker tournement with a $10 buy in! You do the math on that return in 4 hrs. In all honesty trading is much better then gambling because unlike being a skilled poker player who relies on luck a lot of the time, trading is hard work, knowledge and disipline. Trust me I have done a lot of both and trading and gambling are VERY different.
I know this has been posted before, but the word gambling is a bit of a general term: It all depends on your definition and perception of gambling. Based on this definition, can you think of anyone who has made money without taking some sort of a gamble? Will buying an investment property to flip it and sell it for a profit a gamble? Aren't there adverse possibilities in the odds for or against that profit? How about driving a truck for a living? Is that a gamble? You can quantify the probability of an accident and mortality rates? Is that a gamble? How about starting a business? If you are not 100% guaranteed success and a positive outcome, then you must be gambling. Right? The word gambling has the same taste in people's mouths as the word greed. They are both facts of life except when pursued recklessly and an in excess. Just a few thoughts.... PS: Quah... I seem to be following you around today.
I see more similarities between poker and trading. They both require the same hard work, knowledge and discipline. How much hard work? Well.... that depends on how much you love it.