Question, If the trends and retraces were 3 times the distance of zero to whatever number you choose infinity to be, and 1/3rd of the profits were pulled into a cash account daily, could you hypothesize there is no gamble? Think about this... Ok, we have cumulative entries.....this is difficult, but even with infinity as a component it is possible to formulate trade size...
ElectricSavant, The range is not the outcome. There are countless ways in which the market can behave within the universe of possibilities. As I understand it, you are playing the flow of the market. They never go straight up or down. They advance and recede. There are decisions about when and where to get long or short in the flow of the market. It seems you are hedged but with my limited understanding of how your approach works it looks to me like you can only truely extract a profit if one of those legs is lifted - or if the ratio of long to short is something other than 1:1. I can not truely speak to your system as I have not lived it and breathed it as you have. I don't know it's strengths and weakensses as you do. If you have discovered a true edge there then you can probably crank money out of the market. It is my hope that you continue to crank dollars out and if you do, what do you really care what it is called. You would have found a way to succeed in an area that most fail at and you deserve better than someone saying it is "lucky". I would not say that you didn't take a gamble however. Either way, I hope you continue making profit after profit. Regards, peace and gtty, Lar
Can you connect all these dots with three straight lines without ever lifting your pen? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
I think the key point that is not mentioned in most dictionary definitions of gambling is that at gambling's core you put up your money and receive nothing of value other than a CHANCE to win something. So even though you may be a professional poker player or blackjack player and may have a real advantage in the game and may have even been a winner for many years, it is still gambling because you don't receive anything of value for the money you put into the pot other than a chance to win. There is no economic output or exchange of goods and services other than the exchange of money on the draw of a card or the roll of the dice. In the markets the outcome is often just as equally uncertain as a gamble. There is risk, there is luck, and there are those who employ methods and strategies that give them a definite advantage. But the core reason why placing a trade in a market is not a gamble is that you receive something of value for the money you put up in addition to the chance of winning something (or having your purchased asset appreciate). You actually own XYZ stock, or a futures contract, or an option contract or a bond etc. In other words you have received value for the money you have put up - an asset or a contract to provide an asset (a contract has value) so there is a real economic exchange taking place and that is what sets trading apart from gambling and puts trading in the investment field rather than in the gambling arena.
Hi TGregg, The question of the poll did not leave ANY room for grey areas. Most things are not black and white, but are shaded or colored. This poll was a forced choice between two opposites. Gambling YEA or Gambling Nay. The challenge of the poll was to find which of those two choices was most like trading. Fwiw, I like your examples. My own way of looking at the world is that there is no real security... only varying degrees of risk. Then to further complicate things, we often confuse risk with uncertainty. Peace, Lar
I'm tired. I am going to bed early tonight and take a gamble on the certain outcome of dieing... (my taxes are paid)
Hi ElectricSavant, You said: Can you connect all these dots with three straight lines without ever lifting your pen? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I tried several times but my pen tip keeps sliding off the monitor! Thanks for the dialog, Lar
Dear ElectricSavant, Btw, yep - I can connect those dots with 3 straight lines never letting the pen off the uh - monitor/paper. Just have to extend the lines far enough with a slight angle. Hey, I'm wobbling again... Gtty, Lar