If you know anything about poker or if you have ever played in the final tables of a large tournament you will know that in order to get your paycheck LUCK is the number one factor (especially at this level). Sure you can beat up the tourists and the newbies some of the time but even then, they don't know enough to be scared and will call you all the way down to the river and catch a straight (once again) luck. At the higher level games where you have skilled player versus skilled player you may have a shot because now it's just a matter of skill levels but still luck plays a factor 50% of the time. I have made a living from both trading and poker and I personally prefer trading hands down and I still say they are worlds apart in comparison mostly because of the LUCK factor.
Back to my example....Let discuss it and visualize it, and make this a different thread that could contribute something. I think I can demonstrate that the example could prove that trading is not gambling...maybe not... Brought Forward: 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.
All businesses have an uncertainty/gambling element, trading is no different. If you open a shop and it doesnt turn out to be viable are you gambler? The reason that people equate trading with gambling is that its easy to slip into reckless gambling mode at any moment if you havent learnt to do it properly.
Sure Thing.... everything in Life would be gambling. Please do not try to define the "pure essence" here. I say trading is not gambling... What say you? Michael B. Trading can be gambling if you wish it to be, and trade accordingly
In my example, I say wait two years and the profit accumulated will far exceed the unrealized P/L in this perfect hedge... Michael B. What say you? Quah? Illiquid? Samson? FuturesTrader, Mogul and others.. Go ahead, I can take it, we are all experienced here...
I think going to the casino and dropping a few grand on black at the roulette table just because you "feel it" is gambling, but trading after doing some research and work and have some idea of how it might go? That's not gambling, at least not blindly.