Just a comment...if we carry your equation over to all business ventures, then no one should ever go into any business...as we all know, 90+% of all business ventures fail....and, one step further, 85% of all employees are fired at some point in time (not as applicable, but relevent). At least in trading (with us anyway), you don't have to buy a franchise, lease a building, start a restaurant, etc........and you have a very limited risk with an unlimited upside...just a point to keep in mind. All the best, Don
I never heard of a gambling place where you can bet $100 and make $4,000 with a 30-40% win ratio show show!
I guess you never heard of Keno, Let it ride or 3-card poker then? 3-card poker the win on a 3 of a kind is 30:1 40:1 on a straight flush...
I don't think you understood his statement. He wants to win 4k with a 100 dollars 30-40% of the time. Just how I understood it. Trading is gambling unless you know where the price is going cause you are the one taking it there. You do not know with certainty where the price is going so you are taking a educated guess as to the direction. So it is gambling. JMHO
of course its gambling! everything is a gamble, just with different odds. Going to work everyday and earning that safe paycheck at the end of the week is still a gamble. Just ask the former employees of ENRON
Well it's either gambling or investing and my vote is gambling. I might be willing to call it investing, but my definition of investing is funding something that produces a beneficial product or service that justifies your profit. I don't see where my buying a stock on the secondary market produces a product or service that might justify my profit. Okay, the initial IPO might fund the production of factories, etc. and indeed there are associated products or services. However, secondary market trading does not further produce anything so how is my "investment" producing anything and why am I entitled to profits? Indeed, the above might explain why stock prices are so unpredictable. That is, in truth they have no value, it's all smoke and mirrors subject to whimsical human fantasy. In other words gambling. JMHO Don P.S. The above excludes stocks that pay dividends.
IMHO, I think a missing piece of the discussion should revolve around the fact that a "share" represents actual ownership in the company, albeit a small share. It is ownership nonetheless. You don't have that with gambling. True...alot of the price movements seem to be smoke and mirrors, but the underlying foundation still rests with ownership. People and organizations gain control of entire companies through the same system we use to buy and sell single shares. The percentage of ownership is different...but the concept is not.
What a wonderful poll. We all know that the vast majority lose money trading, and I see that 67% voted Trading is not gambling. Therefore these are the ones who have no clue about risk and risk management in successful trading, which like gambling, involves probabilities/odds. Therefore, simply based on the polls results, we can conclusively state, without a doubt, *Trading is gambling*.