Is trading Gambling or not .."What say You" Vote here.

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by ElectricSavant, Apr 10, 2005.

Is Trading Gambling or not

This poll will close on Jan 12, 2060 at 11:25 AM.
  1. Gambling

    460 vote(s)
    35.0%
  2. Not Gambling

    854 vote(s)
    65.0%
  1. 28,

    When you get your zero line cross and your 5 minutes into the trade with some profit, and you get a stall...but your longer time fram says your good to go for more, but you get a stall.....so you put on another side with another Broker and you leave both open...

    scenario...the price goes down and you grab a 10 minute profit on the short side...then it turns and the other side continued up...

    Were you gambling? or using time and movement efficiently?
     
    #511     Nov 19, 2006
  2. Both, thats my whole point, they are indistinguishable
     
    #512     Nov 19, 2006
  3. uhhhh. I'm not too familiar with how bookies work. but I imagine if the bookie only gets one bet. and the game goes against the bookie. he loses money. how is that not gambling? If one direction means losing money and one direction means winning money. Thats gambling. My example has absolutely nothing to do with how bookies operate. Semantics? nope.
     
    #513     Nov 19, 2006
  4. ahhh....so which side are you on...the bookie side or the player side...

    or.....

    the Traders side? (see the poll) did you Vote?


     
    #514     Nov 19, 2006
  5. There some details like odds...also some bookies can lay off their bets and offer better odds... and so forth...Their book determines their odds...

    Then Vinnie can find out who is "scheduled" to Win too...

    Don't laugh, If i had a bloomie and the right phone numbers there are some sure plays in currencies right when the big banks start the cascade...I made a play like that once with an alert when one of the big banks were buying...it was easy money...Hint: the entire scenario happened live right here in ET...

    Call me ElectricCohen


     
    #515     Nov 19, 2006
  6. Well if they only get one bet. They cant really balance it with odds. If it goes against them. they lose right? So I guess at the start they are gambling. But once they get enough betters they can balance their gains / losses so that it does'nt matter which way the game goes. They are no longer gambling.

    If a bookie only accepted bets once they have enough people lined up for each type of trade, not to be exposed to winning / losing. Then it would be a 'somewhat' better comparison for the widget trader. In this case, neither the bookie or the widget trader are gambling.

    In this case, trading is not gambling.
     
    #516     Nov 19, 2006
  7. They are still gambling, just like the winning trader is still trading/gambling... they are just doing it better than all the other traders/gamblers :)
     
    #517     Nov 19, 2006
  8. There are scenarios in Trading that can "distingish" it and make it closer to "not gambling"
     
    #518     Nov 19, 2006
  9. As with everything, the truth can only found in somewhere in shades of gray, and while it may be argued that all transactions which involve derivative instruments are gambling by definition it is possible that you have found at least one way to trade that isn't gambling as most people think of the term.

    Trading also would not be gambling if you were a farmer of some sort and took a position in agricultural futures to offset your current product, the same could be said if you were a jeweler and metals worker and took a position in the metals market, or were in the business of lending money and choose to hedge a portfolio of loans with an interest rate derivative, Long an indicie and hedged with a Put, etc., etc.

    But all trading involves risks, and your model would have to factor all of them out of the equation to really be considered not gambling, and if it does effectively eliminate risk to the point where it is pretty much non-existent, well then for you trading is not gambling.

    But I'd say for over 90% of the trading community (including those that use all aforementioned derivatives, options, and the purchase of stocks for the purpose of short-term capital growth), no matter how good their trading is, it is still gambling.

    Regards,

    JJ
     
    #519     Nov 19, 2006
  10. wrong. if there is no way within the limitations of our current universe that you can lose money. you are not gambling. period. :D

    gam‧ble  /ˈgæmbəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[gam-buhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -bled, -bling, noun

    –verb (used without object)
    1. to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.
    2. to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance: to gamble on a toss of the dice.
     
    #520     Nov 19, 2006