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

Professional gamblers achieve the exact same thing but they dont kid themselves that it isn't gambling

 

In that case, the professionals are actually by definition not gamblers.

 

And by that definition 95% of traders are gamblers

 

it is if you don't believe it is.

 

Which is why 95% who attempt this game eventually fail, like normal gamblers.

 

And the 5% who succeed are "professional" gamblers... but I'm sure trader sounds better when we are trying to impress the ladies

 

"I say" - " a lot of discussion about something that is really a personal opinion at best. Some trades are gambles, plain and simple...some are "calculated risks" (not much better), and some "trading" (vs. single trade) is a logical, rational approach to participating in the marketplace.

I count cards (not really gambling in the long run). I "gamble" on occasion when grabbing a couple thousand shares of a stock I know little about ...."just because" (gap down, gap up, "shouldn't go any lower/higher)... experience tends to lead to better "gambles" - but my primary trading is what I consider simple active participation from a position of strength (capital, education, experience, all the "good stuff").

FWIW,

Don

 

can you garuantee future positive expectancy??? that's where the gamble comes in.....but then again pretty much everything is a gamble...

 

If all trading is gambling then obviously all gambling is trading. Since we know gambling is not trading this discussion should end.

 

A gamble is presence of risk of losing money, even if not all money. Successful traders always incur losses, their win ratio is higher though. So every trade might be considered a gamble as various factors might reduce probabilities, but overall performance of a successful trader makes it not a gamble. Technically though any single trade is a gamble IMO.

EDIT: I think I pretty much performed a copycat post on Don Bright, sorry man