edge....edge.....edge.....The existence of the markets and what makes them go around...the dictionary terms of gambliing...all of this is a non issue... Casinos do not gamble...
Porgie? That you? Anyway, luck is of course part of the gameplan/tradeplan. Let's just take situations where an estimated profit target can, UNEXPECTENTLY, turn out to be x 5 your calculated expectation. On another hand a proven set-up can fire blanks quite a few rounds before you eventually get a winning entry. So I am a firm believer that gambling is part of trading, BUT yearly performance paints a clearer picture, gamble or not gamble for an individual. Hence, I can determine gamble or not gamble for me only in Feb '07 which will mark my first year of full-time trading.
A quantifiable edge ONLY exists in an environment of CONTROLLED outcomes, ie: 52 cards in a deck, 35 slots on a roulette wheel etc, etc... Trading has infinite possibilities and therefor true edge only exists in perception. When you accept this fact you will understand HOW TO MAKE MONEY as a Trader. NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THE MARKET WILL GO... NOBODY
There is no such thing as permanent positive expectancy in trading equivalent to the "house" or casino. In fact, most traders, including the successful ones, are the mirror image of casinos when it comes to "gambling" -- they'll have a high-probability edge that yields very good short-term results, perhaps even years at a time, yet eventually degrades over the long term. You cannot avoid uncertainty, no matter how good you are, eventually it catches up with you -- the market as discounting mechanism assures this. So in that sense, yes, trading is always gambling in the long run, the sooner one accepts that the better.
If you do not have anything to lose...could trading be "not gambling"? honest question..your opinion, does not matter respectfully...
Agreed, most on these boards strain to eliminate uncertainty from their interactions with the market, as if that would provide validation of one's "edge". Unfortunately they usually end up straining out 90% of the possible profits at the same time.
But why do you need it to be "not gambling"? For what purpose does this serve? There are many endeavors that provide a steady paycheck, trading is not one of them.
Human nature forces us to do this and thus it's the same human nature that provokes fear, greed and the rest of the emotions that are destructive to traders but by working against those natural forces and embracing the unknown is where we can find growth and massive opportunity.