Trading would rise to the level of gambling if the investor had a government body looking out for his/her interests. For example, the Nevada Gaming Commission protects the gambler's interests in Las Vegas. The investor has the SEC, which attacks and repels the public at the behest of the financial industry. Stock option arbitrageurs profited, in the past, from specific strategies in the options markets, but had to cancel often. The SEC then approved a cancel fee to eliminate the profits earned by these traders, who were mostly "public" traders (not broker-dealers).
Geez, I know the market is a bit slow today, but come on guys, LOL.... Sell stock short, collect interest. Repeat. Take out $50K on your casino credit line, collect interest for 30 days, pay back credit line. There are so many ways to make the "easy money" ... (I guess I'm a little bored as well)... Don
Comment: We never pay cancel fees...when a couple of (no names) groups on the AMEX started charging cancel fees, we simply stopped trading those issues....their volume went to zero, and cancelled the cancellation fees (for the most part, anyway). Don
ok.. i guess i am missing something.. "it can only go to zero" means a lot to me. if I have $5000 in an account, enter a BUY position on AUD/JPY at 87.60, once my net liquidation reaches $2000 ( for IB anyways), IB automatically liquidates (SELL ORDER) this position. I have just lost $3000.... Now, are you suggesting that if you go long, and it goes in your favor, then you have a return in the triple digits? That, I can see, but there is a significant risk involved.. no? What about the fact that you must time this entry with many technical indicators and even then you might be wrong.. how is this much of an advantage? What am I missing here??
By working carefully, it is possible to avoid the option cancel fees. The interesting part is that they were approved in the first place. They are detrimental to the public.
Please don't turn this thread into yet another cash and carry thread, there are plenty of those already. I'm sure ES can point you to his continuing work over at the FF.
You won't get a margin call if you size your trades correctly...do not use all of your leverage! come on...I can't get into Forex 101...
no.. don't have to get into forex 101.. i just assumed you had some different strategy involving all leverage available or something of the sorts... sorry to bother.
I didn't know this thread was here to discuss strategies, I just merely cited one of many examples....instead of opinion...plus I wanted a beer tonight! fandelem, use your imagination and I am sure you can find a way to make trading "Not Gambling".
i wasn't going to chime into the whole trading vrs gambling relationship but i guess i will give my .0002, i recently was taught how to play "texas hold-em" poker (last saturday actually).. and as i sat uncomfortably in my chair for three hours and watched how these veteran poker players played, it struck fairly close to home (trading/futures). i observed most players folding before the dealer even put down "the flop" .. and i could easily relate that to me entering a position, then closing it at b/e (-commiss) or a little loss due to the price action just not feeling right (or in the past month or so, false technical indicators) ... anyways, whatever the reason i closed the position prematurely, it reminded me when these poker players would fold without even seeing the flop. BUT, rest assured, almost all players who did stay in to see the flop (though i have no real proof, just my hunch), had two of a kind from the start, or whatever other edge that has worked for them previously. beyond this, the comparison between the two weakens, but i thought that part was very interesting. i am now looking for a free blackjack/poker website to sharpen a different, but similar skillset, if anyone knows of any (i do not want to have to install any software, plug-in based (except for flash), or downloaded)....?? k. ps- ES, anytime you are in central florida / tampa / gainesville give me a PM and I will buy you a pitcher of your favorite frothy beverage.