"What's the difference between a trader and an investor?"

Speculating vs. Investing

I consider myself a serious trader. I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who calls himself an 'Investor'. So I asked him,

"What's the difference between a trader and an investor?" He replied,

"I don't know, let me think about it for a while . . .”

 

A trade is when you take a small winner.
An investment is when a trade turns into a huge loser.

 

Traders trade; investors invest. Traders need to take profits regularly(if there is any); investor may buy and hold a security for decades. Traders know how to earn money by shorting; Investors usually only play the long side.

 

traders are guys who trade short term and have an edge
investors can start out by being shitty traders, like many of you on these forums, getting into a bad trade, holding it too long and taking too much risk, because dammit, they have to be right.......
thats why we love retail pikers- amatuer hour is great.....

 

There is only one definition that makes sense to me:

An investor has his money "work" for him. A trader works for his money.

This is not trying to be cute. IMHO, this "definition" is the ESSENCE of the difference. Note that I do not quote the second work.

nitro

 

Simple. A Trader would have given you an immediate answer. An Investor has to "think about it for a while".

 

A trader can deduct all his losses from his profits, an investor cannot.

 

Very nice!

Good Trade!

Trend

 

Good stuff..may I borrow that from time to time? A very good analysis.

 

Thx.

nitro