It makes me laugh when traders turn their noses down on poker players and other pro gamblers. Poker is a game of skill...just like trading...only a minute few succeed in poker just like in trading...in fact there are likely more successful professional gamblers than successful traders....we are no different than poker players
Quite true my friend. In trading just like in Poker, we simply take money from less educated/experienced traders.
Most traders fail because they cannot beat the spread or/and commissions/fees, case closed and end of story, don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Trading is a mathematical game, if you can beat the spread and the commissions, in the long run you will make money, simple as that. In other words, you need to have a statistical edge or you WILL get crushed, slowly but surely.
Reality. And the dictionary. You are correct about the deep symmetry between poker and trading. And both are gambling.
Really? Take a look at the chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average for example (since 1902) and dare to tell us the up trend is just due to luck and random events, like in Poker or Roulette.
First off, post the inflation adjusted chart and we'll talk about that. Second, if your goal in trading is to capture beta, well, you won't have to be making many trades. That's not what I (or most speculative traders) are intending to do. Trading is, and always will be, gambling. And that's OK, because gambling can be very profitable if you have the right skills.
And you don't get to redefine trading as just another form of gambling just because you'd like to. Gambling is rigid and confined, trading is open ended. The Kelly criterion for gambling is simple, the Kelly criterion for trading is much more complicated. Different trend traders can all be profitable entering the same trend at different times and exiting at different times. Try doing that with a horse race or a hand of poker. Gambling is confined to a single time frame. Traders can operate in a half dozen different time frames simultaneously. You exhibit a poor understanding of trading.
Your absolute faith in the dictionary is comical. The dictionary defines a god as a deity. The dictionary also defines a deity as a god. Common sense calls this a circular definition. The dictionary doesn't know any better. Most human activities worth doing involve some risks. Should we label all of them as gambling? Common sense says no, your dictionary says yes.
Shhhhhh..... It's better to let the gambler think that trading is like gambling. Every gambler dream of becoming a trader. But no trader dreams of becoming a gambler. I've seen a lot of professional gambler come into the world of trading and fail. Gambling is where the dumb people go to manipulate money. The only thing gambling has that is related to trading is money management. I'm a trader but I do not enjoy gambling. I rarely if ever play poker or go to a casino.