Just wondering when does a trader become a gambler?
From day one...
From day one...
Just wondering when does a trader become a gambler?
- Thread starter Cabin111
- Start date
I think it is just semantics between trader or gambler, and can't say only very knowledgeable trader exists between the two cause how come so many who play many of tournament poker at Las Vegas World Series of Poker in June-at final tables handful of Pros still there? They double down when they have calculated the odds favor themselves and fold when they know they have less odds of winning against others.
Perhaps the Post should have been " What is the difference between trader who takes normal positions and a trader take desperate positions". I think there can be a unhealthy amount of them needing a daily "fix" of having another loss to complete their day. Having an unbalanced thought processes like a drug junkie, and most likely get the same anxiety attacks? Too many ads in magazines of some golfer playing at 10am cause he is done making profits, the dreamers who think little work is needed to get good.
Whether you walking across the street-bus can hit you or sleeping in bed-engine of a plane fell off to hit you, everything has risk.
Perhaps the Post should have been " What is the difference between trader who takes normal positions and a trader take desperate positions". I think there can be a unhealthy amount of them needing a daily "fix" of having another loss to complete their day. Having an unbalanced thought processes like a drug junkie, and most likely get the same anxiety attacks? Too many ads in magazines of some golfer playing at 10am cause he is done making profits, the dreamers who think little work is needed to get good.
Whether you walking across the street-bus can hit you or sleeping in bed-engine of a plane fell off to hit you, everything has risk.
'Gambling' doesn't have to necessarily, automatically be an ugly word...it's to the degree and extent and knowledge you have, and the consequential results you produce.
Geologists and astrologists and engineers and weather people and physicians and business people and entrepreneurs and Christopher Columbus and Gordon Gekko and Hulk Hogan and Lex Luthor and Jenna Jameson and etc etc gamble as well. -- It's truly no technically different then what traders attempt to do and accomplish.
Like any field that's relatively aggressive and bold and high risk/high reward...many many will fail or get nowhere.
But to loosely, generalize...I would say it's safe to assume that more than 90% of prospective traders will materialize nothing.
But to basically, quickly sum up your question...If a trader is not relatively profitable and consistent within year 4 or 5...then they are just being degenerate gamblers throwing money down the drain based on wishful-thinking.
To succeed in this game...you need to be very astute, and attentive, and clever, and observant and a self-directed learner. If you haven't shown or displayed these traits by around year 4...you most likely never will.
2018 ET,
...these shortbread cookies are delicious...feels like I'm eating a creamy, delectable soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone.
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When trader has no profit to show for whole year then he is a gambler regardless what the explanation will be.He should have concentrate on designing his method or if did not have one simply paper trade or write code and test.
There are plenty of such people blowing their money away.This time will be different nonsense!
There are plenty of such people blowing their money away.This time will be different nonsense!
Robert Morse
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When a trader enters a trade....
- that is way too big for their account size.
- that has more "hope" than expectation of profit.
- only because they are using "house money."
- only to try and make back money from a losing trade.
- only because they heard about it in a chat room or from a friend without evaluating the trade themselves.
If I google "gambler" on internet it leads me to the conclusion that every decision in our life is a gamble. Never the outcome is guaranteed and there is always a risk of failure, damage or missed opportunities. Only death is not a gamble.
There are of course degrees of gambling. But then again the qualifications and abilities of the gambler can make gambling more risky or less risky.
Marriage is a gamble. Staying single is a gamble.
Taking a job is a gamble. Refusing a job is a gamble.
Having children is a gamble. Not having childrenis a gamble.
...
All these things can have a negative outcome although the "gambler" was expecting a positive result.
When I started to trade my expectation was to make money in the long term. As it did not happen from the first day, my (now ex-) wife send me for therapy as I was, according to her, apparently addicted to gambling. Most people who have no clue about trading and confuse learning to trade with an addiction. It was not addiction but determination to succeed. They don't understand probabilities and have no knowledge at all about statistics. They are convinced that you can never make money as most people fail.
After our divorce I proved that I was making consistently money while she went from a good situation (financially in our marriage) to a bad one (financially). My daily average income now is higher then her monthly income.
She was the one who took a gamble, and lost it.
The danger of a gamble depends on the understanding of the gambler what risk he takes and what the realistic expectations can be.
Betting is a degree of gambling.
This shows my point. Any enterprise with an uncertain outcome is gambling and if the initiation involves financial commitment and the outcome comprises financial reward, its a bet.
But there are gambles and there are gambles. Person A buys a lottery ticket: they're betting they'll win and its gambling. Person B pays for a training course for a higher qualification in their profession: they're betting they'll find better paid employment. Is what each is doing exactly the same as the other?
