Just wondering when does a trader become a gambler?

When you pull the trigger and you don't have a full lifecycle trading plan with mitigation. Or when you walk into a casino and place a bet vs buy/sell casino stock based on investment analysis to profit from capital gains, dividend and the future of the company as a whole.
 
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I think of gambling in terms of expectancy. Use a roulette wheel for instance, betting on one number yields a very high potential payout (not sure but I know it's north of 30x the bet) although it still has negative expectancy for the bettor, so they are hoping to get lucky and hit their number before the odds catch up with them. On the flip side, the casino offering the game of roulette is not gambling. The casino has positive expectancy because they know that while they can lose a large amount of money in proportion to the potential gain from the same person's bet, overall the odds dictate that as the number of games played moves higher to infinity they will make money on balance. The casino is not gambling, the casino is investing.
 
tomorton said:
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?
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No is not the same. That's why you cannot say that traders are gamblers. Part of them are, and part of them are not.
 
Ever met an income gambler? Someone who plays the odds and educated in BJ and poker. They're not there to make a killing but to make a few hundred a day.
 
schweiz said:
No is not the same. That's why you cannot say that traders are gamblers. Part of them are, and part of them are not.
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I should have also asked, if not the same, why not?

Because the lottery's outcome cannot be affected by the application of skills and knowledge. Whereas trading's outcome can.
 
if we define gambling as a game with the probable outcome - all people are gamblers , since all our life is the game with the probable outcome (even when someone/something provide us with certain guarantees), most people just do not realize that they are gambling

the difference is just in the odds...

speaking of traders

trader who does not know what he is doing has the odds stuck up against him (but there is a chance that the winning streak may outlast even the length of his life)

trader who knows what he is doing has odds in his favor (but no guarantee that the loosing streak will not crush him)
 
qxr1011 said:
if we define gambling as a game with the probable outcome - all people are gamblers , since all our life is the game with the probable outcome (even when someone/something provide us with certain guarantees), most people just do not realize that they are gambling

the difference is just in the odds...

speaking of traders

trader who does not know what he is doing has the odds stuck up against him (but there is a chance that the winning streak may outlast even the length of his life)

trader who knows what he is doing has odds in his favor (but no guarantee that the loosing streak will not crush him)
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All "traders" knew a February 8th 2018 could and would happen...

I think it is safe to say those who got slammed on that day were not investors. Those who could and did stick it out were most likely real "traders"...
 
qxr1011 said:
trader who does not know what he is doing has the odds stuck up against him (but there is a chance that the winning streak may outlast even the length of his life)

trader who knows what he is doing has odds in his favor (but no guarantee that the loosing streak will not crush him)
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I find your logic about "odds" a bit odd... :confused:
 
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