Just wondering when does a trader become a gambler?

[murray t turtle]

Partil a

Just wondering what % of active traders have a gambling problem, but won't admit it? It isn't like no money down...Flipping houses.
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Well Mr Cabin111, if you believe everything you believe all, in WSJ ,[Wall Street Journal ]no difference @ all.LOL

With all due respect ;trading/investing is not gambling @ all; if you think so try counting cards/big WINS in a casino+ see how far you get!! LOL-LOL And also don't confuse disagreement with disrespect. Some do use 'gambling' as a synonym for stupid risk.........

 

[qxr1011]

I find your logic about "odds" a bit odd...

as i said its all about odds

 

[Overnight]

The whole trading vs. gambling thing has been beaten to death, of course. But I think there is a disconnect between true "gambling odds", and "investing odds" which can be applied to trading. It all just depends on the scaling of time. Time is the one key edge traders have that gamblers do not.

For example, a slot machine is gambling. So is roulette, blackjack, the lottery, etc. The odds are stacked against you every single time you "enter the gamble (trade)". And the odds are always the same on each "pull" or "entry" into those games. When you place your "bet (entry)" on a single "outcome (target number)" in gambling it is black and white. The target will be hit or not the moment the handle is pulled, ball is tossed onto the wheel, etc.

There is NO way to protect your money once that turn had been made. It is do or die.

But with a trade (and unlike gambling), you do not instantly lose or make any money the moment you make the entry. If that were true, it would not be trading (investing). Instead, you have the time factor to allow your trade (bet) to mature into a profitable run.

This would be the gambling equivalent of putting a bet (trade) on getting an ace and face card on the flop in Blackjack, and the dealer getting less or busting, in as many flops as you choose, without losing your original bet. It could take 2 flops, or 20. Eventually, you will get there.

Gamblers do not have that time luxury. They lose very often after each initial flop. But traders, in equivalence, do not have to bail on each flop. They can wait. Their only need to get out is when they run out of funds to support the original position (bet), which did not lose money on each flop.

Damn, I am losing train of thought, sorry. The meat of the argument is that gamblers are all in and all out with one shot on each bet (trade)...Traders do not have to be...they have so much flexibility it boggles the mind. The only way to mitigate risk in gambling is to never play the game...Traders can be in the game and mitigate the risk with many many means.

 

[lawrence-lugar]

There is NO way to protect your money once that turn had been made. It is do or die.
But with a trade (and unlike gambling), you do not instantly lose or make any money the moment you make the entry.

The only way to mitigate risk in gambling is to never play the game...Traders can be in the game and mitigate the risk with many many means.

This is absolute Key...Why all gamblers are basically completely fucked from the get-go.
It's instantly Do or Die, either Instantly win or instantly lose everything. -- There is no in between.

That factor alone...will make a World of difference to your performance bottom line.
The devil is always in the details, or in the vast huge middle grey, dynamic area.
It's important and vital...to understand concepts like this. To structure and approach your trading to your advantage as much as possible.

If you treat trading like a roulette wheel spin, and wonder why you are failing...
Some people do this same process for years and years, if not decades.
Older market veterans aren't necessarily wiser. Some are just simply defective learners and observers ,
Lessons are being thrown in your face everyday, but they are not digesting it properly. -- Learn to crap Gold.

 

[Turveyd]

Every trade has a risk, it only becomes a gamble when you hold it when your rules of the trade are broken, then your just hoping it will turn back your way.

 

[southall]

The answer to the question is easy, but knowing when it happens is hard.

Answer: When a trader no longer has a trading edge (profitable expectancy) but continues to trade.

A trader might not have had an edge in the first place in which case he was always gambling.

 

[Cabin111]

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.

So Warren Buffett bought Coke and Sees Candy...Plans to hold onto them till he dies. Where is his lifecycle??

 

[digitalnomad]

A lot of trades don't have unlimited risk. If I buy a call on some stock or ETF, I'm not risking ruin as long as my account has a balance significantly greater than the cost of the call.

Risk of ruin by a thousand cuts. Still side bets (especially options), just slower bleeding.

 

[SimpleMeLike]

Hello,

You are a gambler when you act like one trade is a make or break it scenario, when your heart is pumping fast while in trade, when you brag to friends how this one trade today was sooo awesome, when hands are trembling and sweating, when get very mad when lose, when get very happy when 1 trade goes right, when blaming the market for losses, when blaming XYZ for losses, when saying things like If I did this or did this or if this would have never happen.

A gambler trader simply don't know what they are doing.

 

[Cabin111]

Hello,

You are a gambler when you act like one trade is a make or break it scenario, when your heart is pumping fast while in trade, when you brag to friends how this one trade today was sooo awesome, when hands are trembling and sweating, when get very mad when lose, when get very happy when 1 trade goes right, when blaming the market for losses, when blaming XYZ for losses, when saying things like If I did this or did this or if this would have never happen.

A gambler trader simply don't know what they are doing.

Sounds like buying a house...