Isn't trading almost like gambling?

[Nrcewker]

...My question is, isn't trading almost like gambling considering it uncertainty and also looking from the fact that he has lost a fortune out of trading within a short space of time?

It depends on your attitude to trading. And if you are inclined to the casino, then you will set goals and trade accordingly, neglecting all possible risks, which will certainly lead to the loss of the deposit.

It is more like the amount of risk he is willing to take. In gambling the risk to lose the money most of the time remain at 100%. Hence if he does trading in a similar manner, that is choosing a coin with less marketcap, or trading when market is uncertain, then it’s equivalent to gambling only. If you are taking high risk by putting your money for high returns, then it is known as gambling of money only. So yes OP, till some extent you can say that.

[Sorryfor]

No you cannot call trading as gambling. In trading, if a person properly judge and analyze the market, research and wait for the right time, then surely good profit can be made from it. Trading seems like a business to me. Here you can gain as well as lose. For example, if you are losing money while trading, it is not like you have lost all your money. On the other hand, if you look at gambling, you will either earn double profit or lose all your money. And in trading, you must understand and know enough about the market. Gambling, on the other hand, follows a certain pattern throughout life. So trading and gambling never seem the same to me.

[cute nmp]

Trading cannot be compared to gambling in any sense .It's a different concept that not only requires guessing , but need knowledge, experience, consistency and risk management. Maybe cause of looses associated with trading some sees it similar to gambling but to me there are totally different things.

[Mahanton]

No you cannot call trading as gambling. In trading, if a person properly judge and analyze the market, research and wait for the right time, then surely good profit can be made from it. Trading seems like a business to me. Here you can gain as well as lose. For example, if you are losing money while trading, it is not like you have lost all your money. On the other hand, if you look at gambling, you will either earn double profit or lose all your money. And in trading, you must understand and know enough about the market. Gambling, on the other hand, follows a certain pattern throughout life. So trading and gambling never seem the same to me.

Once analysis is applied then it cant really be called gambling since you do really have that kind of basis on which you are really that able to make use and would be applied to it.Whereas, comparing into those
people who do make out trades basing up with pure guess and speculation without having any application with these kind of methods, then this is where you can really be able to call it that you are basically just doing trading.This is why it would really be that best that you should really know on what kind of approach you would really be needing to have when you do make out trades.

Trading could really be ended up on being a gambling if you wont really be having any basis on every actions you would be making. This is why it would really be that relevant
that you would really be needing that kind of approach when it comes to trading and not something that you would really be acting out that you do
are doing gambling on which its never been that ideal on doing so.

[MFahad]

No you cannot call trading as gambling. In trading, if a person properly judge and analyze the market, research and wait for the right time, then surely good profit can be made from it. Trading seems like a business to me. Here you can gain as well as lose. For example, if you are losing money while trading, it is not like you have lost all your money. On the other hand, if you look at gambling, you will either earn double profit or lose all your money. And in trading, you must understand and know enough about the market. Gambling, on the other hand, follows a certain pattern throughout life. So trading and gambling never seem the same to me.

Well, there are some things that might have some similarities between trading and gambling, such as futures trading and options trading, which are extremely risky and one can either get profit or lose their money, though futures is a bit different and analytical skills, knowledge, and experience can make a difference in it, but options trading is as risky as gambling because a small uncertain movement of an asset can make you lose the money you have bet.
However, if we talk about the overall thing, gambling is far more dangerous and risky than trading because as you said, one can earn money from trading if they have knowledge and experience about trading, while in gambling except sports betting, one can only win if they are lucky.

[Mauser]

Today I visited a friend who is a forex trader, according to him he trades on the USD, gold and BTC and I normally don't fancy the idea of trading because it appears a bit complex for my understanding and from my little knowledge, it seems as though trading is almost same as gambling because at the end of your analysis you're not sure of the outcome of the trade since it's basically a short term adventure and the volatile nature of most traded items depict it to be uncertain with time.

He has lost almost $5000 dollar in course of his trade and he is still positive that he is going to recover all is lost money back in his next trade. I don't really know how trading works that much cause what I have learnt and I have been used to is to Buy a certain asset like the BTC or any valuable asset that will appreciate with time and HODL it. I know that this strategy isn't for someone of his kind that's basically looking for any immediate means of doubling his income and so long term investment won't necessarily seem a good idea for him.

My question is, isn't trading almost like gambling considering it uncertainty and also looking from the fact that he has lost a fortune out of trading within a short space of time?

Is it possible for him to easily recover his money back or is losses like that very much a part of the trading experience?

Forex trading is a very volatile business, because there are so many different pairs of currencies that can be traded and prices are changing all the time. Losing 5000 USD doesn't seem a lot in the Forex markets, usually futures contracts are quite large and you won't be able to buy anything if you don't have enough capital to meet the margin calls. I am assuming now that your friend has some experience in the past and probably made some profits before this loss. If he loses 5,000 USD in this trade, he probably made a bigger return in the last trade. I wouldn't worry so much about one trade alone and rather put everything into perspective over his whole trading year. If you are up 20,000 USD in the first two months and now lose 5,000 USD you are still in the green. I don't think that trading is like gambling, depending on the type of assets he is buying he still will be able to recover his money. In gambling you either lose or win money, there is no in between. As soon as you place a bet you will know if you won or lost, after that there is no chance to make any money from your initial bet. When it comes to trading, we are buying an asset, and just because the value of the asset drops doesn't mean it's worthless. Prices are fluctuating and we still own that asset. Also in gambling we know our winning chances beforehand, whereas with trading the chances are changing all the time.

[Bushdark]

Trading cannot be compared to gambling in any sense .It's a different concept that not only requires guessing , but need knowledge, experience, consistency and risk management. Maybe cause of looses associated with trading some sees it similar to gambling but to me there are totally different things.

Trading is different from gambling but as we may have it, there are people especially traders that are not ready to wait for there signal to click or wait for there strategy to meet all requirements before they go into the market. They always trade based on emotions and what there thought tells them. We need to know what we are doing and avoid unnecessary loses because decided to gamble rather than trading. The is huge money to be made I trading if we can be patient and wait for the market to sail.

[shawonngp]

My question is, isn't trading almost like gambling considering it uncertainty and also looking from the fact that he has lost a fortune out of trading within a short space of time?

Is it possible for him to easily recover his money back or is losses like that very much a part of the trading experience?

Trading and gambling are very similar but they're not the same thing because they're different. Gambling is a game of luck but trading is based on experiences. A trader that has been trading for a longer time and has alot of experience from both the winning and losses that he has had will do better than a novice that's just begining to learn how to trade cryptocurrency but a newbie gambler can be lucky and win over a gambler that has been gambling for a longer time. There are many activities that have uncertainty, trading and gambling has some similar qualities as you can't predict what the result of your bets or trade will be but you have a higher possibility for becoming successful from trading than gambling when learnt properly. Trading success can be repeated many times but gambling can't.

1. Trading = investment/income source
2. Gambling = leisure/entertainment


You would be able to find it for yourself on which things are really that mainly needed on the time that you would really be having such approach.

Trading and gambling both of same for newbies, because they haven't proper knowledge about trading, when trading is turn into kinda gambling.
But both of different and i think gambling is not for only entertainment to everyone, of course everyone's try to profits by play gambling.
A lot of gamblers losing thousands of money just to make quick profits or doubling their money, so it can not be only leisure.

[Zanab247]

I don’t think so. Gambling plays in pure chance. There’s really no strategy involved nor there is some kind of mathematical or even historical patterns to follow. However, with trading an investor can mitigate risks by following historical patterns and setting entry and exit points.

Trading is different from gambling, if you don't have the knowledge of crypto trading there is no way you can earn well from crypto trading like those that have the knowledge on how to trade in the bull run to earn plenty profits which is the best season traders use to earn from the market.

Honestly your friend lost a lot. One could regain it all back if invested in the right coin but since we are talking about bitcoin, he can definitely regain it all back if he just held it for longer. Altcoins are far better options for trading because of its volatility.

Sure, he will surely regain them back but it will take him some years before he will be able to recover the money back because, you know that the bull run don't normally last more than six months or one year which is the reason why you cannot recover the huge losses back in one bull run.

[Hamphser]

My question is, isn't trading almost like gambling considering it uncertainty and also looking from the fact that he has lost a fortune out of trading within a short space of time?

Is it possible for him to easily recover his money back or is losses like that very much a part of the trading experience?

Trading and gambling are very similar but they're not the same thing because they're different. Gambling is a game of luck but trading is based on experiences. A trader that has been trading for a longer time and has alot of experience from both the winning and losses that he has had will do better than a novice that's just begining to learn how to trade cryptocurrency but a newbie gambler can be lucky and win over a gambler that has been gambling for a longer time. There are many activities that have uncertainty, trading and gambling has some similar qualities as you can't predict what the result of your bets or trade will be but you have a higher possibility for becoming successful from trading than gambling when learnt properly. Trading success can be repeated many times but gambling can't.

1. Trading = investment/income source
2. Gambling = leisure/entertainment


You would be able to find it for yourself on which things are really that mainly needed on the time that you would really be having such approach.

Trading and gambling both of same for newbies, because they haven't proper knowledge about trading, when trading is turn into kinda gambling.
But both of different and i think gambling is not for only entertainment to everyone, of course everyone's try to profits by play gambling.
A lot of gamblers losing thousands of money just to make quick profits or doubling their money, so it can not be only leisure.

It isnt really hard to determine in between things in between pure gambling and a risky thing to deal up with .Trading would really be that becoming a gambling on the time
that you would really be having that kind of approach on which you arent applying any analysis or basis with your trading positions or decisions. Whereas, that you could really be able to
apply those things for you to increase out that winning rate or profit chance on which this one couldnt be possible on gambling, well there are games which you could apply some analysis
but not all the time on which the risks is higher when you are dealing up with gambling rather than on trading. You would really be able to distinguish both things on which it isnt really
that hard to point on which one is worth for long term and which one is just for temporal leisure.

[Distinctin]

Trading cannot be compared to gambling in any sense .It's a different concept that not only requires guessing , but need knowledge, experience, consistency and risk management. Maybe cause of looses associated with trading some sees it similar to gambling but to me there are totally different things.

Trading is different from gambling but as we may have it, there are people especially traders that are not ready to wait for there signal to click or wait for there strategy to meet all requirements before they go into the market. They always trade based on emotions and what there thought tells them. We need to know what we are doing and avoid unnecessary loses because decided to gamble rather than trading. The is huge money to be made I trading if we can be patient and wait for the market to sail.

Trading is clearly different from gambling, but if you are trading without knowledge and experience in the market, most likely you will end up trading like gambling. So don’t be a gambler, but perform as a real trader. Know the basics in trading, and build your own knowledge and skills, and as you go on trading, develop your special strategies that will make your trades worth the risk.

Know the importance of patience as well. Successful traders do not just succeed because they are knowledgeable and skillful, but also because they are highly patient to wait for the right timing to trade. They don’t trade for quick profits, they do trading only when the market is suitable to trade so that the probability to win is higher than losing their funds.

[Gormicsta]

In my opinion, the two involve taking risks, making assumptions, and hoping for a payment, but there are some significant distinctions, which are emotions. In gambling, people rely on luck and feelings, and it can lead to decisions that are more based on emotions than reasoning, whereas in trading, emotional control is very important to make sensible choices, and they must distinguish their emotions from trading to be able to make unbiased choices that are trading with a clear mind. And trading requires discipline and patient while gambling requires more tolerance, because it can be very addictive when you start gambling.

[Sergeant Major]

I would call crypto trading an "educated guess", but it isn't far from gambling.  Like betting on a horse or the superbowl or a company stock just before quarterly profits are announced, we all think we know what a certain coin is going to do, but until it happens, we never know for sure.

[dunfida]

I would call crypto trading an "educated guess", but it isn't far from gambling.  Like betting on a horse or the superbowl or a company stock just before quarterly profits are announced, we all think we know what a certain coin is going to do, but until it happens, we never know for sure.

It would really be that turning out to be a gambling on the time that you wouldnt really be thinking about those ways or methods on how it would really be exactly that needs to be deal off with or on how you would really be
applying those analysis on the time that you do make trades and not really that something that will make out those random trades because thats really just that same as gambling on that case.

In regarding into your views about educated guess then you do have that a point. We do have technical and fundamental analysis on which we could really be able to make use. Dont make
yourself that making up positions without tending to check out these things and just like on what most people been saying above that you would really be needing up this kind of
approach so that you wont really be that finding yourself doing that gambling stuff. We can actually increase the odds on having a good profitable trade if you do really just
that know on what you are doing and not really just diving in with gambling just because someone has told you on doing so.

[Bloodseekers]

In my opinion, the two involve taking risks, making assumptions, and hoping for a payment, but there are some significant distinctions, which are emotions. In gambling, people rely on luck and feelings, and it can lead to decisions that are more based on emotions than reasoning, whereas in trading, emotional control is very important to make sensible choices, and they must distinguish their emotions from trading to be able to make unbiased choices that are trading with a clear mind. And trading requires discipline and patient while gambling requires more tolerance, because it can be very addictive when you start gambling.

Both of these things do have a risk of losses that we might get if we don't make the wrong decision and in gambling we really need luck to be able to win our bets and in trading we need knowledge and experience to be able to trade well in order to be successful. gain profits and also we have to do market analysis correctly so as not to make mistakes in making decisions when trading because mistakes in making decisions on trading make us lose money on the trade, it is important for us to be able to control our emotions when trading because whatever happens What we do based on emotions will make us unable to decide things well.

[RockBell]

In my opinion, the two involve taking risks, making assumptions, and hoping for a payment, but there are some significant distinctions, which are emotions. In gambling, people rely on luck and feelings, and it can lead to decisions that are more based on emotions than reasoning, whereas in trading, emotional control is very important to make sensible choices, and they must distinguish their emotions from trading to be able to make unbiased choices that are trading with a clear mind. And trading requires discipline and patient while gambling requires more tolerance, because it can be very addictive when you start gambling.

even if the two of them involve risk trading is much better than gambling, because with gambling there are higher chances of you losing your money the same thing with trading but trading is when you don't listen to instructions and that is why a lot of people are getting liquidated because they have failed to listen.  and making assumptions is usually based on the analysis obtained then you can make your prediction and you can even use the leverage, stop loss, and many more to reduce the chances of losing more and if you are holding you are holding anytime you make a profit it is just for you to sell nothing less stressful, but trading involves a lot of studies.  and not just to study it but also to understand it, because it involves money and I don't think anyone will want to be losing their money.

Gambling and trading involve emotion and some things can be avoided in both of them as measures to avoid losing money, that way your finances can be safe. because both gambling and trading have reckless people who make decisions without considering what comes after that decision.

[Natalim]

In my opinion, the two involve taking risks, making assumptions, and hoping for a payment, but there are some significant distinctions, which are emotions. In gambling, people rely on luck and feelings, and it can lead to decisions that are more based on emotions than reasoning, whereas in trading, emotional control is very important to make sensible choices, and they must distinguish their emotions from trading to be able to make unbiased choices that are trading with a clear mind. And trading requires discipline and patient while gambling requires more tolerance, because it can be very addictive when you start gambling.

Well said...
Trading has no close comparison to gambling because we don't rely on luck but instead, we mostly rely on market analysis. But gambling goes and the chances are very clear that we have a big chance of losing than winning even if we have been doing this for many years. Unlike trading, where we have a chance to improve our analytic skills and knowledge which increases our chance to earn more. If we are emotionally weak before, it can be changed somehow when we are filled already with experience and additional courage. That is how our direction change but in gambling, it never change as it totally relies on luck rather than knowledge.

[Ricardo11]

Trading and gambling, their risks are exactly the same. Both trading and gambling are high risk. Making money from trading is very difficult. Trading and gambling, can make a man from rich to poor, and from poor to rich, it doesn't take long. If you are losing here, you better leave it and focus more on long term bitcoin holding, you can earn much more money from bitcoin holding as well.

[Wind_FURY]

Trading and gambling can both drag us down into zero if we are not knowledgeable on what we are doing.

You're not wrong, knowledge is important when it comes to this stuff.  Trading and some gambling games aren't just about luck if you educate yourself on the market and have a plan.  But you know, taking some calculated risks can pay off too.  A little bit of gambling can be exciting if you play it smart.  I'm not advising anyone go crazy here! But with the right strategy, you might just get a thrill from trading or playing some casino games and,  and who knows, maybe even win something in the process. 

Knowledge, either learned from others or self-learning, is good but if your savings are involved there must be a time when you should start accepting that you simply don't have an edge against the other traders in the market who trade professionally. They have more experience than you, more knowledge/market wisdom/experience than you, more tools, and most importantly they have MORE CAPITAL. How can we mere plebs out-trade them?

It's better to HODL Bitcoin and purchase as much units in Bitcoin than risk losing those units by "trading". But that's only my personal opinion.

[adpinbr]

I so much enjoy this topic a lot, because so many people think that Trading is not a gambling gambling is different from trading, but no trading is just like gambling you go into casino shop and do your gambling your betting and you lose money that is the same thing as much as you go into Trading and you make profit at the same time you also lose sometimes you may lose 90% of your capital so trading is just like gambling to me. I have had a lot of experience, so I see Trading as a typical gambling.