Day Trading & Forex Forum

rav700

Over the last couple of years I have been questioned by many and been told that gambling and trading both are one and the same and I have always been defensive that although it might seem like the same there is a vast difference......but what my post is trying to address is that ...
Do you face the following problem when you loose the profit you earn in a day and some of your equity and then you rush into the market to recover you loss.....your trading turns into gambling....what do you do to prevent this kind of behaviour ?
It would be nice to hear the experience of other traders and how they control the Schizophrenia of the trader turning to a gambler........

I have learnt that if you follow your trading plan and you make a certain amount of loss per day.
you should switch off your trading workstations and start literally focusing on other important parts of life so that you do not get the call from the Markets.............."come to me and loose it all"

All I deas would help a lot of people on these forums ...
Happy Trading

Rav

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wasp

Discipline. Plain and simple.

nine

Clearly identify what happens, what you think etc when this occurs. You may find that really focussing on it actually stops it from occurring.

Then inoculate yourself against it. Brett Steenbarger's book on Trader Performance has some good stuff on behavioural and cognitive approaches.

yacarob1

I think that a good starting point would be a clear definition of the term " Gambling ".

I found this on a Google search.

Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving risking money or valuables (making a wager or placing a stake) on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity depends partially or totally upon chance or upon one's ability to do something.

I would prefer to think of gambling as an activity where the outcome cannot be affected by the person making the wager. ie. you wager your money and hope for the best but you cannot take any action to influence that outcome.

Trading is very different in that you can take a multitude of actions to modify the financial result of the outcome being wagered upon.

nine

IMO, thats not a good definition wrt trading. A more useful one for deciding what's good and what's bad might be:

"Gamblers are playing a game of chance and behaving recklessly, largely for the thrill. Traders have specific intention integrated into all their actions and take calculated risks with the purpose of profit."

Trader333

Why be defensive ? I have no problem with being classed as a gambler. Any activity that involves an uncertain outcome is a gamble. You may well have the odds and statistics on your side but at the end of the day I don't see how it is not a gamble if risk is involved even if you have discipline and have evaluated all possibilities.


Paul

yacarob1

Risk is involved in every aspect of our lives so is life one big gamble ?

It is risky to cross the road, fly on a plane and change a light bulb so when we do these things are we essentially gambling with our lives ?

I guess we are really.

Crap Buddist

hmmm, well Gambling is perhaps basing decisions on random events, chance etc, but speculation, is some form of derivative from latin , to observe or something, . So its fair to say if one can assume risk based on considered observations with some sort of structured businness model of buying goods (money) in order to sell on at a profit, its just like any other biz?

Obtain goods, markup, sell in the market = profit, less costs etc....

Gambling ? not seeing it this way , well you know what I mean maybe, having a punt without knowing whats likely fair value to pay for the goods (Money) in order to obtain a return on purchase.

Now anyone see that film Two for One ? sports gambling, recco's in the U.S. Al pacino, run a betting advisory, he went to a Gamblers metting for addicts, lol ended up leaving his card in case any of them had a relapse (ruthless b.astard) , but his character suggested that gamblers, wanted to feel the asshole tightening, that moment of them taking a loss, because it made them feel alive. They need to lose, because it made them feel alive.

O.k. I touched on some thread about people feeling bored, saying I couldnt remember feeling that etc. and asked the question , why ,how some get like this , ?

No replies came but, what popped into my head a couple of hours later, was maybe people dont feel alive, dont know they are alive, its not enough, living dead?

We are alive, but maybe many tend to forget that. Or never have realised it, or its taken as granted, or something.

mumble , mumble.......

See where this is heading?

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