Recent content by Alliance01

Traders, or at least some traders, talk about ' edge' like it is something mystical, something that cant be described or pointed to. Its not hard; it called skill. I dont disagree at all that there is a concept of advantage/strengths amongst and between traders but it is what it is; skill. What...

There is still a gamble here, an element of chance/uncertainty. The fact the probabilities are more with you than against you doesn't preclude the presence of some risk. Its just an odds on bet - I wouldnt consider thaking a freely available odds on bet as being anything more than a very...

@barjon - fully agree - at the end of the day its P&L that defines our success, not what we call ourselves.

He was trading. he was just trading with a ridiculous risk position. We often call such a ridiculous position a gamble, but it doesn't preclude him from also having been trading. They are not mutually exclusive.

Thanks for the link! I'm not sure it says anything different to what I am saying though! Very curious as to exactly how you think these classifications are applied; I have never heard of anything like this except in the case of gaming machines in pubs and so on where the rate of tax is in part...

If you can point me to the part of the Act that defines gambling by the win/loss ratio of the participants then I will happily concede but I think you will struggle on this one for some very simple reasons; gambling/betting is not defined by the win/loss ratio but by the nature of the game...

The treatment of spread betting or any gambling endeavour as gambling/tax free has nothing to do with what proportion of people are successful at it.

Couldnt agree more. It is what it is. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck etc. Calling it something else is just form over substance in my view and that can be dangerous if people somehow believe the risks are magically transformed just through use of alternative language.

Well said!

I dont think gambling can be identified by position size at all so blowing out after one or one million positions makes no difference. The issue is the risk assumed. What about a merchant who stakes his business on one product or market? Is he a gambler just because his eggs are all in one...

Again; I think we should use words quite carefully. I know a few traders who are just poor traders. They took several poor decisions/positions and boom - gone. Similarly I know people who take incredibly high risk positions and come out on top. They were absolutely speculative. The assertion...

hmmm. I think you should be a bit careful here. People define and interpret words like 'trading' and 'gambling' in a way that is quite personal to them. I'm not so sure I would be so quick to say they are totally different - you can after all have very, very high risk speculative positions - why...

Dod gammit!!! A gauntlet!!! I thought gauntlet throwing was banned around here?! I'll start a new thread in the next couple of days (new years resolution ticked off!) and see if we can get a body of people to tune in and contribute etc; it would be useful to have a bit more on 'alternative'...

Surprised we don't get more stuff on here about sports markets. They are liquid, 'inefficient', transparent(-ish!). 24/7. I think they are nice markets to be in with the right approach. Personally, I am all over them; they are my primary area of activity and I much prefer them to financial markets.

10, 000 hours. That, apparently, is the amount of time it takes to become expert at something (assuming you take lessons on board etc etc.) working on your trading almost 5-8hrs as day Mon-Fri will get you there in 6+ years. No shortcuts to be honest! U could probably become pretty competent...