How is forex trading different from gambling?

I’m not a gambler but … is it so necessary to feel it? I thought that feeling the moment comes with practice, and practice comes from some theory? hah

Well I feel trading is not like gambling, if you are clear what you are doing! Those who believe forex trading to be gambling will end up getting same long term results as in Las Vegas. But if you treat forex as a business with proper risk and money management strategies, you certainly have better chances of success.

Forex is just another instrument to speculate through, despite if you win or lose.
Trading is a form of speculation, which is gambling, albeit more controlled than other speculative mediums. The physical aspect of trading is easy, hence why many beginners are able to make money trading a demo account. but once you switch to a live account, in theory nothing changes apart from your own psychology.

gambling is a lot easier on the mind.
You have fixed bet increments and you have to wait until the event is fully played out.
In trading you can repeatedly buy in an uptrend, get scared when there’s a small retracement and close out at a small loss and continue to do so and keep losing money, despite being right every time!

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Forex trading is different than gambling as forex trading business involves analysis, calculations, risk management and a little bit of luck too… however gambling is truly based on luck where you either looses or win on your bets. While in forex trading we can also minimize our risks of loosing by effective money management.

In trading we have complete freedom of expression and can do anything we want. In life we often feel constrained.
We should find another creative outlet.
In the market you need rigid rules and a strict adherence to them.
Not lofty ideas that are not properly thought through, that’s where the gambler plays their game.

Forex trading is way more different than gambling if you treat forex as a business and makes a systematic approach with proper money management and discipline. If a trader just relies on luck and gamble with his money he will have the long term results same as a gambler do.

Professional Gamblers use the same systematic approach, money management skills and discipline… a business.

The HUGE difference between a Casino and Forex is you place $5000 on black of a Roulette Wheel in Vegas and it comes in Red… You lose $5000 no more, no less… even if the lights go out… your risk is locked.

You place a trade in Forex and the lights go out… your loss can be devastating… more than you have in your trading account…more than you have…period. Ask anyone who was trading during 2016 Swiss Franc unpegging… Stop Loss or not…

Try leaving a trade open after Friday market close… currency re-rate… global event over the weekend and you will find even a stop will not mitigate your loss… So FX is far more dangerous than Gambling…Think about it…

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There are matches between gambling and forex. The casino / broker always wins :slight_smile:

Yes it can be akin to gambling, but like every thing it wholely depends of your perspective as well as approach.

it has been shown time and time again random entry using a timed exit with stop loss money management, produces better results as apposed to a system. “a gamble”

the word “system” is a gambler’s term. in reference to beating the house. laying technical or fundamental analysis over it, gives the user a conceived form of control, therefore removing the “air” of gambling.

win/loss and probability in the reference to money management is used in gambling. and has done such since before charting was even invented. trading has drawn from gambling many of its forms of risk management. So it is very easy to draw the conclusion it is a form of gambling. because at its core it is

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I don’t know of anyone who has proven to have a strategy that makes money in the long term. To me this means that Forex is gambling

So many people do not understand that there are two types of gambling - one in which the outcome is uncertain but that outcome can be affected by your skill, and the other on in which the outcome is uncertain but there is no correlation between any skills you may have and the outcome.

The one is like poker, the other is like the lottery.

So there is no point arguing over whether forex is gambling or not until it is agreed what sort of gambling. For pity’s sake stop this pointless argument until you can even understand it.

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What? lol
It is the oppisite of gambling. In gambling, the house always has the edge - the house is a business and the business would not operate without this edge, so the person playing against the house is always going to be a gambler (unless cheating).
With trading, you can become the house by creating an edge on your trading plan.

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Your thinking isn’t straight. You say effectively that if you are skilful enough then you are not gambling because you have an edge over the house. You are still gambling, the level of skill is never sufficient to raise trading above gambling, because that’s the nature of the game. Skill as a trader makes you a better gambler but it cannot promote you up out of gambling.

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Yes, all business is gambling.

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the forex market should definitely be viewed as gambling, just look at it as you going in to the casino .

Totally wrong thinking.

Trading is a business. Like all businesses -
it can make a profit or make a loss
the outcome is affected by the skills and resources used by the business owner
if you act in business as if it was gambling, you will lose

The fact that something can make a loss does not make it gambling.

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Forex trading is different from gambling, maybe many people that having wrong mindset like that because they lack knowledge and never jump into this business totally, how to trading forex need analysis and not only relying with lucky, different with gambling which only like as throw coin and depending with luck, as trader need analyze the market and using strategy trading to manage their money properly

Such a pointless argument to have, but it’s still the age old question. Good luck searching for your answer though whilst some of us know this already :wink:

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Trading Forex is more than just installing a trading platform,clicking a buy or sell button and funding an account. Yes very often it’s been compared to gambling since there is a high degree of risk and speculative activity is involved.
Nevertheless,there are some differences which exists between the two :
• Gamblers don’t tend to have much of a plan when gambling and because of this they don’t tend to win consistently. In this regard, some unsophisticated Forex traders might start trading without ever having developed a well defined strategy.
• A Forex trader can easily become a Forex gambler when he lets his emotions dictate his actions to trade illogically. Unlike gambling,trading is much more than just betting on outcome.
• Unlike Gambling, Forex traders can rely on price patterns and analysis to decide on the closing and opening a position with the hope to win.