it’s a gamble just getting out of bed in the morning. Aferall… her husband might catch you… err umm… I mean you might fall and break your neck.
Seriously though, the whole problem with this thread is that no one has come up with a definition of gambling that everyone can agree on. How can you answer the original question if you can’t even define what gambling is?
I think most people agree that going to a casino type environment, and buying lottery tickets, are the most typecasted definitions of gambling. If you win it’s pure luck and no matter how much you practise, that won’t change.
However, there are other types of gambling that you can win at by acquiring some kind of skill set…like motor skills for one that will help prevent you from falling out of bed and breaking your neck…lol.
In forex we trade, and trading is a skill that can be developed to improve your chances of winning. If you don’t use or know the skills, then it’s a gamble. And that goes for everything in life.
sigh…
I just don’t see why it even matters what you call it. You could call it waltzing or call it a fig newton it’s the bottom line that matters and fortunately mine is growing, I hope everyone else’s is too.
have a great weekend all you gamblers 
One look at the current housing market says it’s a gamble to buy a house…
Master Tang you crack me up
I think sweet pip says it right basically there is different levels of gambling. I know when I lived in Las Vegas there was plenty of desperation and people would bet on anything. I also saw people who took there gambling to a whole new level.
The fact is if you are risking money to make money it is a form of gambling, and yes risk and gambling seem to belong together so when TalonD jokes about falling out of bed then I have to agree.
My dad told me when I was a kid “if you are afraid of a bridge collapsing then you may as well lock yourself in a closet” He is right all life involves risk, one way or another.
So the question is, is forex worth the risk and the answer is hell f’ing yea it is!!! I thik it is most of our dreams to gain finacial freedom or an early retirement or whatever.
I love forex and I will always trade and always try to be better and better at it.
I like the answer above.
But I think it depends on how you look at Forex. Anything that is unexpected about the future has a perspective of gambling in a way. You have no idea until you try and find out in so many things! Even a seemingly good business plan can fail.
I already did give the true definition of gambling: to stake money on the outcome of an uncertain event.
It seems there are many attempts to blur the issue of what is gambling and what is not, talk of house buying etc.
If you buy a house to live in you are not staking money on the outcome of an uncertain event, you are buying the house to be used as a dwelling, Therefore it is not gambling.
If you buy a house purely for the reason of speculating on the housing market with the aim of making money in the event of a price rise, then you are staking money on the outcome of an uncertain event, this makes it gambling.
If you buy a house to live in and incidentaly the value of the house rises and when you sell it you make a profit, this is also not gambling as the money was not originaly a stake on an event, it was simply a payment for that property.
By the same token if you exchange currency from dollars to euros for the reason of funding a purchase in Europe or to take with you on vacation in Europe it is not gambling.
If you exchange currency for the reason of speculation on the forex market, you are staking money on the outcome of future, uncertain price movements, this makes it gambling.
I don’t entirely agree with your definition and that’s the problem with a thread like this, there is no consensus.
what part of it dont you agree with ?
I don’t see why the definition of gambling should require a consensus on this forum thread, gambling already has a clear definition, to look it up …
wikipedia:
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods.
websters
a : to play a game for money or property
b : to bet on an uncertain outcome
SDC’s definitions pretty well cover it I think
You’re not going to have a group agreement on whether forex is gambling or not unless everyone can agree on what gambling is. You’ve got the dictionary definition of gambling and that’s fine if everyone want’s to agree on that as the definition of gambling then it becomes easy for everyone to agree on an answer to the original question ‘is forex gambling?’. Personally I make a distinction between games of chance where you have zero chance of coming out ahead in the long run (gambling) and games of chance where you have a positive expectation (not gambling). By this definition: Casino patrons gamble, casino operators do not gamble. And new forex traders who have no skill gamble, experienced forex traders who do have skill and make a living at it do not gamble. We disagree on that and we always will because my definition of gambling is not the same as yours. Like I said before though, this is all semantics, you can call forex what ever you want to call it. To me the only thing that is relevant is that my account is on average increasing and not decreasing.
I think that the probability that everyone here will come to an agreement on whether forex is gambling or not is exceedingly small… I wouldn’t BET on it. 
I suppose I should add that while for some people gambling has a negative connotation, for me it does not. I’ve been to the casinos in Biloxi and although I know the odds are stacked against me it’s still a good evening of entertainment. I just consider the negative expectation to be the price of entertainment. Blackjack is my game of choice but with the multiple deck shoes card counting becomes pretty much useless. Now on the single deck games you can still come out ahead if you are really good at it. The free drinks are nice too…
The last time I was there a hurricane was headed straight for Biloxi, Jim Cantore from the weather channel was standing on the beach doing his show. I wanted to stay and gamble that I wouldn’t get blown away, hey if he can stand there in a hurricane why can’t I? But they shut down the casino’s and made us leave. 
I dont see how there can not be an agreement, the word gambling is an English word with its own explicit defintion its definition isnt open to debate unless you are on the board of the English Oxford Dictionary, its like saying ice isnt freezing unless we agree it is, but it has already been established by the relevent science institutions what ice is and what freezing is in the same way as it has already been established what the definition of the word gambling is.
What is open to interpretation is whether or not forex trading falls under the definition of gambling I say it clearly does fall under that definition and I have yet to read any persuasive argument that goes any way towards proving it doesnt.
There are different forms of gambling, different games with different rules, some are pure chance, the toss of a coin, the throw of a dice, they are independant events, purely random, previous events of the same type cannot be used to better forcast the future event.
Other events that may be gambled on have prior history that can be used to better forcast the most likely outcome, horse racing, dog racing sports betting in general, finacial trading, they all come under the gambling genre of events that have relevent prior history that can be used in an effort to forcast the probable outcome of the future event, but they are all united under the umbrella of gambling because all of them have one thing in common,
They all fall under this definition, which is the definition of the word gambling:
Money is staked on the outcome of an uncertain event.
The horse is dead…
Stop beating it.
The definition won’t be agreed upon no matter how many times Webster’s gets quoted.
Why?
Some people aren’t willing to call trades “bets”. Social status as “investor” vs. “gambler” is seen with more regard.
As SDC eloquently points out, the definition already HAS been agreed !
The fact that some people cant accept that definition just illustrates the psychological issues they are failing to address. Subconsiously they know its gambling, and thats often the cause of many of the problems that they face.
Debating is like butting your head on a brick wall. Webster or not, I make a distinction in expectation that the rest of you may not. That’s my preference. I still say the bottom line is all that matters. And that’s why we will never agree so let us agree to disagree and as Master Tang says or to paraphrase as I like to do Let us not continue to flail an expired equine!
armageddon outa here
ciao amigos
slan agat
metrix,
As long as you keep thinking that way you will never win in the long run. Only education will make you a profitable trader and change you from the trader you are now who is strictly gambling when making a trade to the investor who places a trade with confidence and accepts only 95% and above as an acceptable win/loss ratio.
The professional trader vs the gambler have a vast difference in education experience and account balances. The professional trades with little or zero emotion and considers trading as a business. He views money only as a vital instrument he uses and needs to continue and build his business and thus prosper.
He realizes without a well funded account he is out of business and on the street and the game is over. He trades with risk/reward as his primary concern before entering a trade. As the trade progresses in his favor his first objective is to eliminate risk and takes profit at predetermined levels and thus very quickly is at zero risk. Only then is his attention turned to making profit and maximizing the results. As the trade progresses further and profits build he adds contracts and thus maximizes the returns. Risk never leaves his mind and he takes trades only at zero risks. At this stage he is at a win big or win small but it is still a win situation.
Before making any trade the professional has done his homework and his heart beats with the market. He knows when the stock market crashes the value of the dollar will rise as the market becomes adversive to risk. He watches the commodity currencies as these will fall first and the hardest as bad news on the economy will send the AUDUSD down and this knowledge will put pips into his account. He plays only to win and when the odds are in his favor.
Do you trade or do you gamble? From your comments you are either very new or haven’t taken the time to educate yourself. Either way your money is fodder for the professional traders. If you are not following the big players then you will lose your account. You may have an occasional win but this will only fuel your desire to gamble more and hasten your demise.
To understand a non-professional trader one only has to go to a casino and go the crap table and watch the action. Only one in a hundred thousand know how to play and you will see the losers betting on the long odds like the box cars. The more they lose the more they bet as if this will erase their losses and lack of knowledge. I watched a young professional take over $70,000 off of one crap table in Vegas in a matter of hours and every move he made was predetermined. As the dice were rolled he moved, added or subtracted his bet and he was without emotion and more like a man in a trance. He ignored everybody at the table except the guys working the table. When we both decided to move to another table because of too many newbie players I was the first roller. He then turned to me and asked what was my number and I answered ten(10). He said then I’m a player and I will bet on you. I proceeded to roll the roll of a life time and made a few hundred. He made 10’s of thousands and he thanked me when it ended. He said I was the first new trader he had made money on but he said I read you correctly. At first I read you as a professional but quickly learned otherwise as you traded. You are clueless about this game but at least you roll the dice like a professional. I laughed and thanked him for the experience and said I wished I could play like he did. He said you can if you are willing to take the time to learn.
This experience was a valuable one as it taught me to be successful one only has to know how to play the game like a professional. Easier said then done but very rewarding if accomplished. It is not an easy road to travel and the time invested to become a professional anything is enormous but the effort is a most rewarding and profitable one.
So the choice is yours, stay ignorant and lose or spend the time to learn and win beyond your wildest dreams. Only time will tell which road you have chosen. Choose it wisely.
Okay…
Soooo…
Because the character you described was a professional, was he NOT a gambler?
My money’s on Metrix;)
When I got into this a few years back, I learned. Read, studied, ate, breathed, and slept this thing.
Now I wish I could rip all that crap out of my head.
It gets in the way of profit…