Is Forex Gambling?

Most people still see FX as gambling because of the way they trade(Like gamblers)… The true meaning of gambling is:
The wagering of money or something of material value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an [B]uncertain outcome[/B] with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods…

Note the phrase uncertain outcome in gambling… On the other hand: In FX when you have a system that works for you if not all the time, a greater percentage of the time which varies from one slasher(Trader) to another. Moreover you have a good Money Management technique and discipline which you as a profitable trader should have and abide with, forex wont be gambling.

In summary I dont know how many people have watched this film: “21”?(starring:Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey.
)… If you watch the film you will get to know that even the normal poker players we call gamblers, to be the very best, you ought to have a system and in their case they were good at [B]card counting[/B], they exuded discipline, patience, they were not greedy and they were fearless and when they broke the rules, they payed dearly for it. However they slashed some good dough in the movie

In the real world, its the same with FX…When you become good with a system, its no longer gambling but a way of life…

Keep on practising and dont loose focus slashers

So poker is not gambling if you have a good system?
If gambling doesn’t have a bad reputation, most people would agree that forex is gambling.
Me, i dont want to be a gambler so I call it investing :slight_smile: gambling is bad, investing is good.

Tell wich gambling system would offer carry trade.

Find below the best article I have seen (so far) on this subject.

Lessons from the Pros - 09/27/2011 Issue - Featured Article: Is Trading Gambling?

We don’t care anymore, it’s a waste of time even thinking about it, die thread, die die die, please oh ye awful ‘Is Forex Gambling?’ bull thread, die die, please die thread.

Hilarious! But it is like the undead, unfortunately. Even if we think we have killed it, give it a few months/weeks/days/hours and it will just get up and start lumbering towards us again as if we never did anything. There’s no escape, ultimately.

Dracula thread… Alive forever to haunt us endlessly.

The thing that slays me are the comments that justify trading as not being gambling, by stating that if you have an proven edge, it’s no longer a gamble. Favorable odds still lose occasionally. And they can’t pick the losers…

Too funny!

wanna bet?

If this thread would die, there would be born 3 other ones with the same question. It’s like with those “$1 to $1000000000 in 3 months” threads which pop up every now and then. So, just pray it will not die, lol.

There is a BIG difference between betting and gambling. Playing Black Jack and Poker is betting, playing roulette is gambling. The same in forex, just open a sell order thinking it is going to fall is just gambling but opening a sell order after watching your fundtechs and analising properly is betting. It is a probability game, if you play just by chase well next luck with your acc.

Regards.

Dude, seriously? So now we’re asking… is gambling gambling? And if so, which sort of gambling is Forex? Gambling gambling or betting gambling?

and what about the lottery what type of gambling is that classified under. I really need to know this so I know what type of gambler to label my wife.

The “You must stop dreaming and start working” type. I don’t play lottery, i only play if it is for charity or beneficiary. In my office we play lotteries whe we feel we must help another co worker or the family co worker.

Regards.

I dont think we are talking about the same lottery. In florida we have the florida lottery thats run through the state aloy of the proceeds go to schools. However it is not uncommon to see the winning get up a to 180 million I have seen it as high as 380 million but thats when we get people from all over to play. I dont play but I pay for the wife to lol.

I think forex is also one type of gambling. You may say that gambling is just betting on uncertain result without any strong logical reason. But if you look at gambling properly then you will see that gambling also requires skill and the skill required in it is more than forex that’s why most of the people say gambling is just trying to test your luck. Gambling is something which can make a beggar to the level of king and king to beggar, it has such power, why would it not require any skill??? There are many people who are said to be king of gambler or the queen. If all they did was just betting on hoped result why would they have more percentage of winning than even a most professional forex veteran or EA.
Everything requires skill. Gambling is said to be only for those who are lucky because most people just think of getting rich and hope to win. Forex is also similar. Forex can also be said to be gambling right?? cause it has 95% traders who aren’t able to win consistently and only less than 5% are able to make money. So I can say it is also a gambling but if it is also learned just like any games of gambling you can raise your winning chance many times than before.

Gambling - To bet or wager on an uncertain outcome.

Speculation - the assumption of considerable investment risk to obtain commensurate gain.

When you gamble you risk for enjoyment of risk

When you speculate you take a position in spite of the risk as you perceive a favorable risk-return trade-off.

So are they similar? Yes. Are the the same? No.

One is gambling the other one is speculating :cool:

Yeah that is why I told forex is one type of gambling. It is not gambling, it comes under gambling. Like Poker in gambling which doesn’t depend upon luck and depends on skill but yet there is a lot of enjoyment of risk there, but in roulette if you know your winning is about 90% of chance so if you look at gambling properly, you can see that gambling is a huge bunch of opportunity which are of different types and I believe forex also can be put in one type of gambling opportunity which depends upon skill and analysing skill (which is a very important necessity to any gambling)

I would not put gambling and speculating under the same umbrella though. When people say gambling they imply either 50:50% chance or when house has the upper hand (like 36pay on roullete but 37 total numbers). In forex as long as you apply fundamental and technical analysis on your trade and keep to risk -return rules you are not gambling. That’s my view.

Why not?

Mirriam-Webster does:

Synonyms: adventure, chance, crapshoot, enterprise, flier (also flyer), flutter [chiefly British], [B]speculation[/B], throw, venture

Yeah people mostly imply gambling as 50:50% chance but that is because either they lost or won without knowing what was going on. In gambling world also , there are players who win consistently just because they used skills. And gambling is not just about poker, roulette, etc. it is a huge bunch of opportunities where in some game, there is chance of only 1 win can occur in thousand or even tens of thousand tries. And in roulette there are total 37 numbers like you say but the chance of 0 appearing is less and rare.
Well it is difficult to explain, but I am saying all this because once I was a gambler and I have met many gamblers, some I have not seen lose even once and some keeps on losing and some has nearly equal wins and losses. The ones who won very much, according to them, you should know how to predict the mentality of the players and dealer to get the best chance in winning and also have a good knowledge of the game before you are able to win.
Now in the forex world, if you are able to interpret the market, then there is a very high chance you are going to win. If you are not able to, then what would forex be??a gamble like you say even if it is speculating.
Money management in my thought is nearly similar to the number of chips you are willing to bet.
Risk to reward like most say need to be 1:2 and in gambling, most gives 2 times the amount of bet.
Indicators can be said to be both bluff and knowledge.
and like other we can put nearly all the forex situation to gambling situation. Though the similarities between forex can be found, but it will be found in between different gambles.

Note: I forgot to tell but I am still a gambler too but since the gambling places are far and few here, you can say I have nearly left it.