Is forex like gambling?

Beginner Questions
103

I’ll tell you this much (I think I read that Wikipedia article a while back):

You must give credit when it’s due!!! LOL!!! Let’s be honest: some of the guys have come up with THE most ingenious ways of ‘fooling’ the roulette wheel!!! You gotta give them that. I’m not sure if it’s in that article but I did read somewhere about a bunch of guys (or some guy) that had some electronic ‘gizmo’ that through some fancy calculations (using the speed of the wheel and the weight of the ball etc. etc. etc.) could ‘predict’ quite well where the ball was going to land. And there was another chap who discovered that (back in the old days anyway) all wheels had a certain ‘bias’ (but, as I said, having worked for one of the the big companies, believe me, whatever bias MAY exist only exists for a few seconds at best before the table is closed)!!! LOL!!!

Regards,

Dale.

104

Of course, there is always a bias, but the question is, is the game biased enough to come over the odds?

In the Forex Market, what mostly counters your good odds, is the spread.

And then you can argue about, execution speed, etc

But if forex is gambling or not, I would say not by definition, but one thing is for certain. Forex is an ODDs game.

105

No, I place as random I can sells with different SL and TP. That’s all. The issue is choosing SL which is of most importance. I only trade EURUSD if you meant this by “pair”.

In the graph, only buys for today, 14 march. Only sells looks crappy (was today a bullish day ? I haven’t looked at price action for days, but I still trade).

More details in http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/38296-correct-way-win-forex.html

TesterGraph 14 march only buys.jpg700×137 13.9 KB

TesterGraph only sells 14 march.jpg700×137 13.7 KB

106

For me forex is far from being like gambling:

  1. We can analyse Forex and predict where the price goes. We can hardly do it in a casino
  2. We can trade on Forex only in the Internet, unlike gambling. And it is closed for weekends )
  3. If you are too lucky playing in a casino you will be black-listed, unlike Forex traders
107

forex is like gambling where in its risky but it could also yield huge returns

108

So is robbing a bank or becoming a racing driver! I don’t think that the presence of risk necessarily makes something gambling. Many things share traits while being quite different.

109

Why just pick on Forex?! What about stocks & commodities etc? It’s all “trading”. So it really should then be asked “Is Trading Like Gambling”?

We’ve been given the definition of gambling as per the dictionary:

[B][I]-To bet on an uncertain outcome, as of a contest.
-To play a game of chance for stakes.
-To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage or a benefit.
-To engage in reckless or hazardous behavior: You are gambling with your health by continuing to smoke.[/I][/B]

However trading is defined as:

[B][I]The voluntary exchange of goods and/or services for money or an equivalent good or service. In modern finance, trade especially refers to trade on securities exchanges. For example, the sale of a stock from one investor to another is known as a trade. [/I][/B]

It doesn’t say anything about risk or outcomes being uncertain.

Therefore, I say forex is trading one currency for another, I am buying or selling to another trader, and as such forex is not gambling…but unfortunately to some, trading is “like” gambling. :stuck_out_tongue:

110

The key word here is “speculation”.

Forex, or futures have two basic underlying principles.

For forex, you may need to buy a different currency for travels, purchases, or in the case of big business, you may have riders on your contract that make the exchanges happen at a certain price.

Futures are the same. You may see a big jump in oil coming, so you buy bulk gasoline at a given rate, and won’t be harmed by a price increase.

You could be a lumber company, and buy futures based on your current needs for delivery later, and so on.

Then there are the speculatory transactors, who never plan on taking delivery of either currency, OR goods, and whose only goal is monetary gain.

That is the goal of the retail forex “trader”.

I won’t bother quoting the entire definition, but this is the most pertinent.

From Dictionary.com:

engagement in business transactions involving considerable risk but offering the chance of large gains, especially trading in commodities, stocks, etc., in the hope of profit from changes in the market price.

With that being said, the synonyms are telling.

Jump to a thesaurus for words associated, and you get the true meaning.

From Thesaurus.com:

Main Entry: speculation
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: risk, gamble
Synonyms: backing, flier, flutter, gambling, hazard, hunch, piece, plunge, right money, risky business, risky venture, shot, shot in the dark, smart money, spec, speculative enterprise, stab*, venture, wager

It’s gambling.

If you are a Mormon, Baptist, Muslim, or any other member of the kaleidoscope of religions that frown on games of chance, call yourself an investor, or a trader… Whatever suits your fancy.

And it looks good to say that when you’re talking to chicks too…

111

There are internet gamblers, conversly, I have a freind who makes long term forex/futures trades. He calls his broker. He doesn’t use the internet at all.

I live in a gambling town. Some casinos have hours of operation. And in actuality, forex never really stops. Why do you think there is a gap on some pairs come Sunday open?

You’ll get eightysixed from forex brokers too.

It’s very important to pick a reputable one. Win too much, and you’re picking their pockets. You’ll get the same boot.

112

Pick your poison, and call them “odds”, or “probabilities”, because you can’t pick a winning trade every time in forex any more than you can pick a winning horse, poker hand, or roulette number.

I live in a gambling town. Some casinos have hours of operation. And in actuality, forex never really stops. Why do you think there is a gap on some pairs come Sunday open? Also, I have a friend who places his trades through a broker.
He’s a position trader, so he doesn’t think of entries in the same terms as us day trader types. He doesn’t have a trading platform on his home computer, and spends his days playing golf.

You’ll get eightysixed from forex brokers too.

It’s very important to pick a reputable one. Win too much, and you’re picking their pockets. You’ll get the same boot.

114

Those Sunday gaps have a pretty high win rate I hear… :slight_smile:

115

speaking of religion… wasn’t there something about money changers in the bible?

oh! I just thought of something… if I go on a trip from the U.S. to the U.K. and change my dollars for pounds. Am I gambling? Well the plane could crash or the boat could sink

116

You send me $100 and I send you your membership card and log on ID and secret decoder ring.

117

Lol, its a one off payment right? ;p

118

And the basis of forex.

The temple would only accept certain coins. There were was Roman coinage, and Jewish coinage. The temple would only accept Jewish coinage of a certain type. The money changers would buy that particular type of coin, to the point of cornering the market on them, and sell them at a markup to the people coming to the temple.

A great video to watch about the history of money, and all the derivatives that have happened since it became the most popular medium of exchange is called “The Money Masters”.

The narrator guy is about as entertaing as watching a chess game at an old folks home, and it’s LOOOOOOOONG. But it’s SO worth the watching.

Grab some popcorn, and kill some time between trades.

The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America

119

no no it’s a recurring monthly fee of course.

I’ll watch it until it starts putting me to sleep

120

:slight_smile: doh…

121

Man, I am afraid you will now just kill 4 hours of my time with this Documentary.

122

Forex can definitely be gambling.

123

Surely your examples go some way towards proving that forex is in fact not trading at all ? As you said, the definition of trading does not say anything about uncertain outcomes. Obviously forex is all about uncertain outcomes so therefore forex must be something other than trading … maybe its ga ga ga dare i say the g word ? lol