Jul 6 2009

Day Trading, Investing And Gambling


Learn day trading.You should know that day trading isn’t investing. Nor is it gambling. But the lines between trading, investing and gambling can be thin. You should know where the difference is. You will be in a better position to follow your trading strategy and make more money. Avoid the trap of gambling! You will be in a better position to preserve your capital.Get good forex training.

Learn swing trading. You will ask what the difference between investing and gambling is. It is the way you treat the risk and return tradeoff. The odds are usually in your favor in investing but it does not mean that you will make money. If you have done your research well while investing, there is a good chance you will make money. Some day traders end up as gamblers.

Investors, traders and gambler have one thing in common that you need to understand. They put some of their money on risk. They hope of getting a return if they are right. You should take trading as a business. You should also know about the potential risk. You should also know about the sources of your potential return. This will make you better off in the long run.

What is your reward? Your reward is that you get fair compensation for the risk you took. What is your risk? Risk is that you won’t get the expected return. Risk is the probability of a loss. The riskier something is, the more chances of a loss.

The reason there is a balance between risk and reward is that financial markets like the stock markets and the currency markets are reasonably efficient. This market efficiency means that prices of securities and currencies reflect all known information about the companies and the economy.

Investing is the basis of modern day capitalism. What is investing? Investing is putting your money at risk to make a return. It is the way that businesses raise capital. Without investing the economy cannot grow in the long run. In investing, you buy stocks of companies for five to ten years that are good but have gone out of favor for the time being. Investing is always focused on the long term like 5-10 years.

What is trading? Trading is the act of buying and selling securities. Investors also trade but they trade only when they find a good opportunity. They expect that by investing they will give them a good profit in a few years time.

Day traders try to take advantage of short term price discrepancies in the markets to make quick profits. Day trades don’t last more than one day. Trading creates short term supply and demand that eliminates price discrepancies. Trading keeps markets efficient. Speculation is related to trading.

A gambler puts the money on line in the hopes of getting a profitable payoff if a random event occurs. The probability of that random event occurring is usually very small. The odds are always against the gambler. They are in favor of the house. However, a gambler always believes that the odds can be beaten. He wants to win big.

Traders who do not give attention to their strategy and its performance can cross over into gambling soon. Always remember, trading is not gambling. Some traders view the blips on their computer screen as a game that they can win. Soon those traders are trading like they are in a casino with odds as bad as a slot machine. They start making trades based on emotions. Without any regard to the risk and return!