Topic: Flip or Trade? What’s The Bigger Gamble? - page 6. (Read 1771 times)

What would be their purpose for trading? I have never met a single individual who day-trades for entertainment. There's always a strategy being utilized to get an edge against others, and the profit is merely the validation that their strategy might be working.


Most of the top 10% winning traders might be using bots and other statistical apps/automated software to spare them from the daily anxiety of trading, and save their sanity. Hahaha.


The odds of winning by a person not included in the top 10% of winning traders might truly be lower than what he/she believes.

Speed in making decisions must be accompanied by the ability to analyze well so that we can enter or exit trades on time. Those who buy and sell every day must have analytical skills to find the coins and make a profit. But most people don't want to learn analysis and only depend on other people. This will make trading like gambling because they do not have a basic analysis determining when they enter and exit.

And if they stay like that, they are just gambling in the market because they don't know how to find the coins and are just waiting for what other people suggest. That's what we have to avoid if we want to trade.

When I discuss day trading, I mean those who buy and sell daily, akin to high-frequency trading. This contrasts with longer-term strategies where you can wait out unfavorable prices. In day trading, swift decisions are vital due to daily market fluctuations. This rapid pace inherently increases the risk, as opposed to the more patient approach of holding assets longer-term. Thus, day trading, given its unpredictable nature within short time frames, can feel a lot like a gamble.

It depends a bit how we define day trading, do you really buy and sell coins for 8 hours a day, or do we just a buy a few coins per week when the prices are right? A coin is one time event, we either win or lose with 50/50, but if we keep doing the same flip over and over again the chances are high that we will go broke. Nobody can always be right in a coin flip for a long period of time. In case we only do the flip with small amounts then our expected profit is 0, because we should have the same amount of wins as losses. In trading it's different, we don't know instantly if we won or lost money. It could take month for a coin to turn into a real profit and we always have our investment until we sell it. That's why I would say trading is less risky, nobody forces us to sell below our purchase price. We could always hold out and wait for the prices to recover again.

"Usually" he is, although, any mention of Bitcoin to him will make him lose control of his emotions because he can't admit how great of an investment Bitcoin currently is, and will be, in the years that will be coming. ESPECIALLY when the Federal Reseve, the European Central Bank and other Central Banks around the world start Q.E. and turn on the money printers again.

The automobile was probably in the same position during the time when it was newly invented. People like the Warren Buffetts of those times probably said the automobile was something like "Rat poison squared" too.

Gamble and trade require knowledge, right? Gambling knowledge reduces risk, whereas trading knowledge maximizes return. Playing your hand is more important at the poker table. You play, hope, and cross your fingers; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Its the game, right?

Traders dont merely hope. You watch, learn, observe, analyze, and act. Luck helps, but knowing more prepares you. As you said, traders act quickly. They see, comprehend, act. Gamblers? They hope.

A trader and a gambler enter a pub. Who orders the riskier drink? Remember to play safe and know your boundaries at the casino and stock market.

Card counting isn't really a viable strategy anymore ever since casinos found out about it sometime back. Security will kick you out if they find out that you were card counting thanks to CCTV coverage etc.

Bots do help on FIAT and crypto exchanges, but they don't guarantee profits and could mess up sometimes.

Yes, but when playing cards with the dealer and other players, the cards can be "counted". This slightly increases your success rate. You can also use a bot with safe strategies when trading on the stock exchange. But I agree that in both cases, luck and our greed decide.

It seems to be true, a direct coin toss does rely on luck.
while daily trading must look at technical and fundamental analysis.
and sometimes predictions can be wrong when bitcoin goes up/down making all alts follow bitcoin's movements directly.

  Gambling or betting on some team is profitable with respect to your luck. Let’s take the game of card, you have no control over the cards which is gonna come to you. So whatever you do with this game ultimately you depend on your luck. And the worse part is that there is no guarantee on your luck. If your luck is against you then you are out of the board. Where as trading in stock/commodity completely calculated risk with sort term horizon. Traders are fast to react. They pay attention to what the market is telling them and then act accordingly. Some gamblers feel they can beat the odds, but they are mistaken. They get thrilled about the possibility of a large win and get caught up in the glitz and glam of the casino, but the odd quickly work their way through their sums.
   Knowledge is both required for the both, because being ignorance will warrant to lose of wealth. You need to have idea of what you’re doing, it is not advisable to just put in money where you do not belong. I won’t say  trading is gambling because it warrant close observation and analysis, of course, there is some luck in trading and investing, when trading earnings depend on how well you can do it.

It's most probably futures and options trading that makes people think that way about trading because options and futures trading have some similarities with gambling though they are not exactly how gambling works because gambling is totally based on luck and trading requires knowledge and experience no matter what kind of trading it is.

Some people simply don't understand how they can differentiate between trading and gambling because they've always been in a hurry to earn money and with that thought, they've lost a lot of money and now they think that gambling and trading are the same thing.

Gambling doesn't require any knowledge from a gambler, while the very first thing about trading is the knowledge that you need and then trading capital. So, it's true that you can't achieve anything through trading if you lack that.

Yup, they have their own goodness and beauty but also gonna bring or let you experience the best and worst from it. In trading, you've got the way to at least of how you're going to react with the market and make your calls to specific pairs that you will do. And in gambling, it's the same before you place bets in games that requires you analysis but if we will just be specific with flipping a coin, there's no need for such analysis as it's only about throwing or tossing a coin and results are truly random. The only company that you'll need on this one is luck for which it's also sometimes seen in trading even as you do your analysis.

On one hand, there is the advantage if you're in both of these activities. You're not scared with risk and I think that's the best attribute that one will get from being a gambler or a trader, you're just used to this world risk and your tolerance from it is higher than the usual person that doesn't even want to take risk and not eager to try it.

One of the reason on why i did changed up from Daytrading/scalping into a swing/long term trader on which it isnt really that stressful since you wont really be needing to face up the volatility on active manner on which this is something that it is really that very hard if we do really speak about those moving prices on which it would bring up stress and anxiety but if  you do able to adapt with those things then it wont really be an issue. It is really just that each person does have their own level of tolerance on things and this is why on the time that they would really be experiencing up something then they would really be needing to adapt on which its a must thing specially if you are a trader. Yes, luck does play also an important part even though we arent talking about gambling but making  yourself that survive on this market which your speculations and predictions does really need up some mix of luck because analysis would really be useless or pointless if you do find yourself not really be able to lucky on that particular time.
In short, there are several factors which you would really be considering that could really affect a certain outcome.

It is said that time in the market beats timing the market.  It is a topic we have discussed many times here in the forum.
I personally cannot see myself as a day trader, it takes a specially resilient person and a lot of intuition to be successfully speculate in a daily basis and make a living out of it.

On the other hand, going for the long term it is easier and even more if one uses money one do not need in order to survive.

But it is kind of of topic, since we are supposed to be talking about the comparison of day trading and flipping a coin, for the sake of going safer, I would rather to try to day trade, instead putting my money at stake on a single flip. 

Day traders often perceive everyone as adversaries, when in reality, there are still individuals engaging in trading not solely for profit-seeking purposes. Day trading can be exhausting, as it necessitates constant updates on the ever-evolving market conditions, with even minor changes potentially presenting significant opportunities. Missing out on the right moment could result in losses.

I believe you have all day to monitor the market, which gradually enhances your trading skills. However, for me, long-term trading provides a sense of tranquility, sparing me from daily anxieties. You can also transition into long-term trading if you find day trading too demanding.

Luck plays a role as well, but the odds of winning are (feels) greater.

Well Warren Buffet is usually a great teacher teaching a lot about the market, this is something that we all recognize, but personally he is an investor, and we all know the obvious differences between an investor and a market speculator, when we are doing an analysis and making decisions, because everything varies, depending on what people want to do, if he is an investor the best advice is his, but why? because he is a man who in his time took a lot of time to do the analysis and look for the best action with a vision for the future that could give him a great profit, not bad, he knew how to do his analysis, taking into account possible scenarios where basically the market can crash and its investment is in danger, the investors are not for making short-term investments, because it is as you say, it is as if you were going to a casino to gamble, they are not prepared to react at once, they are Prepared to last 5-8 years with the initial investment, this is something that investors normally have.

For market speculators or for people like me, for example, who have studied the books of Wartren Buffet and other notable authors on investment and the market, one could talk about the Wyckjoff method, where the most experts do They are capable of studying the market even though the volatility is immense in the short term, in that case they compete, because they apply Wcjoff in its maximum expression and if, what they predict is mostly fulfilled, the truth is a very win-win situation. What do they have, I don't know but you have to have a lot of memory to keep in mind the charts that there are in the large number of possible configurations, this makes things more accurate when trying to establish a better understanding of the market A good memory always helps, plus theory and experience is a factor that is difficult to contradict.

If you are entering the market with no knowledge, no idea what a chart represents, no fundamental knowledge, and just picking things because you like the sound of something or have heard about it, then yes, that is crazy gambling. Some lucky schmucks do win this way....a lot more do not....that is the same as gambling. Lots lose, few win. Someone with knowledge and risk awareness, while applying basic trading principles and having generally decent knowledge, I'd put the odds on this set of people making more than that of gamblers on non-skill based gambling. Poker being a skill based PvP game is probably the exception, though just like trading, you need skills, principles and strategies to beat other players who also have that. Luck is a factor, but not the only factor.

This is well said, it's like choosing between two exciting games, and I can't agree more with that. Fliping coins or choosing any other lucky-based game can be compared with short-term trading, and what's better or more rewarding depends on our taste and preferences along with the strategies we apply. I guess both can be risky if we aim big, but there is excitement even if we chase some small profits over a longer period.

My choice is coin flip and similar gambling games... day trading is definitely not for me.

Regarding the age-old dilemma of flipping or trading, it's like choosing between two exciting games! I think both have their charms, but it depends on your risk tolerance and strategy.
Flipping can be quick and thrilling, like a round at an Online Casino Malaysia! It's all about making smart bets and hoping for that lucky break. But, remember, it can be volatile, so only invest what you can afford to lose.
On the other hand, trading feels more like a long-term investment plan, akin to a well-thought-out strategy in a game of chess. It's about studying the trends and making calculated moves.

Well life itself is actually base on risk because nothing is actually safe and although trading is more base on who is skilled and if one knows that he isn't then actually going to trade it's actually a stupid risk because you will get drained because trading is actually a crazy gambling that is hidden in the name of statistics and candle stick reading. With all the little experience I have had in trading I won't ever have the thought of risking any coins knowing fully well the odds are against you.