I think futures trading is a form of gambling. I saw the last six months report of a younger brother who is very close to me. He knows about crypto from my younger brother. He was taught the holding trade. Meaning, he was given an idea of how to trade on the spot. But he can learn about how to trade futures with the help of YouTube. And without informing my younger brother, he slowly started trading futures. After six months, the condition of his family became very bad. He was born in a middle class family. Later, the area was talking about his loss. I found out from his family that he lost around 14 thousand dollars trading crypto. I told him the last time I saw him to buy bitcoins with all his wealth. But he didn't hear anything. Later he sold his grandfather's land and paid off all his loans. Later I came to know from him that he knows about futures trade from YouTube and lost all his dollars by trading without understanding the value of x.
This is a pathetic and unfortunate story and I must say that this guy is so unwise, he handled trading badly and wasted resources in a way that should have been avoided. As you narrated the story, I can decode that the guy is a novice, he was just using headstrong to trade thinking he has known everything, but that is how it ends for people like him. Well, there is a difference between investment and trading, and had it been it's an investment, he might be smiling at his bank account by now. But trading, it is risky, you need to know it very well and also be a good trading and account manager before you can be successful in it. I feel so sorry for this guy and the lesson through YouTube will contiue to put them in trouble as they do not tell them the real truth that trading is not easy.
Even if one would want to start trading newly, a very small amount is advised in the beginning and no temptation should have caused the person to do otherwise. As it is now, the guy should just take a break and fix his life first, trading is not for him, and if he will trade at all, let it be in years and not now. However, you can convince him to invest if he will ever yield judging by this bitter experience.
Now my question is futures trade is actually gambling? Or how did he lose all his dollars?
Well, trading and gambling are not the same thing, however, there are gamblers in trading. A typical example is this guy who doesn't know trading well but just gambling his way out until he loses everything. But this doesn't stop the fact that "trading is trading" and that there are real traders who do not gamble but follow a good trading plan and style.