Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit

Everyone knows that financial trading comes with a high degree of risk, but often Forex trading is picked out as being more risky than other types of financial trading. In fact, if you take a browse around the internet you will find a number of people claiming that Forex trading is nothing more than gambling. In this article, we evaluate why some people think Forex is no more than a form of gambling and what are the reasons behind this.

1. Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Money
2. Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Stocks
3. Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Yahoo
4. Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Sites

You have to remember that what differentiates trading from gambling is being able to bend the odds in your favor. That is why, as a trader, your mindset should be akin to that of the casino and not the gambler, who merely focuses on one event (or trade) at a time. Most of the time, when I tell people what I do for a living, they can’t help but wonder if the Forex trading I do daily is actually some form of gambling.There are, after all, some similarities, since no trader has a crystal ball to predict which way the markets will move. In its current form, with everyday people allowed to trade on a global level, the market has existed since 1999, but the forex market currently trades at a volume of $4 trillion a day, making it the largest financial market on the planet. Forex works by buying a foreign currency based on the exchange rate. The idea is that you purchase a. Forex trading is not safe unless you know what you are doing. For most people, Forex trading would be gambling. If you can find an experienced trader to take you under his wing, you might be able to learn enough to succeed. There is big money in Forex, but you could easily lose your whole stake too. Forex trading providers trade in the primary OTC market on your behalf. They find the best available prices and then add a “markup” before displaying the prices on their trading platforms. This is similar to how a retail store buys inventory from a wholesale market, adds a markup, and shows a “retail” price to their customers.

Forex and Gambling

The Free Online Dictionary, gives three definitions for the term to gamble;

1a. To bet on an uncertain outcome, as of a contest.
1b. To play a game of chance for stakes.
2. To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage or a benefit.
3. To engage in reckless or hazardous behavior.

As you can see the activity Forex trading has some overlap with the general conception of gambling. Traders open positions in the hopes of making a profit, but this also comes with the risk of the market moving against them. The direction of the Forex market can also be very hard to predict, with currency pairings often moving counter to general expectations. It could be also said that for the vast majority of retail FX traders, that Forex is both reckless and hazardous. As data seems to suggest that only around 20% of Forex traders actually turn a profit.

Still, many people would be very resistant to the idea that Forex was really just gambling. There seems to be good reasons to resist such a definition of Forex trading.

Firstly, there are a number of Forex traders who are able make consistent returns from trading the FX markets. While this group is relatively small estimated to be between 10-20% of the total FX trading population, this suggests that skilled traders may be able to turn a profit from FX trading. Gambling typically precludes gamblers from being winners in the long run, due to the fact that most games have a built in advantage for the house. For instance, the game of Roulette will see the player go bust eventually though this may take a considerable amount of time. With FX, there are numerous instances where traders have been able to remain consistently profitable over the long-run, which suggests for skilled traders FX is not akin to gambling.

Secondly, when traders enter into a position there are generally rational reasons for doing so. The trader may have used technical analysis or have fundamental reasons for entering into a position. This seems to be another way in which Forex trading differs from gambling. A person playing Roulette simply places bets on his gut feeling, and if we were to discover a FX trader doing the same thing we would likely say he was just gambling. The fact is that successful traders will have rational reasons for opening positions, which will often have some empirical basis.

Why is Forex Seen As Gambling?

If it’s possible to make a legitimate distinction between Forex and gambling, why are there so many people who insist that Forex is simply gambling in disguise? There seems to be a number of reasons why this idea of Forex as a type of gambling has become so common place.

Use of Leverage

Retail brokerages often offer clients huge amounts of leverage. With many brokerages offering leverage of up to 500:1, and in some cases unregulated brokerages have gone even further offering clients the chance to use 2000:1 leverage. Even 500:1 leverage increases risk massively for a trader. A trader making use of 500:1 to one leverage would see the whole value of his account blown by a 0.20% move against him. Of course a 0.20% move in his favour would see him double his money, but any trader using such leverage in the long run is likely to have his account completely wiped out eventually. Such leverage can make Forex trading no more than gambling.

Lack of Knowledge

Forex is often sold as an easy way to make money online, and you will even find some brokerages selling their services in such a way. This has attracted many people who do not have the skills or expertise to try their hands at Forex trading. In general, financial trading is very challenging and this is why those working at hedge funds or other investment vehicles tend to be paid so well. So it is unsurprising that the majority of retail traders with limited knowledge or experience tend to be unsuccessful at trading. So those newbie traders with no finance background or knowledge who simply start opening and closing positions with no real justification are essentially just gambling.

Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Money

Conclusions

While the activity Forex and financial trading has some overlaps with the definition of gambling, there are also important differences. However, it would be fair to say that for both those using excessive amounts of leverage and those who are newbies lacking experience, it might be the case that Forex is simply just another form of gambling. The fact that there is a significant minority of successful traders who are able to turn a profit over the long run demonstrates the fact Forex is more than just simple gambling. Forex should be seen as being distinct from Binary Options which certainly can be considered gambling.

You May Also Be Interested In

Why do you trade forex?

Let me guess…

Because you want to make a crapload of money and be able to buy anything you wish?

While this is a perfectly valid reason, it will most likely lead to excessive greed and ultimately lead to your trading account’s destruction.

You might as well take your money to Vegas instead, and gamble it away. Once your money is all gone, at least it was entertaining.

You have to remember that what differentiates trading from gambling is being able to bend the odds in your favor.

That is why, as a trader, your mindset should be akin to that of the CASINO and NOT the gambler, who merely focuses on one event (or trade) at a time.

Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Stocks

Casinos are profitable year, after year, after year, despite having a business where the outcome of each card laid down, dice roll, or slot pull is unknown each and every time.

They understand the concept of probabilities and create games that put the odds in their favor–in other words, “the house advantage.”

While it is true that there will be some lucky ones that will win and walk away with millions of dollars, casinos know that if they get a large enough sample size, there will be more losing patrons than winners in the end.

Let’s take baccarat, a popular card game for high rollers, for example. The game is fairly simple. Cards are dealt to a “banker” and a “player,” and all you have to do is place a bet on either one.

Since you have equal access to both the banker and the player (you can even bet on a TIE if you want), it would seem like you essentially have a 50% chance of winning. But in reality, that’s not the case.

Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Yahoo

By tweaking the rules, like charging a very small commission or reducing the payout if the banker wins with a certain number, the odds are turned slightly in favor of the house.

It might be a very tiny advantage, anywhere from 1% to 5%, but it’s enough for the house to eventually come out on top when enough games are played.

To become consistently profitable, you have to trade like the HOUSE and play the advantage over a series of outcomes.

You can do this in a couple of ways:

First, you need to learn the market behaviors, patterns, and tendencies that could be recognized in the future and turned into trading opportunities.

This comes from reviewing price action against a framework (support and resistance, mechanical indicators, economic events, etc.), recording your observations, and then devising statistics to keep track of the different kinds of patterns or setups.

This is where keeping a trade journal becomes a necessity. Using the data from your journal, you can focus on the setups that have had higher probabilities of winning, rather than those setups that tend to lose.

Secondly, you need solid risk management. You can tilt the odds of long-term success in your favor even more if you limit yourself to setting up or taking trades that have an attractive risk-management ratio (ie. average bigger wins than losses).

Is Forex Trading Gambling Reddit Sites

The better the reward-to-risk ratio, the less often you need to win a trade.

And lastly, you can look to other traders in addition to your own analysis. The web is loaded with free economic and technical analysis content. By getting a second opinion, you make sure that you don’t fall into the “confirmation bias” trap.

Of course, these aren’t the only ways to tilt the odds in your favor. But you should always remember that you don’t have to predict exactly where the market will go; you just have to figure out where price will likely go and make the best of it if the trade goes your way.