I am reading the same book right now. It is a very good one. I am enjoying it! Here's one for you:

As you cultivate a stronger belief in self-acceptance, you will then realize how the market reflects back to you your level of skill development along with the information that will indicate what you need to work on to become ever more successful. each moment will then become a perfect indication of your skills and your degree of self-valuation, giving you a solid base from which to improve and learn.

it depend on you rather you take it as a bussiness or a gamling as i try to ans this question to my another thread that some take take it bussiness and take some serious actions and research like a when we invest in real physical investment then we get some good results other wise it is gambling

I think trading is similar to gambling in that we can look at the form of what we're betting on. I used to think it was different because we can make informed decisions on trades. However, just like in racing, we can evaluate past performance of the participants, in our context the currencies. We can the decide which are strong and weak contenders, and once the trade/race has started we have NO control over which participant will win. Just like gambling, trading tempts us back for another 'one last time'. I dont agree with Mark Douglas that 'In any gambling game you have to actively participate to lose and do nothing to stop losing'. You do have to do something to stop losing. You have to walk away. If you don't you can take one bet too many and lose what you took with you to gamble with in the first place.

@paradise

Very nice pick from the book.

This paragraph nicely explains the difference betwee trading and gambling. Not only the difference but tells you different aspects of both things. Most of the traders think that gambling and trading is similar.

@leebut

You first example is of racing. In racing, there is just one thing to evaluate and that is to choose a stronger or weaker opponent based on their historical winnings or more specifically winnings on that specific track. Whereas in forex, you will have to evaluate on many basis.

Similarly in gambling u can do noting to stop it. When u enter a gamble, you either loose all or win all. But when you enter a trade u can use stop loss or manually cut ur losses. Trading is not a "win all" or "loose all" game.

Illiterate: When you gamble you don't win or lose all. In gambling you can decide how much to risk on any given event. Essentially, that is a stop loss. In poker you can fold, thus manually stopping increasing losses. A margin call is probably similar to'all in' and losing.

A dictionary definition of gambling: 'An activity in which you risk money in the hope of winning more money [...]'  A gambler: 'Someone who is willing to take risks in order to be more successful'. Isn't that what FOREX is and what we do?

The point is that we don't know what's going to happen next in both trading or gambling. In that sense they are the same. Traders and gamblers attempt to find systems to give them an edge.

You mentioned my racing situation. Do FOREX traders not match the strongest vs the weakest and then choose the track to trade on? Lots of EUR crosses, but which pair (track) to trade? I think serious racing punters look beyond simply the strongest/weakest and the track. They to have to check the (market) conditions before they select a contender and more things besides.

There are amateur and professional gamblers, there are amateur and professional traders. Either way, a risk has to be taken, some will win, some will lose. Find a professional racing gambler and find out what he/she analyses before considering who to back. I think you'll find it's more than going to the bookies and slapping twenty quid on something.

I think a problem traders have with trading being called gambling, is not what it is, but the environments in which gambling is seen to take place in the wider public arena and the word 'gambling' itself. Somehow traders may think that 'gambling' sounds much less profesional than 'trader'.

I used to tell people that it's not gambling, but the more I think about it, the more I think it is.

People make a lot of money gambling as they do in FOREX, many also lose a lot of money as they do in FOREX.

Nice thread. I am also with paradise. Trading cannot be a gamble. I am not good in argumentation but the paragraph from Mark Douglas clearly tells the difference.

If "taking risk to make more money" is the base of similarity then a businessman will also be a gambler. Similarly no one can predict future so even this "unpredictable" behavior cannot be the base of similarity.

The difference between gambling and forex trading is actually the intensity of these basis. For example u start a gamble with $10. You will loose $10 or you will win whatever is the prize. But in forex if u enter a trade with $10, you can cut your losses by exiting trade or you can take ur profits whenever u feel "its time". So there is no fixed profit or loss in forex. In gambling, you already know abt that.

There is no risk free thing so if there is risk in anything we cannot say it is similar to gambling. It is actually the nature and level of risk.

I also think that trading is not gambling though I think they are almost related. It's like trading is a cousin of gambling. With this thread I also see the advantage of one over the other,.

Originally posted by megrawab

I also think that trading is not gambling though I think they are almost related. It's like trading is a cousin of gambling. With this thread I also see the advantage of one over the other,.

lol @ cousin....... Wow u explained the relationship in just one word.

Watch this at around 5:15: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INufKOwAtPY&feature=related

Admission is the hardest thing.