Trader Or A Gambler? Which One Are You?
May 10, 2018 Updated July 19, 2023
Are you a trader or a gambler? It's a good question because not everyone knows, and not everyone has even considered it. Some people say that trading is the same as gambling, but a good trader knows that not the case. A good trader knows that they have worked out the best way of gaining profits and their trades are as calculated as it is possible to be when it comes to Forex. So what about you? Are you a trader or a gambler?
Are You A Trader Or A Gambler: Gamblers Spend Fast

Traders are careful with their money - they only put small amounts on the trades that they are sure about. They only trade with money they can afford to lose (because losing does happen; it's inevitable). Gamblers, however, throw their money away on trades just because they feel like it, or because they are 'feeling lucky'. And then, when they lose, they'll do it again, without making any changes to their strategy (if they even have a strategy), which leads to the inevitable loss of more money. And so it goes on, with the gambler getting themselves into debt because they are too excited about trading to bother finding out how to do it.
If you want to know whether you are a trader or a gambler, consider whether you are more careful with your funds and you are able to think before you act. If this is the case then you are more likely to be a trader, not a gambler.
Are You A Trader Or A Gambler: Gamblers Only Care About The Profits
To know if you're a trader or a gambler, think about what you want most out of your trading journey. Do you just want to make a load of money as quickly as possible, or would you rather make smaller profits on a long-term basis to build up a great portfolio and a better understanding of how it all works? If you picked the former, we've got bad news for you; you're a gambler. If you went for the latter option, that's great; you're a trader. A trader will always be in it for the long term, whereas a gambler will see trading as a get rich quick scheme (which never pays off).
Are You A Trader Or A Gambler: Gamblers Feel All The Emotions

A good trader, one who has studied the markets and created a trading plan and who uses their charts to good effect will not feel much emotion when they trade. That's because they have trained themselves to be like this; emotion only gets you into trouble when you are trading because it will lead you to make mistakes. Take the excitement you could feel when you win, for example. Traders will enjoy that for a while but then put it to one side; it isn't important. A gambler, on the other hand, will feel that excitement and use it as an excuse to keep trading, even if the trades make no sense - they think they are having a lucky streak (they're not) and they can't lose (they can) so they might as well just keep going (they shouldn't).
Or what about losing? A trader who loses will not find that it's much of a problem; they won't have lost enough money to worry about, and they will wait for the next good trade before they do any more work. A gambler will look at it completely differently. They will see that loss as a big problem (especially if they lost too much money on it) and will immediately launch into another trade without checking that it will work out for them. In the end, they will lose more money that way until they are either in huge debt or they run out of cash to trade with. This is how you know whether you're a trader or a gambler.