day trading / stock market online trading

Blah99

purch wrote: »

I would consider Trading in Stocks to be a form of gambling, however well informed you might be.

I disagree. It's the distinction between "risk" and "risky".

Investment is risk, mitigated by good practices and knowledge.

Gambling is risky, as it's a game of chance.

tradetime

The "gambling debate" is one that comes up quite regularly, if you use a standard definition;
Gamble = To place money or valuables at risk on an uncertain outcome.
Then I don't really see how you can view it any other way, there are very few trades where the outcome is certain before entering.
The main reason for there to be any debate at all is the stigma that is attached to gambling. "Gamblers never win." "Gambling is a mugs game." etc, etc. If gambling was perceived as something to aspire to there would be no debate>
Personally I don't think the label is a bad thing, it focuses the mind on the risk being taken.

Biggles

I think the main difference is between 'Investing in shares' and 'Trading in shares'.

Long-term Investing does have a certain risk to it.

Short-term Trading is gambling! Tho some gamblers do have an 'edge' and can win. But it's very few. Will you be one of The Few? You must assume not before you start.

antiquax

All good advice so far

Remember that you are trying to take money from some of the cleverest people in the world so it is not easy

You are not trying to beat the market - the market does not care if you make or lose money. You are trying to beat yourself. The market merely serves to expose your character flaws and punishes them by taking your money

Spread betting is good for trades that are difficult to do for cash, ie a sterling based gold trade (what gold gives the dollar weakness takes), betting sterling will rise against a currency, shorting the market etc. Otherwise stick to cash trades: eg buying shares, foreign currency deposits or ETFs

sabretoothtigger

The market works to destroy inefficiency

thedon_1

Short term trading is something that if done properly can of course make money.

The thing with short term trading is that it's not really feasable for everyone. I am currently a student and so i don't have capital to invest. If i make small trades, the transaction costs just eat up any possible profit.

I saw that my Uni's invest club use one and thought that's a better option. No tax, no transaction charge.

When short term trading, you are obviously just making money from a share going up and then selling it to lock in your profit.

A spread betting account lets you bet on if something is going up and down, so really you make the profit without holding the share.

If you pick a few certain companies or sectors and follow them really closely, you could definetely make money through this method, but you really have to watch the markets.

Another advatage of spread betting is that you can short sell, so you have potential to make money both ways.