Day-trading is defined as taking a round trip trade within one trading session, and regardless of what you may have heard, there is no definition indicative of any particular strategy. There are no rules for what particular strategy a day-trader implements, the goal is just to make money. Day-traders come in all shapes and sizes, and day-trading is nothing new, as professionals have been making money at it whenever a market has had enough liquidity and volatility to make it viable. Some day-traders are edge traders, some are scalpers, some are speculative position traders, while others look for arbitrage. I am a speculative day trader, and I have made a consistent living doing so for quite a while. Am I just plain lucky as a gambler? Not even close, don't insult my hard work and dedication. I have watched nearly every tick on the specific spot markets I trade and their near term future contracts for the past 5 years. Do I ever suffer a loss? Of coarse I do, winning traders take more losses than most realize, but profitability is in what a day-trader does over time.

Things like strategy, sound principals, hard work, dedication, learning curves, fear, greed, confidence, etc all play key roles in a day trader's ultimate success. Taking responsibility for and learning from your mistakes will reward any trader when everything is said and done. Day-trading is indeed very competitive, and it seems that very few people can make a living at it in the long run. Most successful day traders will even claim that just breaking even is a momentous task when you are new to the trade. This is not what most new traders or unsuccessful traders want to hear. Many people want easy answers and to make some fast big money, and when this attitude leads to losses, which it almost always does, it is easy to dismiss all trading as gambling rather than take responsibility for one's own actions. The reality is that the market can be just about whatever you want of it, and with access to huge leverage and highly speculative derivatives, a gamble is not the least of those things that it could be. For those who are in search of a real cowboy gamble it is out there for them, and that is exactly what some people want, but to dismiss all day-traders as gamblers undermines an honest understanding of the markets and its participants.

Learn more about this author, Adam W.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Exploring the difference between day trading and gambling?
We want to hear your view. Write now!