Do traders know what the fuck they are doing and tend to profit, or are they in reality just gambling? Sorry for my ignorance.
Only if you do not know what you are doing and just follow your gut-feel to decide whether to buy or to sell, to short or to long. That is the risky and can be considered as a gamble. But if you know what you are doing, can read graphs and trends technically and follows bitcoin news regularly, then you are in for profit.