Quote from: BrewMaster on February 26, 2018, 06:50:29 AM

Quote from: Canis Majoris on February 25, 2018, 02:12:24 PM

If we presume that the absolute majority of traders are losing in the long run, then, to me, this pretty much counts as gambling.

why would you make that assumption? based on what data?

even if we assume it is true, that still doesn't make "trading" like gambling. instead it makes "traders" as gamblers. and there is a big difference there.

I don't see how it can be otherwise. As I have already said in OP, a sideways market and speculative one at that like Bitcoin's, is a sort of controlled "lab" environment where things can't be different. Well, I have heard that point of most traders losing in the long run mentioned multiple times here and there but since I didn't have any source I just looked for it myself. Here are the hard numbers. I think you can find plenty of other sources to that tune. Other than that, I don't say that all trading is gambling. It is gambling for most traders, which I also mentioned in OP.

Quote from: BrewMaster on February 26, 2018, 06:50:29 AM

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When you flip a coin and you don't know anything about your chances, you can also build sophisticated theories why, for example, you should get heads more often than tails. But it doesn't matter, does it? Given that there is a sort of house edge in trading too, we should unmistakably come to the conclusion outlined in OP.

first of all making theories doesn't mean these theories are correct. and when it comes to gambling such as flipping a coin you will never get more heads and tails. every flip has an equal chance of going either way no matter what happened before.
and that is one of the differences.

Well, this is the point I'm trying to make here. No matter how sophisticated your theories are it still comes down to chances.

Quote from: BrewMaster on February 26, 2018, 06:50:29 AM

secondly house edge means the house or the thingy you are betting against has a better chance of winning than you. there is no such thin in trading, and you are not trading against one entity. you are trading against a lot of others based on the market movements.
if you can go with the flow you win.

I refer to house edge here as something which you can't beat, neither in gambling nor in trading. You can think of trading against a lot of other traders like yourself as a manifestation of what loosely matches luck in gambling. So you either win or lose and it is a game of chances minus the house edge.