What’s your take? Does day trading seem more of a gamble compared to a straight-up coin flip
Well depends on people doing scalping every day just to make a profit with the market if you have a lot of time to do this thing every day and we know trading based on knowledge and skills not on luck unlike gambling so there's a less risk with the act you will engage.
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When I first read your title, I thought you meant flip trading, where you buy low and sell it quickly in a short period of time as soon as the price is higher instead of holding it for long term. But it looks like you are talking about games like coin flipping. Then in this case, the bigger gambling is flipping a coin. It totally depends on your luck and requires no skill. You have no control over your profit/loss. On other hand, flipping requires you to understand the market and some skills to execute the trades properly. Both has risks associated, but the risks with trading is much lesser than that of gambling with a coin.
In gambling you'll become dependent with the casino with your winnings just let you sit and relax and wait for the outcome of the game, in trading you must need to monitor the activity of the market any changes may affect your TA and profit or loss. In trading quick flip equals to profit in gambling quick flip there's no assurance of winning.