The Glade 4.0

This. My conservative Mormon brethren really, really, REALLY hate it when I point out the fact that stock trading/investing is a form of gambling (something they are not allowed to do). They argue it, but the simple fact of the matter is you are putting up your own money with the hopes of a bigger return that is not 100% guaranteed. I'd call that the definition of gambling.

Me? I love playing me some blackjack whenever I am in Vegas. I make no illusions about what I do.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I wouldn't, necessarily. You're making an assessment of what the future is likely to bring based on conditions, not primarily on chance, and not on an event that is conducted solely for its own sake.

For example, if you place a bet on a pool game, that's a game of chance. You're playing the odds that one person will beat the other. Even if the game is wildly uneven, that's why there is weighting in the odds, and really the game is played for its own sake, not because it fulfills a larger purpose like obtaining funds for investment.

On the other hand if you place a bet where you're actually playing the pool game, it's not a game of chance; its a game of skill. You're betting your skills outweigh the other guys, but ultimately you're relying on your ability to perform, not playing the odds.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

A good advisor will diversify your money enough that you'll really minimize the risk. There's always risk, but if you're willing to not make as much in the short term it will pay off in the long run.

The less risk there is, the less money you could make, generally speaking.

The more risk there is, the more money you could lose. When you're young and have time to recoup your losses, rebuild, the risk seems worth it. The longer you're in the game, the less time you have until retirement, the more careful you get with your investments.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

If I can get this demo account up to 500,000, I'm opening up a live account.


I wanna start day trading this.

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Ron Paul 2012

As I understand it, the reason that gambling is proscribed by Mormons is that in the Mormon doctrine, gambling is based on the morally wrong philosophy of getting something for nothing, of taking money without giving fair value in exchange.

Gambling involves creating a risk of loss where none would exist otherwise. Gambling (games of chance) is a zero-sum game it only transfers wealth from the loser to the winner. Investment, involves the transfer, in part, of the risks inherent to business, whether it is farming or telecom. Investments involve the transfer of necessary, existing risk from one party to another. Investment in a company foments the growth of that company as well as the over-all economy.

Even more simply, ownership of a company (the stock market) is not proscribed in the Mormon doctrine AFAIK.

Tossing money at the stock market (or the commodities market or the FOREX) without any knowledge of what you are investing in is akin to gambling, but even then there is a marked difference between this type of "investment" and a game of chance - There is no "something for nothing" and value is still created.

To augment what DE stated, wagering on a flip of a coin is gambling, while even poker is considered a game of skill.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Keep in mind that you, quite possibly, have a different starting position in real life than you have in the demo account. Starting at $50k is a lot different than starting at $500 or $5000. When I bought my house in CA, my available cash for day trading was cut by more than half and my ability to turn a profit was severely limited because of fees and taxes due to a lower cash position and therefore a lower cash return.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Well, I've played around scalping on the 1 and 5 minute time frames and no real strategy...but I think I'm going to start serious with this approach:

-Use the daily timeframe
-Only trade major currency pairs
-Make only 1 trade each day, maximum
-Only trade in a strong trend
-Risk 1% of account balance per trade
-1:2 risk/reward ratio
-5 open trades maximum at any one time


Hopefully this strategy will eventually allow me to win a slow and steady consistent profit.

Maybe I'll try scalping again at the 15 or 30 minute timeframe... 1 minute and even 5 minute are wayy too fast.

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Ron Paul 2012