I have been discussing with my fellow traders on whether Forex trading done by individuals like us is like playing chess (skill) vs. playing slots (luck).
What is your take on this? Where would you put Forex trading a scale from 1 (slots) to 10 (chess)? Why?
Very interesting topic and question. This depends on the slot machine, if it has buttons or not, to say if the user has influence on the outcome. If not, it is gambling and about luck, if there are buttons where the user can add his influence on the outcome, it is skills.
Visiting a casino, you have two kinds of slot machines, with and without buttons. The ones without buttons stand at the entrance, where you can win 1M$, if you are very lucky. The ones having buttons, are in an area at the back, full of slot machines having buttons, tall bar chairs with people sitting there all day, with bags of coins. They are professional "players", very skilled, accumulate coins during the day - and only "play" things where they have an influence and fair chance of the outcome. You will often find this type of players poker and blackjack tables.
Those on the roulette are,gamblers as they have no influence of the outcome, and the zero goes for the bank.
Now we can judge who is most profitable, the skilled player or the "very intelligent". Where I say the players always win over the "too intelligent". The smart always wins. For example many phd "too intelligent" have wasted years in brute force quant development getting nowhere, stuck in the details, forgot to think and be smart.
Financial trading is about to be smart and think, not about education. Is gambling if you do not have a qualified plan. Today´s financial trading is conceptual and not about math, programming, complex TA. Anyone able to think and be smart can participate.