In life anything has a potential to become an addiction, is just the dose that matters or better put, how is the addiction controlled.

So, in my opinion the answer to first part of this title is that yes, trading has a potential to be addictive.

But, is it similar to gambling? This topic has been discussed so many times all over the forums and the crypto space in general, that being the reason why I propose it for discussion today, on a foggy November Monday. Is beginning of the week and from my side of the world that is all I can come up with at this point.

This question haunted me a lot so that I had to actually make a little research about what gambling actually means. What is it? A passion to make bets or play the lottery? And why the negative connotation surrounding it? As it bothered me that many people around me were putting trading crypto in the same boat as gambling, I had to find out what gambling is and so I asked doctor Google. So, the basic definition of gambling is to play games for money, to make bets and hope for high returns, based on luck. 

I never won anything in my life and grew up to actually hate the idea of playing the lottery. I never participated in any games or lottery. Another reason why I never liked the trust in luck is that it can make one lazy and just wait for stuff to happen, instead of actually working and make it happen. Proof of work is proof of effort, in my viewpoint. Although I never liked the idea to put your fate to the chance, to just hope and live for a lucky, spontaneously big gain, I completely understand and agree that in general it is normal to want to play games. Is just not my cup of tea.

I do not like to say that gambling is the same as trading. Because I think no trader can call himself trader if he/she puts the gains in the faith of Destiny and makes a buy just based on the hope that price will magically grow overnight. 

This movie scene was made publicly available to various entertainment sites (IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes...) by the film makers, made available for reviews, quoting, interpreting and it can be fairly used as quoted in this article.

In general taking the time to analyse and look at the charts beofore making a buy is what will pay off on the long run. The trader considers his activity as a real job, is his activity from morning till dusk, while gambling can be much easily accessible. So in this sense I see a lot of differences with gambling. Trading with the right tools and mindset is different from gambling. Gambler or trader only depends on the person behind, the strategy and skills they poses or try to make use of during the market moves. However, the volatility involved in these kind of markets and harsh economical conditions might trigger some and unexpected events, so maybe we all are a little bit of gamblers in a way. 

Opinions are just mine, anyone can think and choose for themselves.