It's great when you start trading, and making profits.

There are legitimately times you feel like a god because the trade went your way.

It feels good to make profits trading financial markets. And studies have shown that making profits releases dopamine into your nervous system. Dopamine is the same substance that makes junkies high, so that's exactly why you feel that way when you make profits.(now you know😉)

But are you really trading, or are you just gambling?

Here are a few bullet points to help you decide.

YOU'RE TRADING IF:

• If you don't try to say where the market will go: This seems absurd. The whole point of trading is to predict where the market will go, right? Wrong! The point of trading should be to follow in the footsteps of the market. The market is made up of thousands- scratch that- millions of users, all with different points of view, as well as emotions and views on technical analysis as a whole. Trying to predict if 1 million people will think the same way is much harder than just following the way the people choose. If the former was your mindset, you were gambling, sorry to say. If your mindset was the latter however, congrats,you're a trader!
• If you don't trade solely for profits: "Now I know where the mad in your name comes from! Because you're really mad!" Is what you're probably saying right now. Isn't the whole point of trading to build up your account and have money to live that lavish lifestyle you want? Well, that's one part of the equation. The other part is to see if you can keep your emotions in check and follow a laid down plan that is destined to work. You don't trade only for the profits, even though the profits are 99% of why we trade.
• You always follow your plan, even when it looks like it is turning on you: Sophisticated traders all have a trading plan. This is simply a set of rules that tells the trader when to buy, when to sell, when to take profits and when to stop losses. I have written extensively on this topic in the past, so you can check out my blog for more info. That said, every trader must have a plan. It is not just essential. It is mandatory. Trading on impulse and without a plan is sure gambling. You're better off sports betting. In fact, if you trade without a plan, you'd notice that even though you make some profits here and there, you ultimately give up your profits back to the market and then some. You're really giving your profits back to those who have plans.
• You don't let the bad days get you: Everyone has bad days. In fact, I had a bad day today. I accidentally "bought" at the price which I wanted to sell at, because I didn't check the button configuration at the bottom. I set my buy order for BTC at 13000, someone quickly sold it to me, the market corrected it down to 9600 again, and I had a deep hole in my pocket. This led me to convert my earnings from Publish0x today to BTC to compensate for some of the loss. But I didn't let the bad day get to me, and neither should you, if you're a good trader.

I hoe this post helped you somehow and you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.