5 ms·

How is investing in the stock market not a gamble? Potentially reduced risk with alot more rules and regulations it's not any different IMO.

ufo 9y ago
A stock is an ownership share in a real (money-making) company. Criptocoins, on the other hand, have questionable intrinsic value.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who told you that a company had to make money to issue stock?
  - beefield 9y ago
    the original question was > How is investing in the stock market not a gamble? The companies that make stock market in aggregate make money.
  - gus_massa 9y ago
    Somewhat related: "Blue Apron May Need to Raise More Money Soon After Shrunken IPO" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-29/blue-apron-may-need-to-raise-more-money-soon-after-shrunken-ipo https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-29/blue-apro... HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14667364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14667364 (144 points, 3 days ago, 152 comments)
- endlessvoid94 9y ago
  False argument between gambling vs. investment. It's more of a continuum of risk. Gambling is seen as high risk, and long term investments are seen as low risk. There's a huge area in between, and where you place a particular activity on the continuum is largely a judgement call.
- hoofish 9y ago
  not true if the token is an asset pegged token on future revenue.
- nostrademons 9y ago
  To be fair, regular currency (USD, Euro, etc.) also has zero intrinsic value, and economists like it that way. Currencies that have intrinsic value (gold, copper pennies, cigarettes) tend to get taken out of circulation as they're used for that value, which makes the money supply freeze up when the value of the currency starts rising and people start hoarding it for price appreciation.
  - ufo 9y ago
    Good point. Although that is another reason why investing in criptocurrencies sounds sketchy: if a currency has a stable and predictable value then it is a lousy form of investment.
caretStick 9y ago
I could classify gambling according to average win/loss. Gambling has an average win/loss of house-always-wins while stocks usually result in gains for their owners. The average rate is important because it tells us that a gambler is hoping to beat the odds, a foolish move that only pays off for some, while an investor is merely riding the odds, a wise move that demonstrates understanding and acceptance of the universe. In ICO, we should believe that it is easier to create currency than to make it successful, and that there will be a power law distribution of the adoption rates, and that it is therefore gambling unless the average outcome is still so much larger for the set of coins one chooses that the incremental cost of their losses by adopting more coins is less than the gains of that one coin that out-performs others. It's like 500 startups, but it won't harass you.

ufo 9y ago

A stock is an ownership share in a real (money-making) company. Criptocoins, on the other hand, have questionable intrinsic value.

logfromblammo 9y ago
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who told you that a company had to make money to issue stock?
- beefield 9y ago
  the original question was > How is investing in the stock market not a gamble? The companies that make stock market in aggregate make money.
- gus_massa 9y ago
  Somewhat related: "Blue Apron May Need to Raise More Money Soon After Shrunken IPO" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-29/blue-apron-may-need-to-raise-more-money-soon-after-shrunken-ipo https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-29/blue-apro... HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14667364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14667364 (144 points, 3 days ago, 152 comments)
endlessvoid94 9y ago
False argument between gambling vs. investment. It's more of a continuum of risk. Gambling is seen as high risk, and long term investments are seen as low risk. There's a huge area in between, and where you place a particular activity on the continuum is largely a judgement call.
hoofish 9y ago
not true if the token is an asset pegged token on future revenue.
nostrademons 9y ago
To be fair, regular currency (USD, Euro, etc.) also has zero intrinsic value, and economists like it that way. Currencies that have intrinsic value (gold, copper pennies, cigarettes) tend to get taken out of circulation as they're used for that value, which makes the money supply freeze up when the value of the currency starts rising and people start hoarding it for price appreciation.
- ufo 9y ago
  Good point. Although that is another reason why investing in criptocurrencies sounds sketchy: if a currency has a stable and predictable value then it is a lousy form of investment.

caretStick 9y ago

I could classify gambling according to average win/loss. Gambling has an average win/loss of house-always-wins while stocks usually result in gains for their owners. The average rate is important because it tells us that a gambler is hoping to beat the odds, a foolish move that only pays off for some, while an investor is merely riding the odds, a wise move that demonstrates understanding and acceptance of the universe. In ICO, we should believe that it is easier to create currency than to make it successful, and that there will be a power law distribution of the adoption rates, and that it is therefore gambling unless the average outcome is still so much larger for the set of coins one chooses that the incremental cost of their losses by adopting more coins is less than the gains of that one coin that out-performs others. It's like 500 startups, but it won't harass you.