3 ms·

If you are an oil company entering the futures market to reduce your risk on oil prices, you aren't gambling. If I enter the market and short oil for fun, I'm g

If you are an oil company entering the futures market to reduce your risk on oil prices, you aren't gambling. If I enter the market and short oil for fun, I'm gambling. The stock market isn't gambling if you are just buying equities - you are literally purchasing a small stake in a company. The fact that prices move around a lot doesn't make it gambling per se. If I offered a new price on your house every day, it doesn't make your house purchase a gamble.

vasco 2mo ago
Reducing risk is a form of gambling. You're just betting on the "please don't" rather than the "please do". The point is always the same, you want to end up better off than others that didn't buy what you bought. If the oil futures purchase turns out to have been worthwhile because price went up due either to production going down or demand up, that doesn’t somehow create new oil. You just get to buy it cheaper than others. You coulda yoloed on spy puts and used that money to buy the more expensive oil at market prices and it's all the same. But you call one gambling and another not gambling, idk, it's all similar to me.
- danielmarkbruce 2mo ago
  No, it isn't. That's just not the definition that is used by people who gamble and are in financial markets. Words have definitions. No one uses the word "gambling" when they buy insurance on their house. They payoff is contingent, but it's not creating risk for it's own sake.
- c22 2mo ago
  When I invest I don't really care if I end up better off than others. I'm just hoping to catch some slice of the ongoing economic growth so my at-rest wealth doesn't become devalued by inflation.
  - vasco 2mo ago
    Words have meaning, my sentence didn't stop where you stopped reading. The key words you're missing come right after when you stopped quoting.
    - c22 2mo ago
      I'm sure what I bought does better than some others. I'm also sure some others have done better than me. Statistically speaking this has to be true of almost everyone. Probabilistically speaking I'm likely somewhere near the middle of the bell.

vasco 2mo ago

Reducing risk is a form of gambling. You're just betting on the "please don't" rather than the "please do". The point is always the same, you want to end up better off than others that didn't buy what you bought. If the oil futures purchase turns out to have been worthwhile because price went up due either to production going down or demand up, that doesn’t somehow create new oil. You just get to buy it cheaper than others. You coulda yoloed on spy puts and used that money to buy the more expensive oil at market prices and it's all the same. But you call one gambling and another not gambling, idk, it's all similar to me.

danielmarkbruce 2mo ago
No, it isn't. That's just not the definition that is used by people who gamble and are in financial markets. Words have definitions. No one uses the word "gambling" when they buy insurance on their house. They payoff is contingent, but it's not creating risk for it's own sake.
c22 2mo ago
When I invest I don't really care if I end up better off than others. I'm just hoping to catch some slice of the ongoing economic growth so my at-rest wealth doesn't become devalued by inflation.
- vasco 2mo ago
  Words have meaning, my sentence didn't stop where you stopped reading. The key words you're missing come right after when you stopped quoting.
  - c22 2mo ago
    I'm sure what I bought does better than some others. I'm also sure some others have done better than me. Statistically speaking this has to be true of almost everyone. Probabilistically speaking I'm likely somewhere near the middle of the bell.