[NickM]

Stock shares are an investment because the stock market is a positive sum game in the long run. Yes there are risks but the returns produced by the market are due to actual value being generated in the form of goods and services.

Investing in Bitcoin is like investing in shares of a company that produces nothing, and which only is able to fund its continued operations by continuing to issue and sell more shares once every ten minutes. Investing in a real compay that worked that way would be considered crazy, but somehow it’s supposed to be different because it’s decentralized. The financial implications are the same though; it’s a negative sum game instead of a positive sum game.

That’s why it’s more like gambling than an investment. The amount of money that comes back out is always going to be less than the amount that goes in, in the end.

[tanseydavid]

Is someone who day-trades stocks an "Investor" or a "Gambler"?

I think most people who day-trade would call themselves "investors" but it seems precisely like gambling to me.

Can trading stocks be both "investing" or "gambling" depending on how you approach it?

[MacsHeadroom]

Day-traders tend to not call themselves investors. They call themselves traders.

Investing involves holding assets long term.

But they certainly don't call themselves gamblers. At least not any that turn it into a successful career.

[thunky]

You can gamble with anything, to include things that aren't worthless like food, housing, stocks, etc. You can also invest in them. But you can't invest in worthless things.

[xmcqdpt2]

Is the day trader in your example trading their own money?

Because most traders aren't. They are bank and fund employees with KPIs, risk management oversight, massive support functions and very expensive computer programs.

Retail investors that are day trading on the other side of those professionals are absolutely gamblers though.

[stouset]

They are gamblers.

[throwawayadvsec]

"because the stock market is a positive sum game in the long run"

No, in the actual long run you and every of your descendants dies and the earth get disintegrated.