[TheAlchemist]

I differentiate it mostly by the long/short term outlook indeed. Although there may be some other differences.

For instance, when somebody says he's trading - I understand - looking at the charts, momentums, indicators and who knows what else. When your mindset is one of investing, you don't really need that. The price a stock had a month ago, a day ago etc is irrelevant. All you should care about is what's the price you need to pay to buy one share, and what's the estimated value of this share - which you can try to evaluate based on the financials of the company, maybe even by being very optimistic about their business prospects, etc.

Now, it could happen that you buy shares of a company that you feel is 'cheap' (ie value >> price) then the price skyrockets in 3 months, and you decide to sell. That's fair - and it definitely doesn't happen very often. My point is - if you trade, you may buy / sell if the share price move 5-10%. When you invest, you know that 5-10% is just random walk of the market. It doesn't change at all your position (or shouldn't at least - unless you think that your valuation is so precise - in which case you're a fool !)

[colesantiago]

So basically speculation, financials alone doesn't cut it.

I don't see a difference.

I think it is more blind luck more than anything.