Are We All Gambling?

Depends; if you take a systematic approach based on a predesigned set of rules that have shown results then I would say not.

If you look a chart and guess a direction, then that is gambing.

Sometimes, we trade as gamblers.

Similar to gambling, but with respect to gambling foreign exchange.

If you know how to trade it is not gambling. You don't have 90%+ win rates gambling.

Just because you make profit - does not mean its not gambling.
Its still speculation- its not a worthy endeavour

I don't see any similarities with gambling in trading, for one reason: gambling and all the strategies associated with it work with probability and chance. Correct trading is based on data acquisition, data processing and trade execution.
In terms of probability, this could be compared to roulette and bets on red or black. But the financial market is not just a choice between long or short.

What amazes me is that constant need to label things and put them away in boxes
Sometimes we do that to make sense of our environment and sometimes we use it as an excuse but it's always a dividing topic
because you'll always find people with completely opposite opinions on each side of the river throwing rocks at one another similar to what you find in politics
Is trading like gambling? Are cars like planes? Similar questions are infinite and I'm not sure the answer if there is any will bring any value to you as a trader but when you're trying to compare two different things without the same parameters like oranges and bananas, maybe people should ask themselves why they're asking that question, what answer they're looking for, what are they trying to say, because you're bound to find whatever subjective answer you're looking for like having some strong convictions about something and looking at specific patterns in the stars, in tea leaves or even on a chart to validate their point. If you believe it then it's true for you. Doesn't necessarily mean it's true for someone else but in the end it's just a matter of opinion. There is no bigger truth to find, people will just give you their opinions, that's all it is because no matter which side you're on, you can always find the best arguments to defend your point but just because you've got the best argument and you destroyed that other person doesn't mean that you find the "universal" truth or that you're right and the other is wrong but that's what people want to believe. Everybody will find the answer they want to find convinced that what's true for them is true for others too which kind of reinforces them in their belief that they're on the right side as if they had all figured it out. Despite our limited cognitive abilites, we always seem to be convinced to know the truth and that everybody else is on the wrong side similar to a God complex in a way.

I'd like to quote one of the best authors I've read, Philip Roth

"You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias or hope or arrogance, as untanklike as you can be, sans cannon and machine guns and steel plating half a foot thick; you come at them unmenacingly on your own ten toes instead of tearing up the turf with your caterpillar treads, take them on with an open mind, as equals, man to man, as we used to say, and yet you never fail to get them wrong. You might as well have the brain of a tank. You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion. ... The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we are wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you"

I wouldn't say so as Mark Douglas says trading is a pattern recognition probability game. Patterns re-occur all the time and you need to have a strict set of rules to follow to take advantage of the probabilities. It is important to become a student of the markets you can't do that in a casino plus the edge is always on their side whereas the edge is with us if done properly

Patterns only start working when you start to notice them and draw on a chart

As for gambling in trading, I believe that everyone can accept the trading process as conveniently.
If you consider trading as a gambling and it helps you to make money, well this is your truth, and only this is right for you.

In general, gambling can be present in any activity, even if there are no stakes. Sometimes it is confused with a enthusiasm or interest
for something. But I think passion differs from interest in that interest is rather temporary and most often does not cause harm. Unlike gambling, which many consider to be a disease. When it comes to betting, I think all areas in which you can bet are becoming gambling.

Is it possible to return lost funds in Forex? There is the same risk of losing funds and it is unlikely that someone will return them except yourself. So to say, "I'll get it back"

You know, if we judge forex only from the point of casino, it means we give money without a refund. Doesn't it? Earned a little and gave all the profit to the casino. Haha.
If someone likes to take risks and gamble, then forex will be gambling for him.
But.
I don't think so. For me, forex is more like an exchanger with the purchase and sale of currency. Only a cold calculation and no gambling. lmao.

It seems to me that there are not many people who have the ability to do cold calculations. And what to do when your "exchanger" rate starts dancing against your cold calculation. You will fix the losses and will try with your cold calculation to level the losses with a new "currency exchange". And here again losses, and then again and again. And then the gambling comes into play which can be called "cold calculation".
Just thinking

IMO smart gamblers have more chances to win than those who use tight stops.

IMO gambling becomes investing once you have a positive expectancy when entering a trade. I don't believe casinos gamble despite the fact that some only have a 0.3% edge in blackjack. The second you become a talented card counter in blackjack, to me you're no longer gambling but instead investing because you are generating positive expected value. To me, the same applies to trading... it's just harder to know when you do have that positive expected value and require many trades and data points to examine.

I think gambling strarts when the cold calculation ends. When your emotions over you and you don't control the situation.
In this case, I can only advise you to take a deep breath in and out. Get angry. Accept the loss. And don't rush to trade again. Let the time pass.
A couple of hours will be enough for someone, for someone it can take a few days. And someone may have to go through all this for a week or few.
You see, it's important to stop on time. Otherwise, it will really turn into gambling.

if cold calculations means backtesting, optimizing the parametes and then praying that the system will continue to work.. I'm too old for that stuff

the only thing that makes sense to me right now is to wait for a nice market crash to buy a diversified index... like the SP500.
buy low, sell high... but also... diversify. anything else looks too risky or crazy lol

I think forex is included speculative business, its different with gambling, gambling like as playing card, or throw the coin and guess what image will appear, but forex trading, before throwing any order as a trader will analyze based technical or history price, etc to concluded possibility price moves ahead, it's like the farmer wants to plant the seed, he sees cloudy weather maybe it will rain, after that it is speculative

NO WAY
Roulette and trading have nothing in common. roulette is a 50/50 where there is simply no way of determining the outcome, a game of chance. trading on the other hand uses many different types of analysis, indicators and information that can be used to determine the most probable outcome. of course there is a level of risk, but it is calculated risk. I see where one would connect gambling and trading but i dont agree.