The distinction between "traders" and "investors" is so...

The distinction between "traders" and "investors" is so arbitrary that I think some people used the distinction to downplay traders as gamblers. At the end of the day, how one makes money on the market is irrelevant. It should be more about how successful our approach and process is in making money (whether it be wealth creation via unrealised profit in long term compound winners or short profitable trades). Anyway, it isn't as if the professional money managers (who are often seen as investors regardless of their investment style) are just sitting on their portfolios with long term hold. In reality, I believe most market participants have a mixture of both long term and short term position (long or short), even within a single position.

That all being said, there has been a massive increase in passive funds such as pension and super funds who sees massive influx day after day and has to deploy the cash somewhere. So they often just buy for the long term based on the fund's specific remit. These passive funds have had an increasing influence over the market in recent times, such as AusSuper's role in the Origin bid and its opposing stance to the shorters in PLS.

At the end of the day, beside the 50% CGT discount for asset held longer than 12 months, the profit generated (regardless of whether it is income or capital gains) are essentially bundled together to determine your taxable income anyway

618 (investor or trader wannabe trying not to be roadkill)