Wow what a thread - potentially a never-ending subject! I guess it'll continue till the number of reads per post is zero! Until then I'm happy to throw my 2 cents worth since by the look of it the other 80,000 HC member have already done so.
I'll use an analogy that I've explained to someone on HC before. I think about the distinction in terms of playing cards at the casino, since both the stockmarket and a casion gaming tableninvolve risking money on an uncertain outcome:
Gambling is just pulling up a chair at a blackjack table, putting your money down, and playing cards based on what you see before you.
Trading in this context is what casinos would call cheating - counting cards - because they know it changes the probability of success back in favour from the house to the player. Counting cards allows you to improve the probability of correctly predicting the outcome of the next cards based on what is dealt because you have remembered what has already been dealt out of the deck. This is very much like doing research (whether technical or fundamental) to improve your odds of predicting price movement to make a profit.
In the above context those who dont do their own research in the stockmarket are just gambling, those who do are card sharks (pun intended :-) who would be thrown out of the casinos (perhaps with broken kneecaps...).
Anyway, whatever, its all good and peace on earth to traders and gamblers alike :-)
