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What’s the difference between problem gamblers and retail traders who focuses on high-risk, speculative stocks to the detriment of their personal lives?

Very little, says Michelle Nogueira, addictions and problem gambling counsellor with Homewood Community Addiction Services in Guelph, Ont.

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“Online trading fits the profile of problem gambling when it compromises, disrupts, or damages important areas of peoples’ lives,” she says. “If there’s a preoccupation with online trading, a loss of control and continuation of the behaviour in the face of negative consequences, then it’s crossed the line into problem gambling.”

Traders with a gambling problem present a unique challenge to treatment. “In their minds, gambling is bad, but they see their activity as investing —something positive,” she says. “Heavy trading losses are seen as a part of their education.”

Nogueira says that problem traders she’s counselled typically trade in a high-risk, speculative stock portfolio that continues to become more risky. “It’s as though their tolerance increases and they’re trying to maintain that level of excitement,” she says. “They’re constantly checking the market and the value of their stocks in real time.”