What is the difference between forex and sport betting? Forex (foreign exchange) trading simply involves buying currencies when their prices fall and selling them as soon as they appreciate markedly. Sports betting, on the other hand, is a form of gambling, which involves predicting the outcome of a sporting encounter between two teams.
Both forex trading and sports betting could be really lucrative, and they both have their fair shares of upsides and downsides. However, they remain parallel ventures that are distinctly different from each other. With that in mind, let’s now look at the differences between forex trading and sports betting:
8 Difference between forex and sport betting
a. Forex trading is a generally regarded as a real business, as it is a form of investment similar to stock trading (but in forex, you trade in currencies rather than stocks). While Sports betting is not generally regarded as a serious business, as it is a form of gambling. Besides, it’s just a form of entertainment in which your fortunes are decided by the outcome of a match.
b. As a forex trader, how much profit you would make hinges largely on your skills, abilities, and understanding of how everything works in the foreign exchange market. It takes time to master all these, but you will make more profit as you learn more.
In sports betting however, your profits are not dependent on your experience or skills. In fact, there are really no skills to master. In reality, your profit depends on factors that you cannot control, such as the morale and performance of the teams you have tipped to win a match.
c. In forex trading, you can opt out of the market when market factors seem unfavorable. This is a good tactic to prevent huge losses. And you can as well enter the market again once market indicators show positive signals. However in sports betting, you cannot opt out of a bet after a match has started (even though you can predict the outcome of a match from the starting tempo sometimes).
So, even if you are seeing signs that you will lose your money, you can no longer opt out of a bet once the match has started or once it has reached half time (depending on the rules laid down by your betting agency).
d. Forex trading is not time bound. You can enter and exit the market at irregular intervals as you wish. Some forex traders buy and sell within few minutes, while others may hold on to their purchase for as long as 24 hours or more.
In retrospect, the time frame for a sports bet deal is just the duration of a match (90 minutes in the case of a soccer match). So you have to wait patiently until after the match to know if you if you will end up with a profit or a loss.
e. Forex trading brings results that are proportionate with your knowledge of market analysis. Highly experienced forex traders hardly lose their funds. And when they do, it’s always very minimal.
But in sports betting, shocks abound. That you have been betting for decades doesn’t guarantee that you would get it right most of the time. In fact, a newbie can place a bet and win a huge profit, whereas, a “pro” can place a bet and lose badly. (In forex trading, hardly can a newbie make more than a veteran does).
f. Forex trading requires more technical knowledge than sports betting. A forex trader must have a deep knowledge and understanding of market analysis, market indicators, currency rise and fall trends, price fluctuations, signals and what they mean as well as the mathematical analysis required to make decisions that will most likely bring profit.
While Sports betting only require you to know a bit of recent history, the strength, style of play, and the current form of the teams involved in a match. All these are not technical details, and you can get them within minutes.
g. Forex trading involves buying and selling with spreads, margins, and leverages. (Leveraging is when you forex broker gives you additional funds to trade with, which is usually a fixed multiple of your own capital). While in sports betting, what you put-in is what brings your results. No spreads, no leverage.
h. As a forex trader, your success in forex trading depends largely on your personal skills and knowledge, and your active participation is required. Of course, you need to be actively watching the market and making decisions at the right time while Sports betting doesn’t require your active participation. You can place you bet and wait for the results of the match. So, you can win or lose a bet whether or not you watched the match.
Conclusion
I want to state clearly that choosing the best between sport betting and forex depends on your priorities, the time you are willing to invest and your long term goals. And one is not better than the other. So choose wisely.