The Securities and Exchange Commission's study of the activity notes that day trading is an extremely stressful and expensive full time job. Day traders must watch the market continuously during the day at their computer terminals. Just as alcohol fuels the alcoholic's chemically-induced high, money is the pathological gambler's means to euphoria, and just as the drug addict needs more and more of the drug to maintain his high, so the online gambling addict seeks greater and greater amounts of money with which to wager. Perhaps the most obvious way in which gambling-addicted day traders show the relationship of these criteria to their behavior is their early referenced use of margin money. Buying on margin is not restricted to day traders, nor does it occur only in day trading.
Many investors use margin money to buy more stock.
Briefly, margin borrowing refers to the practice of using currently held stock as collateral for a loan from one's broker in order to buy more. For the frequently disastrous results of such borrowing, see criteria 8 and 10 below. Some addiction specialists believe that loss of control is the essence of all addictions. If some kind of outside help is not able to help addicted day traders find better ways of dealing with painful emotion and if they can lay their hands on money, they will be back in front of the screen in short order. As day traders lose more and more money, their own and that of others from whom they have managed to borrow or steal, the urge to get it back becomes very powerful.