Zero Sum Game

I was having a conversation with a friend last night who was very curious why I get up around 3am on weekdays. I explained that I trade the forex market and he said quite succinctly that I am a professional gambler. That comment made me chuckle and he went on to ask what the difference was between me sitting at a computer looking at charts trying to pick when to trade and playing online poker. This got me thinking and we went on to discuss how this is a zero sum game just like poker. The money I made yesterday trading came from someone, at my level it came from my broker. They take the opposite side of every trade I enter so if I win they lose and so on. When the dollar amounts get bigger the only thing that changes is who takes the other side of the trade. As a capitalist this idea that in order for me to win someone somewhere has to lose doesn't bother me a bit. We each put our best foot forward and today I came out on top.