share market
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In below excerpt Srila Prabhupada confirms that market speculation whether shares or gold is gambling.

But late that same night, after midnight, Srila Prabhupada came out of his room into the room where the devotees were sleeping. With his foot he prodded Bali Mardana and told him to wake up. Prabhupada said he wanted to see everyone. They all rose and came into Prabhupada's room. Everyone could see that he was in a grave mood. He began by reproaching Bali Mardana and Syamasundara for risking so much money in gold speculation. The money Bali Mardana had brought was to buy a building for ISKCON New York, and Syamasundara's money was also for purchasing a building, in England. It was not right to risk Krsna's money in this way, Srila Prabhupada said. Syamasundara and Bali Mardana both spoke up confidently, trying to convince Srila Prabhupada it was a secure investment. Prabhupada cut them off. "If you try to speak in this way, then how will I be able to teach you anything?"

And thus Srila Prabhupada stopped the gold scam. Staying up almost all night, Prabhupada lectured to them in his room. While it was true that anything could be used in the service of Krsna, Prabhupada admonished them that this gold market speculation was actually gambling. It should not be indulged in. Submitting like young boys, his followers agreed to return the money to the proper ISKCON accounts and not to again speculate as if they were high financiers in the international market.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => SPL 7-9: Zurich and New York

For those who think they are INVESTING and NOT SPECULATING:

There are people who claim that they are not novice and that they do not indulge in speculative trading. They further say that their dealings in stock exchange are actually well studied investments. The example often cited by such persons is that just like one enters in a business partnership only when it is expected to generate tangible profit, investments in stocks could be similarly done after properly studying the portfolio.

However their claims are NOT true.

In 1997 Economists Merton, Black and Scholes were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for their work on predicting price of stock options; it was just a simple formula that anybody could use to predict the price of stock options. Thinking highly of their academic capabilities they started a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) in 1994. Initially enormously successful with annualized returns of over 40% in its first years, in 1998 it lost $4.6 billion in less than four months and created a potential worldwide economic depression. It became a prominent example of the risk potential in the hedge fund industry. They closed their operations in early 2000.

If Nobel laureates in economics can miserably fail in their venture in stock market, how can an average person claim to have made a well researched investment in stocks? stock-trading is nothing but speculation - its gambling!

Your Servant,
Jaimin