Unlike many games and sports, trading has an additional factor: the market!

Imagine playing tennis if the ball had a mind of its own, if it could run off to the sidelines and bounce up and down for a minute or two. Imagine a game of golf in which the ball could occasionally go off down the fairway, dance about, and do whatever it wanted. Imagine a chess game in which the pieces suddenly became worthless, or a hockey game in which the puck suddenly went against everything the players were trying to do.

With trading, this additional factor sometimes exists. And this makes it more than just a "game."

As a result, you never quite control trading. It is more like rodeo riding, where you try to keep the bull under you as much of the time as possible!

It is a kind of shepherding of one’s luck towards a given destination – sometimes that is every bit as difficult as it sounds.

In fact, due to luck’s part in the mix, there is sometimes a feeling that there is a point beyond which expertise cannot go, a point forever off-limits. Yet, at the same time it is this challenge that attracts us and keeps us coming back.