Some people think stock market trading is just fancy gambling, but they couldn't be further from the truth!

Sure, it's fun to go out and throw some money around at the horse track. Sometimes I talk a couple of buddies into going down to the harness races on a slow weekend. But picking winners is practically random, especially at the harness races where it seems they can slow down the cart behind the horse.

When I was younger, I used to make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas the first week of March Madness. I had a good analytical system to help place my bets and it was quite a rush watching dozens of games simultaneously at the sportsbook.

However, the silliness of seeing a meaningless basket blow up the spread at the end of the game was an all-too-often reminder that even with a good system, this was strictly gambling…

Of course, betting on 16 games on Thursday and Friday and another 8 games on Saturday and Sunday was exhausting! I was happy to go back to work Monday where I can quantify my odds and relax doing what I do best... Trading the markets!

As you can see, I'm not much of a gambler. I like to control the odds and know I have an edge like I do with the options plays I pick. Trading is all about probability and money management...not gambling!

Save your crazy bets for Vegas!

Keep it In the Money,

Alan Knuckman
Editor, In-The-Money
AskAlan@StPaulResearch.com