Superbowl Weekend

It's the Super Bowl this weekend. As a US citizen since 2019, I am now legally obliged to join the ~100 million Americans watching it.

Fortunately the Kansas City Chiefs are not in it this year so the cameramen won't have to be on Taylor Swift watch all night.

Truth be told, I really enjoy the NFL but that wasn't always the case. Growing up watching what the rest of the world calls football (though ironically it was originally called 'soccer' in England), the NFL was completely alien to me. 4+ hours for a game, stop start action, endless commercials.

But once I actually stopped to understand the strategy, a whole new game opened up.

A score can happen on every single play. Momentum can shift in an instant with offence and defense only ever one snap away from a big play. It forces your focus - if you switch off for a minute you can miss everything.

Once you understand that, the parallels with trading become obvious. With these markets it can be dangerous to take your eyes off the screen for even a few minutes. Like in the NFL, creating an edge comes from study, strategy, and implementation. Both a game and the markets can change in an instant and you need to have several backup plans and the ability to react on the fly. If you can't spot shifts in momentum or don't have tools in place to manage downside you're unlikely to last very long.

I'm sure many of us dreamed of playing professional sports when we were kids rather than being commodity traders. But I like to think that this industry keeps that competitive streak alive.

And from how my back sometimes gives out picking up my 4 year-old, I'm happy to watch the Super Bowl from the comfort of my sofa rather than from the field about to be tackled by a 6'6", 250lb giant.