In 1981, Douglas moved to Chicago and became a broker with Merrill Lynch at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), where he thought he was in the perfect position to make money in the markets on a regular basis.

That dream turned into a nightmare. Within nine months of relocating, he had lost nearly everything — not only by racking up trading losses, but by continuing to live the lavish lifestyle to which he had become accustomed.

In such a situation, most people return to their previous line of work, blaming their failure on the markets in general and the floor traders in particular, and making any other excuse that might be handy. But for Mark Douglas, the exasperating experience became a personal challenge to understand the nature of this failure.