From TTC 1

By TTC I am referring to the Tao Teh Ching. For the text, I use the translation by Master Ni, Hua-Ching, in the book he published entitled The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching and Hua Hu Ching. In Master Ni's foreword (he was the teacher of my two primary tai chi teachers, so I use that term of respect in speaking of him), he states that after Lao Tzu had achieved great wisdom and experience, among other things including in the I Ching, he became aware that a time of spiritual disintegration was about to befall the empire, so he rode westward on the back of a water buffalo. At the Han Gu pass at China's border, he was asked by the pass official to write down the essence of his wisdom; the result was the Tao Teh Ching. The image of Lao Tzu riding the water buffalo is classic and also is a spiritual reference to the idea that each person is riding his own water buffalo (or tiger perhaps), i.e., each person has the animal component and the spiritual component. The idea is to ride one's bull, or tiger, and not let it ride you.
Master Ni also refers to the I Ching and the system of numbers, and the fact of odd and even numbers. A personal note, about a year ago I realized that the I Ching mathematical system is actually very, very similar to Fibonacci numbers. I won't go into that now, but if you know the system, you can figure it out. Pretty interesting stuff. Anyway ... let's go to Chapter One of the TTC - Tao Teh Ching:
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Tao, the subtle reality of the universe, cannot be described.
That which can be described in words is merely a conception of the mind.
Although names and descriptions have been applied to it, the subtle reality is beyond the description.
One may use the word "Nothingness" to describe the Origin of the universe, and "Beingness" to describe the Mother of the myriad things,
but Nothingness and Beingness are merely conceptions.
From the perspective of Nothingness, one may perceive the expansion of the universe.
From the perspective of Beingness, one may distinguish individual things.
Both are for the conceptual convenience of the mind.
Although different concepts can be applied, Nothingness and Beingness and other conceptual activity of the mind all come from the same indescribable subtle Originalness.
The Way is the unfoldment of such subtle reality.
Having reached the subtlety of the universe, one may see the ultimate subtlety, the Gate of All Wonders.
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Whew, what can we say about this for the Tao of Trading?! well, for one thing, it can be understood as a reference to the idea of a Big Bang and/or the initial division from original Oneness into yin and yang, negative polarity and positive polarity, emptiness and fullness, and the origin of all "things" such as planets, the spaces inbetween, and all the stuff that physicists are studying and telling us about. And the "myriad things" are all the things that flow out from that original mathematics.
It is possible to derive the I Ching numeration and Fibonacci relationships from this, but I don't think I want to go into that math right now. Just understand for now, you start with original "Oneness," then it subsidives into yin and yang which is 2 things (that plus the original underlying oneness gets you three "things"). Those 2 things that expressed in this universe, each subdivide and you get 4 (which plus the original underlying oneness, gets you 5 "things"). And so on, sort of similar to Fibonacci and his rabbits. You also get the idea of unfolding, which does occur in waves, with progression and pullbacks, which is remarkably similar to the Elliott Wave theory and the golden spiral, which manifests often in nature. It is also a lesson in being unbiased. Such as, there is a time for everything ... a time of moving forward, and a time of pulling back .... a time of growth, and maturing, and death, and giving way to new growth, in spurts and pullbacks.
As it's all expressed in words, those are mere concepts anyway. And what we can understand with our limited minds, can never by definition be the ultimate truth which cannot be actually grasped on the conceptual level. So we can play the game, just don't forget that it IS a game. One thing I learned in Master Ni's I Ching book, a statement that blew me away, was that initially, we all want to seek the truth. And that is okay.
Ultimately, however, when you gain true wisdom ... you learn that it isn't actually about just the truth ... it's really all about integrity.