Customer Reviews

Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology (Wiley Trading)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you read the bullet points above, you have a good idea of what this book covers. Note that you must take these bullets LITERALLY! Where it says discusses, explores, and introduces ... don't expect anything more.

My grouse with this tome is that I have almost finished it and still have not learned how to coach myself "with practical cognitive and behavioral techniques that rapidly change problem patterns and build new, positive ways of thinking and behaving".

If time is money, then the value of this book goes down because it is unnecessarily long winded. As such I can only give this 3 stars.

I gave a high rating to the author's first book "Psychology of Trading" with a review title "Well researched and written, but not for the mass" in that it suits perfectly those with medium or above knowledge of psychology. It's hardly a coincidence, that the second book of the author is also targeted at the professionals, or, to be specific, professional traders who can enjoy systemized training/mentoring offered by their institutions. For traders like me who dont have such priviledges, nearly half of it became quite irrelevant and remote. Definitely worth a read, especially the part elaborating the linkage between practice and expertise, but not as useful nor insightful as fans of his first book might expect.

p.s. Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.

Competence precedes confidence: Winning mindsets result from mastery, not the reverse pg 4

When you have found your niche, you dont need discipline to do the right things; you wont want to do anything else. pg 29

Markets, like people, have their personalities; our relationships with markets will profit to the extent that there is compatibility. pg 35

Evolution occurs when we are so taxed that we must make fresh adaptive efforts. The expert is one who continually adapts to extraordinary performance demands. pg 119

How to trade and what to trade are subordinate to when to trade. pg151

Amateur traders turn into professional traders once they stop looking for the next great technical indicator and start controlling their risk on each trade. - John Carter pg 156

First, to keep things totally above board, let me state for the record that Brett Steenbarger wrote the forward to my book, The Essentials of Trading. He and I became aquainted through my editorial work with Trade2Win. When my book was near completion, I asked Brett to give it a look knowing that he was involved in trader training and development. The forword followed from that.

Brett's new book, Enhancing Trader Performance, is his second, following on the heels of his extremely successful and worthwhile initial release, The Psychology of Trading. I would not, though, call it a sequel. While the latter part of the new work does bring in major elements of what the first book covered, the majority of it has a quite different focus

Enhancing Trader Performance is primarily about developing trading expertise. As someone who has spent his fair share of time teaching and coaching on a variety of levels and in different theaters of pursuit, some of which were extremely competitive and performance oriented, I was immediately grabbed by Brett's presentation. And it never let me go - literally pages of notes later.

This book may not be for everyone. It clearly has a bias which leans more toward the full-time and/or short-term trader than someone who traders longer-term and/or on a more part-time basis. This is a natural function of Brett's work helping professional traders with their development and to overcome performance hurdles, along with his own personal efforts in the market, which are short-term in nature as well.

That said, there is still a ton of extremely useful material for any trader, new or experienced. Enhancing Trader Performance provides a sort of roadmap toward developing trading expertise. This isn't about the mental part of actually making trades and managing positions. Rather it is more a discussion of how one becomes more than just a competent trader.

Coaching is a major theme, with Brett clearly being a proponent of traders having coaches who can assist them in their development similar to the way they would an athlete. I personally tend to disagree with the way he uses "coach" and "mentor" interchangably as I consider the two to be different, but that does not detract from the overall message. Importantly, since it can be difficult for the individual trader to get in to a good coaching relationship, Brett shares plenty of tips and advice for how a trader can be their own coach.

The one major carryover from The Psychology of Trading is the use of the stories of actual people - either real or composite. They really help to drive home the points Brett is making, and in a fashion easily relatable by the reader.

In short, read this book if it is at all your objective to excel at trading. More than that, take your time and really absorb it. Read it once, then read it again. I know I will.

The key point in this book is that expertise is different from competence. This is obvious, but you will still learn from this book. Brett provides references to elite sports research as well as examples from daytraders. Since Brett is bridging two worlds he can add something very unique.

How does this book compare to his earlier The Psychology of Trading: Tools and Techniques for Minding the Markets? That book was focused on emotions and trading. The current book focuses on learning and trading. If you sometimes get emotional in front of the sceen, I would recommend that you start by reading the first book. If you like it, then you can also read this book.

Personally I find that Brett is hammering on the same point a bit too much in the second book. The point is useful, but not sufficient for five stars. Still it is a helpful book.

Finally, if you are looking for anything like a quick solution, you will find this book useless. The book asks certain questions relating to yourself that you need to think about. If you follow Brett's advice you are in for a lot of work.

I have written several short reviews on trading books. The best way is to compare the score on the books I've read. Many reviews on amazon.com are just glorious 5 star reviews. I use all five categories; sorry but everything isn't "great". Books rated 5 are very good. Books rated 4 are good solid books well worth reading. Books rated 3 can be bought by some people who read a lot or have very specific needs. Books rated 1 or 2 I would not recommend buying or reading. Naturally all in my humble opinion.

Greatest Strengths

The greatest strength of this work is the authoritative combination of theory and practice. Dr. Brett draws upon a body of theoretical literature showing a logical progression from building competence, moving from competence to expertise, and using that expertise to become successful. It is the whole package presented by a great writer who understands the theory.

Unlike many works where the strictly academic approach renders them inaccessible to most readers, this book is fun. Each theoretical step is salted with examples from those who have achieved great success by implementing the principles. The reader learns about how noted athletic performers like Dan Gable, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, and Lance Armstrong employed the specific methods described. This does not mean, of course, that these athletes had all read the relevant literature. Instead, they learned or developed key methods on their own. Nonetheless, their success demonstrates the power of the theories.

For traders, another great strength of the book is the application of theory to practice. Because of his personal work in observing and helping traders with their problems and methods, Brett's writing really comes to life. Anyone has done some trading will recognize the characters in themselves or someone they know. Any trader has experience many of the same foibles as the featured characters, who are all real traders. The reality of the examples gives the lessons and advice the ring of authenticity.

Wider Applications

While the book is aimed at a trading audience, it is quite useful for anyone engaged in competitive activity where performance is measured. This is not just about trading. Those competing in athletics or games of the mind will find the work most helpful. Our own experience involves competing and coaching people in competitive activities like bridge, backgammon, chess, sports handicapping, poker, and debate. Nearly every chapter has lessons for those striving for success in these fields.

An Important Lesson

There are also important lessons for the individual investor. So much of today's marketing makes it seem easy for anyone to beat the market. Enhancing Trader Performance shows that learning the key lessons to become successful is hard work. It requires a level of commitment that many would not have. It is better to know this before starting, than to learn the hard way.

Summary

Briefly put, this is a must-read for traders and for system developers. It is also recommended for those engaged in any competitive activity. Finally, it is useful for individual investors. Taking the time to understand the problems faced by top traders is the first step. Those unwilling to make the time commitment to read and learn are unlikely to achieve long-run success. Read this book first!

As a former professor of mathematics and futures trader for the past 25 years, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone considering trading on either a part-time or full-time basis. Most people assume that the way to make trading profitable is to find the right trading model. In my own experience, pyschology contributes 60 percent to the outcome, money management 20 percent, and one's approach or model 20 percent. Get any one of the three wrong and you will lose, but concentrate first on trading psychology. Brett Steenbarger does a masterful job of teaching the willing student much that is crucial to successful trading. I would rate this as one of the ten best books on trading for people with any level of experience.

I would with out a doubt rank this book in the top ten most helpful trading books I have read. (I have read over 130 books on trading). This book is on trading psychology, written by a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences who also trades his own account. It is a look at the winning psychology of top performers in all fields, art, sports, business, chess, music, and others. He delves into the fascinating study conducted that shows that what separates competent performers from the best performers is time spent in focused practice with feedback that enables the performer to adjust to be more successful. Studies show that 10,000 hours of correct training with proper form and helpful feedback leads to mastery. Usually this takes ten years, very bad news for those that want to trade for a living next week. However, the book shows how it is possible to short cut this rule if you watch the market intensely every day, day trade a tremendous amount for experience (only if your style is day trading),or you can incorporate similar skills for trading that you may have from other fields.
I like that the book explains that you must have a trading style that fits your personality and talents. He advises trying all styles to see which one clicks for you. If you grow bored with analyzing fundamentals and sitting on positions for months, then you may need to be a day trader or swing trader. If day trading stresses you out and you have trouble making quick decisions you may be a position trader in the wrong style.
The author discusses how traders may traumatize themselves by trading before they are ready. Or trading with to big of a position, this can scar you whether you win or lose because of the level of stress you are under. The book discusses how markets are continually changing and traders must change with it. Whether keeping their trading style and finding a different trading vehicle or changing their style to match the overall market, it is psychologically tough for a successful experienced trader to become a beginner again and retool their trading methods.
The book's best material is its dive into why discipline breaks down and a trader just starts trading crazy either trying to get back their losses or because of arrogance after many consecutive winning trades. This book really goes into the mind of the trader and where bad behaviors come from and what to do to change them. It also profiles hugely successful traders that make millions or six figure incomes. That was very informative seeing that the best are human just like us but have a consuming passion for trading and they rage to master their skills in the greatest game on earth. I highly recommend this is THE book on trading psychology and a must have for any serious trader, even the most experienced professionals.

Great for beginner and advanced traders. Deals with the the MOST important aspect of trading...YOU! Successful trading is not just about indicators and systems. It's really about you being the captain of the ship. You control all the moves. You make all of the decisions. You make all of the money. You lose all of the money. This book deals with the psychology of trading- your psychology and how it applies to trading. It doesn't deal with the "markets" psychology. It's all about YOU. When it comes to making money, isn't this the MOST important factor anyway?

This has by far been the best book I've read on trading psychology because it not only examines the psychological issues that we bring to the trading table, it maps out several directions for finding your niche as a trader. This book suggests several types of trading and even gives some details on where to take the next step. Very valuable. This book serves as a desktop manual.

This is the best book ever that describes the process to become an expert trader. Using his real world experience as a trading mentor at Kingstree, he came to a radically new understanding of how an elite trader is made. For example, the meshing of a trader's qualities to his trading style, more than his psychological makeup, is responsible for his consistency and discipline. Contrary to his previous perception, he found inadequate training is the cause of most performance shortcomings, and came to the conclusion that proper training is trading psychology.

This is a great book, especially the first five chapters. You'll find many actionable suggestions that will help you lay out your path to becoming an expert trader.