Hedge Fund Masters: How Top Hedge Fund Traders Set Goals, Overcome Barriers, and Achieve Peak Performance (Wiley Trading) [Hardcover]

Ari Kiev (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0471724165 | ISBN-13: 978-0471724162 | Edition: 1

Discover the psychological strategies that hedge fund traders use to maximize their success in Hedge Fund Masters. Author Ari Kiev interviewed over 80 hedge fund traders, including some of the most successful hedge fund operators in the world, to illustrate the principles of success. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, the book explores the pressures felt by professional hedge fund traders as they manage enormous sums of their clients' money and shows you how to maintain emotional balance, focus on targets and goals, overcome deep-seated psychological obstacles, and trade with consistency and discipline.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Success in life, as in trading, requires the ability to let go of inhibitions about winning and losing. In fact, the ability to overcome various learned inhibitions is one of the major characteristics differentiating successful traders from mediocre ones."
—From the Introduction

After ten years and three highly acclaimed books studying the psychological aspects of trading, respected psychiatrist and trading coach Ari Kiev has seen firsthand how challenging the financial markets can be. Many of the people he deals with work in hedge funds—one of the most psychologically taxing fields of finance—where the pressure to perform and profits go hand in hand.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or an active individual trader, the psychological obstacles to success can be daunting. But they can be overcome. In Hedge Fund Masters, Ari Kiev examines the psychological principles and strategies of these innovative traders, and shows you how to use them to unlock your trading potential and achieve your financial goals. Through conversations with numerous traders—including some of the most successful hedge fund operators in the world—and real-world case studies, you'll discover how to:

• Maintain a balance between too little and too much emotion
• Concentrate your energy, attention, and drive on specific targets and actions
• Find the right amount of intensity and effort so you don't burn out or lose your motivation
• Psyche yourself up
• Let go of the controls and allow your intuitive processes to function automatically
• And much more

Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Hedge Fund Masters will help you develop

the right attitude and techniques for tapping your mental potential, building self-confidence, and developing skills in mental imagery, visualization, relaxation, and psychological endurance. A variety of psychological exercises are also included to help you maintain motivation, concentration, and performance during stressful circumstances.

Hedge Fund Masters offers a rare look into the mind of the successful trader. With an understanding of how your mental machinery works, you can discard negative self-concepts that support mediocrity and the status quo—and start developing a mind-set that will allow you to prosper in even the toughest of market conditions.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Hedge Fund Masters

"As Ari Kiev notes in his latest, excellent book of trading insight, no two traders respond the same way to the same event, and that those who have survived in the business already have discipline and methodology. So what value comes from a book like this? Just as the world's finest sportsmen employ coaches, so should the world's finest trading professionals. Ari's understanding of 'life principles' that clutter even the wiliest trader's mind is one of many keys that will unlock your full potential. On every page, one can find a quotation or a question that encourages one to reappraise and develop one's skill set."
—Ian Burns, Managing Director, Citigroup EVR Trading Group

"Ari Kiev's work goes right to the essential core of what influences investment and trading decisions. Few books address the real issues that confront people in such an intense environment. This one does so in a very powerful way and should provoke many practical thoughts and actions from those who reflect on its underlying messages."
—Quintin Price, CIO, Gartmore Global Investments

"Ari Kiev continues his exploration of the psychological underpinnings of trading success that he began eight years ago with Trading to Win. Packed full of trenchant dialogues, this book explores themes of courage, tenacity, the variant perception, cognitive dissonance, and other elements of mastery. A must-read for anyone seeking to raise his trading game to another level."
—Jay G. Goldman, Hedge Fund Manager

"Trading coach nonpareil, Dr. Ari Kiev, delivers his finest work to date. In his latest offering, Kiev is back in the trenches broadcasting his version of reality TV with an elite troop of traders. Often ingenious and inspirational, always insightful and intriguing, Kiev employs psychological concepts, real-life conversations, and case studies to illustrate the path to peak performance."
—Ciaran T. O'Kelly, Head of Equities Trading, Bank of America

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471724165
• ISBN-13: 978-0471724162
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #858,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Confoundedly disappointing!, March 26, 2006

By 

ServantofGod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hedge Fund Masters: How Top Hedge Fund Traders Set Goals, Overcome Barriers, and Achieve Peak Performance (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

I had expected something of the genre and quality of Market Wizards I & II, Trading for a living, Trade like a Hedge Fund (by James Altucher), Soros on Soros, Reminiscences of a stock operator, Running Money by Andy Kessler etc etc. I had been confoundedly disappointed. The book is flooded of interviews with hedge fund managers anonymous leading you to nowhere but setting goals, visualizing success, overcoming fears and all the stuff you find in any trading psychology book, only that the writing skill of the author is sub-standard. The author had repeated the term "Hedge Fund" highly frequently. However, the content is not related particularly to any hedge fund or hedge fund manager at all. Also, the author had elaborated the term "mastery" throughout the book. I assure you that you will have no idea of how to achieve it unless you employ the author as your personal trading counsellor.

In short, a waste of time, money and the paper to print the book.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Suspicious Reviews, April 25, 2006

By 

Bond and Dollar "Bond and Dollar" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hedge Fund Masters: How Top Hedge Fund Traders Set Goals, Overcome Barriers, and Achieve Peak Performance (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

'Sceptic' (See March 2nd review below) is right - the author has conjured up a slew of similar 5 star reviews from family, friends and SAC office co-workers. His ego knows no bounds.

If you have his first two books you would be wasting your money to get this one. And it would be nice to expect better of an author on subjects of peak performance than to pad reviews. Sorry, Ari.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars get bigger!, September 23, 2006

By 

Chris Jaronsky (NJ, the garden state) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hedge Fund Masters: How Top Hedge Fund Traders Set Goals, Overcome Barriers, and Achieve Peak Performance (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

After reading all the negative reviews (one from a reviewer that admits he didn't even read the book???) I am a little confused. I just finshed reading Hedge Fund Masters and I really liked it.

The author comments on interviews with 80 hedge fund managers. He talks about the problems holding them back and keeping them from getting bigger, or keeping them from staying profitable. I am amazed that all these managers running huge money have the same problems that I do. Maybe there is hope for me!

There are many ideas in this book that will help traders and managers. Everything from developing a vision, planning a strategy, to the section on fears, emotions, and overcoming obstacles. I think Kiev is more of a coach than a psychologist in this book. He does not say "Ok, I validate your fears, its ok to be a loser", he comes out and tells some of these managers they are being weak and should change their risk levels and profit targets if they want to run big money. It makes sense in the context of the conversations.

With the loss of 5 billion by Aramanth this week, maybe they should have read this book last week. Now just getting bigger is not going to help many managers. Kiev only pushes some of these managers to trade larger on the positions they have extreme confidence in. Confidence levels that they have a track record of in previous trades. After all, if your goal is to be one of the best, you cannot stay in your comfort zone.