The Psychology of Finance (Wiley Trading) [Hardcover]

Lars Tvede (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471996777 | ISBN-13: 978-0471996774 | Publication Date: October 22, 1999 | Edition: 1

The Psychology of Finance Lars Tvede The author approaches this fascinating area from the belief that "psychology can be used to explain important aspects of market behaviour, including some aspects of common technical analysis". Without giving too much away, Lars Tvede believes that there is an inherent structure in price movements, depending on the type of stock or market one is investigating. The author's style is very "hands-on", which results in an extremely readable and enjoyable account of the movements in prices of financial assets. Analysts, traders and bankers will find this book essential reading. Economists and the personal investor will also find The Psychology of Finance interesting. Finance/Investment Psychological Aspects

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Professional investing is mainly a question of finding good value at low prices. You can, for instance, buy the value, wait for its price to go up - and then sell and take your profit. Prices of financial instruments move all the time, and while they do tend to catch up with value when they have been out of synch for a while, they also move for other reasons. This book is about some of these "other reasons". It is about how psychology can drive movements in the prices of financial assets.

From the Back Cover

The Psychology of Finance Lars Tvede The author approaches this fascinating area from the belief that "psychology can be used to explain important aspects of market behaviour, including some aspects of common technical analysis". Without giving too much away, Lars Tvede believes that there is an inherent structure in price movements, depending on the type of stock or market one is investigating. The author's style is very "hands-on", which results in an extremely readable and enjoyable account of the movements in prices of financial assets. Analysts, traders and bankers will find this book essential reading. Economists and the personal investor will also find The Psychology of Finance interesting. Finance/Investment Psychological Aspects

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1 edition (October 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471996777
• ISBN-13: 978-0471996774
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lars Tvede (www.larstvede.com) holds a Master's degree in Engineering and a Bachelor's degree in International Commerce, and he is a certified derivatives trader from National Futures Association in Chicago. Lars Tvedes books have been published in 11 languages and more than 35 editions.

Lars spent 11 years in portfolio management and investment banking before moving to the high-tech and telecommunications industries in the mid 1990s, where he has been co-founder of several award-winning companies.

He is also founder of Beluga, a successful financial trading company, and most recently of CarryQuote AG, a financial information company, which in 2009 won the Red Herring Global 100 award as one of the worlds 100 most promising private technology companies.

Lars was listed in The Guru Guide to Marketing as one of the Worlds 62 leading thinkers of marketing strategy. He has authored most of his books alone, but a few with co-authors, including Jens Bodenkamp, Director of Business Development Europe for Intel Corporation and Peter Ohnemus, who is a member of the board of directors of Rothschild's Bank.

Lars Tvede lives in Zug, Switzerland with his family. His hobbies include skiing, sailing and collecting Italian sports cars and wine.

More information about Lars Tvede can be found on www.larstvede.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you Can Get this Book, then Get It!, April 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Psychology of Finance (Hardcover)

Absolutely one of the best books I have ever read. This book got me started in investing. What an incredible overview of business cycles and waves and economic indicators. Gives such readable ananlysis on how and why our economy moves. Makes you want to watch M1,M2 and M3. But the best part of this book is his ability to tie in mass pyschology from the tulip bust in Holland to John Maynard Keynes' discussion of "to the sixth degree." How you need to predict what people are predicting the market will do. And then it masterfully sums it all up in an excellent discussion of chaos theory and the benefits and limits of using charts to predict. Makes you discount anything but the next day weather forecasts. I went and read about 5 more scientific treatisties on chaos theory. Want a foundation upon which to invest and invest with shrewdenss. READ THIS BOOK! Find it in a library, anywhere.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Make sure you get the first edition!, June 14, 2004

By 

Steven Phillips (Ada, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Psychology of Finance, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

Tvede presents a good, intermediate-level overview of market trading from a trend-following perspective. He also describes several indicators which are useful in assessing the "temperature" of the trading environment. However, aside from the clarity of his writing and the logical development of his argument, he offers little which is new to the experienced market practitioner.

Also, please note that this book was published in two editions. The first edition successfully views the mechanics of trading through the emotional filters which affect our buy-sell decisions. The second edition is a complete rewrite which morphs the book into a nebulous psychology text that is only occasionally related to the trading process. You would be well-served to avoid this second edition! First edition - 4 stars; second edition - 1 star.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Can be a classic, September 15, 2002

By 

ServantofGod - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Psychology of Finance (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

If somebody reads one book, makes minor revision and prints it, that's plagiarism. If he/she reads ten, that's a scholarship. If the number goes to a hundred, it can be a classic, my appreciation of this book.

In the bookshelf there are numerous books telling either history of the investment market, or trading psychology, or technical analysis. This book is a rare breed that incorporates several dimensions into one. Chart reading, with elaboration of four basic market rules (1. market is ahead 2. market is irrational 3. environment is chaotic 4. charts are self fulfilling) interrelated with different schools of psychologyical theories (behaviourist, Gestalt, Cognitive, Psychoanalysis), forms the stem of this beautiful book with vivid "green leaves" of writings on momentum, sizing, turning points.....

One great thing of the book is that one does not need to know much about psychology to understand what the author tries to tell, because tables of examples are abundant to let you know when you had made specific mistakes. He does not teach you how to correct them, but it does lead the way of self improvement and really help to enlighten your trading style.

This book should be in any serious trader's bookshelf for fast recollection of some important trading principles, a regular dosage for cleansing mental dirt accumulated after his/her harsh trading life.