Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets (Wiley Trading) [Hardcover]

Ari Kiev (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0471248428 | ISBN-13: 978-0471248422 | Edition: 1

A breakthrough programfor achieving new heights of trading success

The product of a five-year collaboration between Dr. Ari Kiev, a leading psychiatrist renowned for his success with Olympic athletes, and top equities trader Steve Cohen, Trading to Win gives you the essential tools to overcome outmoded, self-limiting beliefs and mindsets that may be keeping you from a higher level of success. Illustrated with real market scenarios and applications, this powerful program will help psych you into a less stressful, more self-possessed mastery of the trading game and help you reach goals you may never have thought possible.

"The strategies in this book will unleash the hidden trader in you, and can substantially increase your trading profits." --Jay G. Goldman, Hedge Fund Manager.

"Ari Kiev has written a wonderful guide for money managers, traders, brokers, and investors alike. Sharing his thoughts with us regarding our behavior patterns enables us to take a step back and look at ourselves more objectively." --Seymour W. Zises, President and CEO, Family Management Corp.

The trading arena has produced its share of select "super-traders," market practitioners who set themselves apart from the rest of the field with one distinct advantage: mental and emotional toughness. Like outstanding athletes who stay focused, remain calm, and stick to their game plan, these master traders in this highly risky, highly competitive arena possess an edge that keeps them from being distracted by fear, self-doubt, greed, and other emotional components that can cause major losses and prevent gains from soaring to new highs.

Trading to Win presents a step-by-step, goal-oriented program for building the mental and emotional stamina not only to win, but to win on an unprecedented level. Created by a leading psychiatrist for a top trading firm, this proven approach spotlights a set of philosophical and behavioral principles designed to assist you in implementing proactive trading strategies, as well as developing the mindset needed to trade effectively in the realm of uncertainty. Delving into your underlying thought processes when you trade, Trading to Win enables you to understand what is motivating you, whether it is consistent with your game plan, and whether you are in any way sabotaging yourself.

Fully supplemented with real market trading scenarios, Trading to Win shows you how to apply key concepts where it counts--in actual trading room situations. For both professional traders and sophisticated investors, this remarkable program offers a rare opportunity for both personal and financial gain.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Buy low, sell high. Sounds simple? Hardly. As most traders will tell you, finding the right entry and exit points in a market is too often a stressful and even gut-wrenching experience. Ari Kiev, author of Trading to Win, wants to change all that. Kiev spent five years with a group of professional traders at SAC Capital Management, a $500 million hedge fund, studying the psychological and emotional aspects of what makes for a successful trader. Kiev found that what hinders many traders is ego, fear, emotion, and "false beliefs about yourself and the markets." Gaining mastery as a trader means seeing "the market as it is, not as a reference point for your own existence." Kiev advocates a disciplined, Zen-like approach to the markets that begins with articulating a specific goal then committing oneself to attaining that goal in the most objective way possible, overcoming the emotional baggage that too often leads to poor decision-making. Trading to Win is for professional and amateur traders of every stripe who are looking for insight into their own behavior and approach to the markets. --Harry C. Edwards

From the Publisher

Virtually every top trader and investor attributes their success to a strong mental capacity and the ability to master their emotions. Even the best "system" can prove disastrous if the trader or investor doesn't have the ability to stick to their strategy. Yet, holding fast to a strategy can be extremely difficult while immersed in the trading game, since in essence, the mind seems to conspire against itself more than ever while in this milieu. The Psychology of Trading presents a step-by-step, goal-oriented approach to trading that emphasizes ways to keep emotions in check, overcome self-doubt, and focus clearly on a winning strategy. This new approach to trading has been developed by a leading psychiatrist, with expertise in sports psychology, and practiced by a top stock trader. While a plethora of books, seminars, and consultants address this vital area, no program has yet been developed by a trader and a psychiatrist. This is a proven approach, and it is outlined in an accessible and concise manner in the book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471248428
• ISBN-13: 978-0471248422
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't start trading without it., February 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

I have two copies of Trading to Win; one I lend to my traders, and one I keep for myself.

I have been involved in running a professional trading firm for the past three years. At first, there were only a handful of books to help an individual transition from active investing, to trading. These days, it seems, there is a new title introduced every few days. I look at the majority of these books, and few are worth reading from cover to cover.

Trading to Win is an exception. This book deals with the psychology of trading in a more thorough way than any book I've read. As insightful as Elder's Trading for a Living, with more detail on the psychology of winning, and a more updated perspective. Ari Kiev takes his readers through a step-by-step process, showing them how to build their personal psychologies and become "master traders". He compares trader training to the training of Olympic athletes in a way that is accurate and interesting to read. There are numerous questions and quizes in the book, designed to keep readers on track while creating their personal psychological strategies.

Bottom line: In order of importance, your average trader usually puts psychology far behind trading technique. If he worked more on understanding and developing the motivations that governed his trades, maybe he wouldn't be so average.

Buy the book and plan on reading it numerous times.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Platitudes, June 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

I bought this book expecting to gain some insights into the psychology of trading. I received one big insight: Don't just research the markets - research books about the markets before buying! Mr. Kiev entreats us to: "Find your weaknesses and eliminate them... Seek your psychological stumbling blocks and overcome them... Determine what restrains you from trading freely and well - and cast these things aside..." And so on -ad infinitum; ad nauseum. Step two - the next logical step - the "How" to do these things is not a part of this book. Perhaps the author will publish a sequel: "Ari Makes Even More Money." Please do not buy this book.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A So-So Book, August 4, 2001

By 

V. Chan "scccm" (West Coast, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

I am a professional day and swing trader. I didn't find this book to be particularly helpful because of the disorganized way in which it was written. Also it offers so many rules and guidelines that it is confusing to one as to which is more importnant. The author also tries to impress one with the profit size of his "students", throwing around figures like $20,000 to $30,000 in profits a day that his students or clients generate. I agree with another reviewer that these for the most part is meaningless as one needs to figure return on assets to really judge how well one is doing. I have read a much better book on trading psychology and this one really analyses why we make the mistakes so common in trading. Getting to the root of the problem has helped me to improve my trading. I am now in my third year in this business and hope to be in it for a lifetime.