Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude [Hardcover]

Mark Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 1, 2001

Douglas uncovers the underlying reasons for lack of consistency and helps traders overcome the ingrained mental habits that cost them money.  He takes on the myths of the market and exposes them one by one teaching traders to look beyond random outcomes, to understand the true realities of risk, and to be comfortable with the "probabilities" of market movement that governs all market speculation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Douglas, president of the seminar firm Trading Behavior Dynamics, focuses on the psychology of successful traders. Instead of offering specific strategies, he advises readers, "The first step on the road...is to understand and completely accept the psychological realities of trading." It may be too abstract for some, but given trading's risks, this book could assist experienced investors willing to engage in self-reflection. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Douglas explains to the trader just what type of mental mindset is needed to be a winner in the markets ~ and guides the reader along a path of self-discovery leading them to higher and sustained trading results.  Global Network Publishers inc.

Trading in the Zone introduces a whole new mental dimension to getting an edge on the market.  Use it to leverage the power of the "zone" for unprecedented profit. --New York Institute of Finance/Penguin Publishers

Please note that the audio version of Trading in The Zone is not read by Douglas.  This version is read by a professional reader, most importantly, someone who is not a trader or in the investment industry.  This is a distinction that may make a difference in your listening experience.

(This review applies to the AUDIO version only.)  Please note that the audio version of Trading in The Zone is NOT read by Douglas. 


This version is read by a professional reader, most importantly, someone who is NOT a trader or in the investment industry.  This is a distinction that may make a difference in your listening experience.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press; First Edition edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735201447
• ISBN-13: 978-0735201446
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (283 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Business & Investing > Investing > Stocks
  • #33 in Books > Business & Investing > Investing > Introduction
  • #64 in Books > Business & Investing > Popular Economics

More About the Author

Mark Douglas' book, The Disciplined Trader™, was published in 1990 and is considered an industry classic. Along with Trading in the Zone™, published in 2000, his books are considered some of the first books to introduce the investment industry to the concept of trading psychology.

Mark began coaching traders in 1982, and has continued to develop seminar and training programs on trading psychology for the investment industry, as well as individual traders. He has been a frequent speaker at seminars across the world, as well as in the U.S., teaching traders how to become consistently successful.

In May of 2010, select quotes from his work on trading psychology were included in the book, Inner Wisdom Trading Prosperity Affirmations, the latest book by author and Performance Coach, Paula T. Webb. These quotes from Mark enhance the original trading affirmations by author Webb, and lead the trader to a higher understanding of what it means to think prosperously ~ one day at a time.

Mark is currently working on his third book, and can be reached through his website www.markdouglas.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

375 of 388 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Picks up where every other book leaves off August 1, 2002

By Peter B. Nelson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

     If you are like most people, after your first few losing trades you set about to learn better market analysis. After your next string of losers you learned about risk management. But there's still one more challenge to conquer; yourself.
     That is the major premise of this book. If it sounds like wishy-washy psycho-babble to you, I'll only say that I would have agreed -- four months ago, before I quit my 20-year technology career, obtained a Series/7 license and joined a professional day-trading firm. I now believe most people would lose money if you gave them 50/50 odds on whether or not it was going to rain tomorrow.
     In other words, successfully forecasting the market is not enough. Why not? Well, this book explains why not. It has to do with one's sense of self-worth, one's moral judgment of money, one's work-ethic, one's tendency to focus on good news while ignoring bad, and other things.
     "Zone" was recommended to a friend of mine by a professional floor trader who told him, "I wish I had read it before starting two years ago. Don't place another trade until you do." Well said. Does this apply to investors as well as traders? Oh, absolutely! If you have ever said to yourself, "I'm not selling that stock while it's down, I'll wait until I have a profit in it," then for the love of money, read this book.
     Finally, read "Zone" before Douglas' earlier work. If you still want more then read "Disciplined Trader" for a general review plus a deeper exploration into the author's philosophical and meta-physical theories.

108 of 110 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Set up your mind before trading November 17, 2004

By Ricardo

Format:Hardcover

If you want to fulfill your expectations of a perfect trading system this is not your book. This book is about you and the market; is about how to set up your mind to become a consistent winner.

Chapter 1 describes the necessary mental framework for trading properly.
Chapter 2 shows the psychological challenges a trader must face up to.
Chapters 3 to 5 define the mental framework for trading and what will happen if you lack it.
Chapters 6 and 7 tell us how to get that mental framework from a personal point of view ( opportunity flow and thinking in probabilities).
Chapters 8 to 10 describe how to achieve that mental framework from the market's point of view.
Chapter 11 is an exercise to put it all together.

Although Mr. Douglas knows what he's talking about, his book requires more market examples. Furthermore he loses the thread of his arguments at times and request to be reviewed several times to make the most of it.
In spite of this shortcomings it is correct a approach and worth reading.

335 of 356 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars, should have been 5 April 8, 2006

By Mr. John M. Macgregor

Format:Hardcover

Because the core of the book - the emphasis on 'thinking probabilistically', and on banishing both fear and euphoria: on the system rather than on individual trades - is excellent and worth the cover price alone.

However there is a wearying amount of padding - most of it in the 'obviousness' category. The author spends pages at a time, for example, telling us that:

1. We have beliefs

2. Those beliefs cause us to act certain ways

3. We can change those beliefs

4. Therefore causing us to act in different ways.

(etc etc etc)

We knew all this.

Chief problem is that Douglas isn't a writer: doesn't know how to pare and refine material; reduce to essence; delete the unnecessary. Likes the sound of his own voice.

This also shows in the frequent spelling and grammatical mistakes, and the poor punctuation - which tends to throw one's attention all over the page, trying to discern a meaning. I'd have hoped the publisher - Prentice Hall - could have afforded an editor.

Douglas also affects, at times, knowledge of things he knows nothing about. E.g. equating negative ions with negative emotions - i.e. an electrical charge with a metaphor (!) Even a bit of school science would have prevented this one.

Hard to know whether to recommend this book or not, as reading it will waste much of your time: as you proceed from gem to gem (and there are many) via a wilderness of excess, often meaningless, verbiage.

Advice to wealthy readers: Pay someone to rip out the time-wasting pages, and chapters, and salvage for you the worthwhile bits - most of them in the first half.

Advice to Prentice Hall: Employ editors; you'll find it cost-effective in the long run.... For example, people will recommend more of your books to other people.

Advice to Mark Douglas: cut this book in half, or less.

John Macgregor Read more ›

100 of 107 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What they DON'T tell you in seminars and the other books October 26, 2002

By Alkiguy

Format:Hardcover

I have traded now for nearly 3 years. I have book shelves full of books about trading, from technical analysis to trading tactics. Not until I read this book did I understand what it meant to create a trading plan - or for that matter, what the plan should look like. It was not until I read this book that I understood that simply trying harder, studying more, or researching deeper, would NOT improve my trading. And if fact, for reasons made obvious in this book, these pursuits can actually be detrimental.
However, I really think that an appreciation for this book can not be fully realized until a trader has been knocked around a bit - much like most teenagers can't be "told". After you have read the books on technical analysis (which I believe IS important), and after you have lost enough money, then read this book. You'll be the most out of it that way!