Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline [Hardcover]

Ari Kiev (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471379085 | ISBN-13: 978-0471379089 | Publication Date: February 2001 | Edition: 1

Overcome the obstacles that can prevent you from winning at the trading game

A trader's emotional state is vital to being a successful investor. There are many psychological factors that can affect the decisions one makes in the course of a trading day. This book focuses on overcoming issues such as anxiety, fear, and over-ambition so that traders can become more focused and be more successful-in other words, enter the zone-and stay in it as long as possible.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Most traders believe that 'getting into the zone'happens when you have 'a hot streak.' I believe you can create the zone. The zone is a psychological state. It is when you are focused, disciplined, and fully engaged in the process at hand . . . trading in the zone will certainly increase your capacity to perform and succeed."-Ari Kiev

In his internationally acclaimed Trading to Win, psychiatrist and top trading coach Ari Kiev showed traders how to master common psychological obstacles to success and how to develop winning personal trading strategies. Now, in this groundbreaking new book, he takes us to the next bold level with a complete, easy-to-follow program for Trading in the Zone.

Drawing on his years of experience helping top Wall Street traders achieve and sustain peak performance levels, Dr. Kiev describes proven techniques for tapping the energy, focus, and enthusiasm needed to enter the zone and stay there, every trading day, regardless of short-term results or market conditions.

With the help of many fascinating case studies, Dr. Kiev describes psychological and emotional factors that routinely undermine the decisionmaking process of even the most savvy trader during the course of the trading day. Writing for traders in virtually every market, he explores the varying psychological and emotional issues confronting different classes of traders based on their risk profiles and preferred instruments. Trading in the Zone helps you gauge the extent to which your effectiveness is being hamstrung by common problems such as anxiety, fear of failure, negative self-image, and greed. He provides step-by-step guidance on how to overcome those internal obstacles and enter the zone, where you will produce outstanding results, day after day, year after year.

Don't let cognitive traps and negative emotions impair your effectiveness as a trader. Read Trading in the Zone and learn how to achieve the heightened levels of objectivity, focus, and confidence you need to trade in the zone and win, win, win.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR Trading in the Zone

"Ari Kiev takes us inside the most successful trading firms of our time and shows us how those firms seek to improve performance through disciplined self analysis and structured goal management. His application of psychiatric tools to the short-term trading aspects of behavioral finance can give readers a competitive edge."-Charles A. Leeds Jr., CFA, Managing Member, Hermit Capital Management, LLC

"Kiev uses the powerful combination of his professional training as well as a unique vantage point inside the ropes at a market-moving, high-rolling hedge fund to deliver a fascinating analysis of a trader's psyche. Although trading is widely acknowledged as an art, one that requires incredible innate intuition and feel for the markets, Kiev prescribes 'getting into the zone'- a psychological state that one can create - for those aiming to achieve a higher level of performance. His anecdotes, case studies, interviews and tales of the 'Master Trader' are both instructive and tremendously insightful. A compelling read."-Ciaran T. O'Kelly, Head of Equity Trading, Salomon Smith Barney

"Trading in the Zone discusses the psychological considerations that serve to distinguish the most successful traders and portfolio managers from the majority of traders who are doomed to failure. Trading is so greatly influenced by emotions and discipline that not to have Ari's insight and advice is a serious mistake."-Tom DeMark, author of The New Science of Technical Analysis

"I have been managing money for more than twenty years and I am happy to endorse Dr. Kiev's principles, which have enhanced my performance and that of my traders over the past three years. Trading in the Zone will propel readers to the next level of trading success."-Jay Goldman, Hedge Fund Manager, J. Goldman & Co., L.P.

"Ari Kiev's Trading in the Zone clearly and forcefully illustrates the mental discipline that will enable a stock trader to improve his performance."-Allan R. Tessler, Chairman and CEO, Jnet Enterprises

"Dr. Kiev works with professional traders, including some of the best traders in the country. In Trading in the Zone, he provides numerous case studies based on the market experiences of these traders, told both through narratives and their own words, in order to distill insights and lessons that should prove invaluable to professional and aspiring traders alike."-Jack Schwager, author of The Market Wizards and Stock Market Wizards

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471379085
• ISBN-13: 978-0471379089
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #614,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > E-commerce > Online Trading

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Much overrated!, September 24, 2002

By 

ServantofGod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline (Hardcover)

I had read Douglas's Trading in the Zone before. I had a very high expectation on this one. However, I was very disappointed.

The author emphasized throughout the book the importance of entering the zone, a state of mind that you can neglect fear, greed, P/L, and just trade according to your feeling of the market, though he supplemented that with the need of analysis, hardwork, focus blah blah blah, and that different people have different means to enter the zone, illustrated with examples anonymous. Those might be true stories. However, the author just did not tell the readers how they could do it themselves without the assistance of a coach like the author's good self.

A reviewer of this book wrote that this should be read together with Douglas's Trading in the Zone and Mc Call's The Way of the Warrior Trader. One should read those two excellent books only, but definitely not this.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best..., December 30, 2001

By 

"marefidelis" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline (Hardcover)

I personally admire Dr. Kiev's work and contribution to daily psychology. However I would suggest any trader - or any other person, for that matter - to read and apply the ideas in his " Daily Living Strategy". His goal-based approach is what I live on, and I certainly understand the positive comments made by his clients, but I think the reviews are concerning the book + the counselling they took personally from Dr. Kiev. By itself, the book is not complete. It is helpful, and it certainly adresses several important issues, but it doesn't go deep. Also, it is a product of Dr. Kiev's work with the professional traders working in huge trading firms or departments, and as such, addresses the problems and solutions that can be found in such settings. Even the trading methodology Dr. Kiev seems to advocate sounds very institutional: he is talking about how to get real info from analysts that call you up. Well, being a full time trader who strikes on his own, that didn't help me. Again I recommend buyiing his now-classic book, the Daily Living Strategy, and apply it to whatever it is you want to achieve in your life.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational and Insightful, March 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline (Hardcover)

One of the most essential, yet least discussed, topics when it comes to trading is market psychology. While fundamentals and technicals are both critical in developing an understanding of a company and its inherent value, trading psychology is the processor of this information and the true measure of success and profitability. People who wish to excel in trading must have a firm grasp on their emotions to prevent them from falling victim to the same mistakes that dominate most traders. In his latest book, Dr. Kiev presents a much richer discussion of what it means to be trading "in the zone", including how to get there and how to stay there. He also expands upon some of the topics presented in his previous book, providing more detailed information as to the psychological forces at work behind the mask of fundamental and/or technical information. For an emotional trader like myself, it's reassuring to know that I am not in the investing minority and that, with work, I can overcome these self-inflicted barriers to success to achieve my personal and professional goals.