The Mental Strategies of Top Traders: The Psychological Determinants of Trading Success

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John Wiley & Sons, Dec 21, 2009 - Business & Economics - 208 pages

An honest depiction of the challenges of trading and a clear explanation of what it takes to succeed

Trading tends to be a winner-take-all activity where a small number of traders are very successful, while the majority either lose money or generate relatively small profits. In The Mental Strategies of Top Traders, author Ari Kiev identifies and analyzes the characteristics of successful traders and shows you how to cultivate these same characteristics.

Successful trading, Kiev asserts, requires an unusual and sometimes contradictory blend of intellectual and psychological abilities, including the willingness to take risks, but in a very controlled manner; the discipline to develop high-conviction trading ideas in the face of unpredictable markets and incomplete information; as well as a strong drive to win, but also accept failure. Here, you'll discover how to achieve all this, and much more.

  • Provides advice and solutions for traders struggling with today's volatile and stressful markets
  • Authoritatively identifies key mental strategies of top traders
  • Written by Ari Kiev, a highly respected figure in the professional trading community
  • Analysis is supported by comments from contemporary traders and portfolio managers, many of whom struggled with the markets of 2008

Designed with the serious trader in mind, this book will put you in a better position to excel in today's tumultuous markets.

 

Contents

Acknowledgments
A History of Success 14
Putting It All Together 21
Chapter in Review 27
Case Study on Having a Variant Perception 35
The Ability
Learning to Upgrade Your Performance 71
Chapter in Review 77
Defining Expectational Analysis 94
Case Study on Trading Stress 123
Case Study on SelfAssessing During Drawdowns 129
Chapter in Review 140
Finding Complements to Your Team 151
Chapter in Review 159
Directing Success 161
Index 191

Idea Construction 88

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About the author (2009)

Ari Kiev (Park Ridge, NJ)?is a psychiatrist who specializes in stress management and performance enhancement. Kiev has had a distinguished career in psychiatry. He is president of the Social Psychiatry Research Institute and is recognized worldwide for his pioneering work in transcultural psychiatry, suicidology, and psychopharmacology. Kiev has counseled Olympic athletes on how to achieve states of peak performance in athletic competition. In recent years, Kiev has worked with many traders on issues of stress management, goal setting, and performance enhancement. He has worked extensively with Steve Cohen's multi-billion dollar SAC Capital Advisors.

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