The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes | Mark Douglas

The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes | Mark Douglas | Warning! Amazon's book is faulty

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The Disciplined Tr...

	The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes Mark Douglas Prentice Hall Press, 1990 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 107 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Best trading psychology and self-help book

This is the best book I have read on trading psychology. I almost complete my second reading now, and I am "shocked" how many gems I missed during my first reading...

The best advice I get out from this book is "there're no failures or mistakes in trading, they are only reflections of what one needs to learn to grow." I have found many of the wisdom and "revealations" apply not only to improving trading results but also to almost all aspects of living too. Highly recommended to new traders!

Warning! Amazon's book is faulty

Guys,

This book is absolutely awesome. I have nothing against it, and I consider it a must read for any trader. My purpose of this review is to caution you that there are missing chapters in the book that I received. It looks like the publisher screwed up.... Just a caution.

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Perceptive guide to trading behavior.

Author Mark Douglas explains that he lost almost everything he owned because of bad trading decisions. The experience led him to rigorous self-examination, and he discovered that emotions, especially fear, had led him to trade imprudently. He went on to write this straightforward, very penetrating explanation of the role of beliefs and emotions in trading. This is not an abstract academic exercise. Douglas is a trader talking to traders. He is thorough and practical in his analysis and advice. At times, his style may be awkward, stilted and even cumbersome; however, these flaws do not prevent him from communicating important, useful information. Although the book is specifically about emotional and psychological factors as they affect trading, readers are likely to notice that these influences are active in other dimensions of their lives as well. getAbstract finds that this is quite a good little book that has stood the test of time, despites changes in the technology of trading.

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Why so negative?

Seems to be quite a few negative reviews. Must be by people who have never tried to trade. Yes the author is redundant, but by no means is it as redundant as described by others. This is a very good book and a must read for anyone serious about trading.

Parts I, II and IV are great; Part III not so great

I had high hopes for this book, because I strongly believe that the psychology of trading is half the battle. Sure, you need to know the technicalities of how to use various stockbroker order types and how to spot opportunities based on fundamentals or price action; but you also need to make decisive entries and exits unhindered by the emotions of fear and greed. In fact, other traders' fear and greed may be your ally.

Parts I and II of the book were what I expected -- psychology in the context of stock market trading.

Part III was very disappointing; the kind of pseudo-psychology to be found in many self-help books. Not only did this have little or nothing to do with trading, but it was also based on very dodgy science. I quote from page 100 "The experiences [...] will be transformed into electrical impulses of energy [...], the experiences will carry an eletrical charge [which] will be either positive or negative." I get this as an analogy; but to state baldly that positive experiences will be stored in the brain with positive charge whereas nagative experiences will stored with negative charge is ridiculous and plain wrong.

Part IV had the right trading bias, and contained useful information about market support and resistance points as a function of the market participants' psychologies and future expectations. In this part, the book redeemed itself -- but it was too little, too late, for me.

Throughout the book there is an undercurrent of advice to cut your losses efficiently without emotion when the market does not go the way you expect. Sound advice.

Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns

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