The Mind of a Trader: Lessons in Trading Strategy from the World's Leading Traders (Hardcover)

When it comes to trading what makes a winner? Is it inborn, or can it be learned? Is there a psychological secret? Don't worry about looking for the answers. It could take you a lifetime. Read about what it takes to be a consistent winner instead. It could take you far.

With contributions from: Bernard Oppetit, Bill Lipschutz, Pat Arbor, Jon Najarian, David Kyte, Phil Flynn, Martin Burton, Paul Johnson Jr, Brian Winterflood & Neil T. Weintraub

Synopsis
This book explores the trading philosophies, behavior and tactics of the world's top traders, identifying successful strategies and winning ways in the markets.

It answers the question "what makes a great trader?" and "how can I profit from what they know and do?"

Interviewees include: Bill Lipschutz(former Managing Director and Global Head of Foreign Exchange, Salomon Brothers); Bernard Oppetit (Global Head of Equity Derivatives, Banque Paribas); Pat Arbor (Chairman, Chicago Board of Trade); Jon Najarian ("SuperTrader", Director, Chicago Board Options Exchange); Phil Flynn (Vice President, Alaron Trading); Paul RT Johnson Jr (Senior Vice President, ING Securities, Futures & Options); Neal T Weintraub (floor trader and author of Tricks of the Floor Trader), and many more.

The mental processes leading to trading excellence and profit are described within the covers of this book from the mouths of those that experience, live, breathe and love the markets. What do top trading strategies and minds have in common? How can the reader use this information to his or her own advantage and profit?

I do not want a single trading reader to close any chapter and feel, ‘what relevance does this have to me?’ The naive believe there is a secret to trading success, and they search for it, but in the wrong places, such as expensive trading programs. With experience they realize that the only secret to success is hard work and talent, and they stop looking for any other secret. Finally, with wisdom they stumble across the secret to trading success without even searching or realizing it.

Any secret is the knowledge possessed by the few. The secret to trading success is in this book. That secret is a frame of mind; a way of seeing things. Trading is viewed by many as seductively easy, until they start losing, until they become one of the 80-90 percent that do not last a year in the profession.

Trading success is difficult. Better to learn from the mistakes of the successful and avoid your own, than to become a loss-making statistic.

A successful trader needs not only successful trading rules, but also a successful trading mind. Having successful trading rules is only half the picture; knowing how to achieve the mentality to implement them provides the full picture. Throughout the book trading strategies are placed within a psychological context, demonstrated through the experience of top traders. I seek to get behind the mind of the trader and examine how he implements his winning strategies. What great map, what unusual perspective has he been granted that permits his view to be uniquely profitable? After all the lawyer’s job is to get the other person, whatever his occupation, to tell his story so that anyone and everyone can easily understand it. However, being a trader myself has meant I too have experienced the problems, frustrations and questions which are addressed in this book. I have tried to be your collective mouthpiece. I believe I have managed to get to the root of popular trading difficulties not effectively addressed elsewhere.

For instance, how do I know if I am cutting a loss short or if I am cutting a loss which could be a potential profit? Rather than providing an over-simplistic, unhelpful and sprawling question and answer format, that is heavy on biography and history, I have chosen to incorporate my eminent interviewees’ responses into digestible, focused subsections with a coherent study of techniques. There is explanation and expansion wherever needed and not merely at the end of a chapter or hidden in a conclusion.

If you prefer your trading books to be rambling accounts of trades placed decades ago in markets that no longer exist, with a few impoverished paragraphs of advice and little focus on the reader, then this book is not for you. You will find this book written in an accessible, direct and useful style containing descriptions of what these leading traders do so well and how you yourself can improve your trading; ultimately to make more money.