The Mind of a Trader: Lessons in Trading Strategy from the World's Leading Traders: Amazon.co.uk: Mr Alpesh Patel: Books

Product Description

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

From the Author

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.

Customer Reviews

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

Nice idea, but fails to enlighten 17 Jun 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book should be called "The Basic Tips of a Trader" because there's almost nothing about the psychology behind their trading tactics nor a psychological insight into what makes the markets behave as they do. Supposing that the word "Mind" in the title isn't meant to be taken too literally then one may still find the tips somewhat superficial. If you're a novice to trading then you might be interested to hear comments like "take your losses like a man" or "pick a trading style suited to your personality", but if you are a novice then you probably don't want to be confused or bored by drawn out messages. The essence of this book is worth a chapter in a good general book on trading but wasn't worth the time sifting the mostly common-knowledge or common-sense tips from a well padded book.

I am surprised that this book has so many excellent customer reviews (ignoring those of the big traders themselves). The title may sound interesting and useful but I found nothing profound or enlightening. A few of the tips can be applied to generally being successful at anything, not only trading. It would be useful to know the psychology behind the market-makers and big traders but if this book expresses all that they think then be assured that most semi-intelligent people with a fair education have little to learn from this book. As one trader said, you don't fight the markets, i.e. go with the flow. Useful. They may have a knack for making money but this is probably more to do with intuition than anything they have been able to consciously identify and translate into words that may be of some use to us mortals.

Patel's later book, "Net-Trading", covers many of the more interesting points of this book in a book which is worth a read for beginners or those wanting to use the Internet as an info source and need good pointers through the proliferation of cyber-confusion. He puts the best points from "The Mind of a Trader" into better context and without the padding.

Nice idea for a book for traders, but in my opinion it doesn't hit the spot.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

OK, But there is better out there 5 Oct 2001

This is essentially quite a good book on the motivations and techniques of leading traders. However, there are better and more informative books available, and at better prices.

If you are a prospective trader and are considering purchasing this book, don't buy unless you already own one of 'Market Wizards' or 'New Market Wizards' by Jack D. Schwager. Both of these books are considerably more informative and less than half the price of Patel's book. Also, Patel gives the traders an incredible amount of respect, occasionally going over the top.

The interview with Weintraub and the reminiscent insights of Winterflood are all well and good, but the Lipschutz chapter shows how 'New Market Wizards' is both more motivational and, basically, interesting.

Anyone who has seen Patel on Bloomberg TV, or read his articles on FTMarketwatch will know that he knows his stuff. However, this book, while informative, is hardly riveting and you should buy Schwager first.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

A joke! 2 Feb 1999

I have been a profitable, professional Wall Street trader for over 14 years. A friend of mine, who is one the best traders around, showed me this book because a "broker" we know is written up in one of the chapters. I read the chapter and I have to say I have never been so embarrassed in my life at how a simple "filling" broker was lavishly praised as being legendary and God's gift to trading. As far as we can tell he has never really traded risk and should never be mentioned in the same sentence or paragraph or book with a Tom Baldwin, a true legendary trader. The lathering decription he receives in this book is truly a joke. It's like a friend of mine writing a book on professional wind surfing and interviewing me about it. About all I know is you need a body of water to try it. More importantly, I can tell you the broker interviewed in one of the chapters knows nothing about actually taking trading risk and certainly has no right to give out vague advice about how to succeed at it. Why would I comment so strongly on this book? Because, as a professional trader, I find it embarrassing that the author didn't take the time to verify who he was interviewing and whether he was a real trader or not. Common sense dictates if a broker really did know who to trade he would,and not choose to "fill" the orders of real traders for a small commission. Always remember, "Those Who Can Do and Those Who Can't Teach"