Trading to Win : The Psychology of Mastering the Markets

Customer Reviews

In order to maximize profitability in the markets, I believe it is essential to have a thorough and perpetual understanding of the inputs to your successes and failures, as defined in terms of external factors such as market conditions, characteristics of position selection, trading sizes, executions relationships, holding periods, etc. but also with respect to such "intangibles" as identifying your fears and other obstacles to efficient decision-making. This book provides a useful framework for carrying forward with these exercises.

In addition, I believe that Dr. Kiev, through his organized yet anecdotal style, has created a work that conveys its essential messages in an entertaining and literary matter. I urge those interested in the markets to pick up a copy. If you don't agree with all of the concepts, at least it will get you thinking about them.

This, from my perspective, is a very good thing.

It is not a strange concept to Steve Cohen, who hired Ari Kiev as a "trading coach" for his hedge fund S.A.C. Kiev, who was profiled in Jack Schwager's Stock Market Wizards , teaches that traders need to stretch themselves in the goals they set. They also need to eliminate the negative thinking that prevents them from reaching those goals. Much of Trading to Win is thus actually "common sense" (as is most psychology, it seems), but sometimes it is useful to hear someone reiterate sound principles.

One principle for which critics have taken Kiev to task is his suggestion that traders should set or raise their profit goals, which seems like a veritable "no no" from a risk management perspective. The criticism misses the fact, however, that Kiev is really saying that raising your performance goals means raising your work ethic. What are you going to do to raise your game? Squeezing out extra percentage points of return requires getting onto the trading floor hours earlier (or hours later) than you normally would-and researching companies more assiduously on paper or by working the phones harder. Moreover, Kiev actually recommends stricter risk management through such time-tested techniques as understanding your reasons for each trade, as well as the setting of target entry and exit prices. He also wants you to figure out if fears and doubts are keeping you from cutting your losses and riding your winners.

This book is clearly not for everyone; it is easily too "touchy feely" for traders concerned solely with the quantitative or more tangible aspects of trading. Kiev also tends to float heavily from topic to topic, often without a clear path. But for those traders who wonder how "fixing their heads" might result in greater success, Trading to Win is definitely worth a read.

Similar Products