Rating: 
Summary: a warrior seeks vulnerabilities & strives to eliminate them
Review: Although the capital markets are a social environment, they are substantially different in character than most social environments that we are familiar with. The capital market environment requires a high degree of self-control, because there is little in the way of outside control governing our actions. Because of this, we must impose rules on ourselves, rather than expect to have rules imposed on us by others. We also have to confront our emotional responses to positive and negative experiences and maintain a high degree of self-awareness. In the capital markets, what constitutes a good decision one day can quickly become a bad decision the next, as the context is constantly changing. In the markets, we must develop an ability to dis-associate our feelings with the individual events, otherwise we will tend to develop emotional biases that will handicap our results. Following one of the worst bear markets in equities in many years, and the first broadly based economic recession in a decade, now is a good time for personal re-assessment of our decision-making with an eye towards how we may be able to improve ourselves. This book will help you on that path more than just about any other published in the past 10 years. Don't buy this book, because I'm the bid so to speak and I would rather that you continue on with any perceptual distortions that you may have. It will make my life a lot easier if you do not buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Trader: Know Thyself
Review: An outstanding book for traders of all levels, even experienced traders will undoubtedly recognize some of their more subtle trading Achilles heels, and all of us have them. If you're a system follower, you need this book. If you're a discretionary trader, you need this book. If you throw darts at the financial pages to choose your trades, you need this book (actually, in that case, you'd better get out of the markets altogether). A lot has been written elsewhere, of course, on trading psychology, but Dr. Steenbarger, who apparently develops trading systems and trades actively himself -- so he puts his money where his mouth is -- shows how to integrate the quantitative and qualitative (i.e., human) elements into a coherent trading framework. My trading results are up tremendously since I purchased this book, even though the market has been moving sideways the past few months. Thanks Dr. S!
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but not necessary
Review: First, let me start by saying this book will not teach you how to trade (though you could probably see that from the title). I think the book is way longer than it needs to be. The author talks about many counceling events with clients in his life (most are non-trading related) and then tries to draw a parallel with them to trading. When he finally gets to his point about actual trading psychology, he has good things to say. But I think he could have said everything in one chapter. Nonetheless, I found that I was able to relate to many of the behaviors he discusses. I didn't feel like he really gave great help in trying to break the bad behavior, but at least being able to relate to it makes you think about it and pay attention when you are falling into it while trading. There are many other trading books I would probably read before this one. But if you're sick of all of the technical books that try to teach you how to trade, this book might be worth a read. It's actually one trading book that you could take on vacation with you.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny
Review: I am a fairly experienced trader and I have read almost every book on trading available today- This book, The Psychology of Trading, is vital to every trading collection.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book
Review: I didn't expect this book to be so great. The author focuses a lot on the psychology and shows how it applies to stock market. As a psychology student, I'm getting my MA degree, I can say that this person gave me a lot of key skills on how to be successful not only in stocks but in life as well. Special, unique, useful and deep book. You will enjoy reading it and applying to your life. Filled with great stories. A must! Ariana
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, well written book
Review: I have two bookcases full of statistics and trading
books, and The Psychology of Trading is an wonderful addition to the collection.
Steenbarger's book takes you on a very nice tour of human psychology and how peoples' worldviews, motivations, and
experiences form the basis of their interactions and actions. All of the discussions, while interesting by themselves, do lead back to trading sooner or later. No poorly written, academic psycho-babble here; the book is exceptionally well written with clear, flowing prose explicitly recounting numerous case studies, relationships of psychological matters to trading, and many suggestions for traders on self-improvement. Rarely have I read a book that both contained so much useful information and presentated it so well. Brett's thoughts on learning curves, pattern breaking/establishment, and probing people to see who is 'talking his position' are worth the price alone, and the case studies ought to provoke much thought. For comparison, I have read Trading for a Living by Elder, and that book, while interesting, is not as well written and contains far fewer useful examples and thought provoking comments. A useful complement would be Judgement Under Uncertainty, ed. by Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky which discusses (in a more academic and formal fashion, i.e., it is a collection of really good papers) how people incorrectly process and interpret data in uncertain situations.
Rating: 
Summary: Please, not another trading psychologist
Review: I knew there was trouble when the author decided to give himself a 5-star review before anyone else read the book. Maybe he doesn't realize that there's a bubble in psychologists who think they can help losing traders. I don't think there's anything more weird than a half-trader, half-psychologist. If they're so good, then why aren't they full-time traders themselves? You'll find the typical "trading is war" analogies and hey, look at how those professional athletes train! Guess what folks? One of the best traders I ever knew was a fat guy from Brooklyn who chain-smoked like a chimney. One of the biggest myths is that anyone can be trained to be a trader. That is BS - most will fail, and this book can do nothing about it.
Rating: 
Summary: A most excellent book.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It took some chewing through. The thoughts were presented well. I could identify with the patients in some degree or another. Every trader has experienced loss and done something that later appears to be unfathomable. You stop when the dust settles and say, "What was I thinking?" Dr. Brett has clearly explained why that happens and has given some great ideas to overcome it. With that said, I have some cons to add to the review. More or less every thing after chapter five is a re-statement of earlier ideas. There are some exceptions but the general idea is repitition. Secondly the reader who simply reads the material will put it down at the end and will have a warm feeling of "I can do it now!" I don't believe that to be the case. Dr. Steenbargers ideas are scattered about in an almost flash back format. You really have to compare notes between the chapters to get the whole picture. In addition to having a scattered format I believe that more should have been said about the steps taken in a solution to these problems. I got some great ideas, (by comparing notes between chapters) but the real step by step actions were sometimes a bit nebulous. In the final summary I believe the book is very insightful and full of wisdom. The book is a must for overcoming the shortfalls of human nature. The book does require more study than casual reading but the gems unearthed make it worthwile.
Rating:
Summary: A most excellent book.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It took some chewing through. The thoughts were presented well. I could identify with the patients in some degree or another. Every trader has experienced loss and done something that later appears to be unfathomable. You stop when the dust settles and say, "What was I thinking?" Dr. Brett has clearly explained why that happens and has given some great ideas to overcome it. With that said, I have some cons to add to the review. More or less every thing after chapter five is a re-statement of earlier ideas. There are some exceptions but the general idea is repitition. Secondly the reader who simply reads the material will put it down at the end and will have a warm feeling of "I can do it now!" I don't believe that to be the case. Dr. Steenbargers ideas are scattered about in an almost flash back format. You really have to compare notes between the chapters to get the whole picture. In addition to having a scattered format I believe that more should have been said about the steps taken in a solution to these problems. I got some great ideas, (by comparing notes between chapters) but the real step by step actions were sometimes a bit nebulous. In the final summary I believe the book is very insightful and full of wisdom. The book is a must for overcoming the shortfalls of human nature. The book does require more study than casual reading but the gems unearthed make it worthwile.
Rating:
Summary: The Psychology of Trading
Review: I was fascinated by the author's application of psychological case studies to trading. Most investors are extremely emotional about the market these days, to the point of depression. This book helped me start thinking clearly again. When you think of how much analysis costs, the Psychology of Trading is a great bargain! And it's a great read, too. Laurel Kenner
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