Stock-market

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.

Please excuse the immodesty of the 5 stars; I could not figure out how to produce a star-neutral author's review! In The Psychology of Trading, I have attempted to show how our behaviors become patterned, how this patterning affects the trading of financial markets, and how methods drawn from brief therapy and cognitive neuroscience can enable us to break old patterns and create new ones. My goal was to move beyond well-worn self-help techniques and offer practical strategies based on real cases drawn from trading and psychology. If, in some measure, the book enables traders to become their own therapists, it will have met this goal.

A second objective of the book was to show that the patterns of the financial markets are similar to those of traders. I am continually surprised at how many intraday traders fail to track patterns in such data as the NYSE and Dow TICK, short-term new highs/new lows, and the minute-to-minute advance/decline balance among actively traded issues. These data reveal an ebb and flow of momentum in the market that is uncannily similar to the ebb and flow of moods in individuals--with markers at important points of transition. Recognizing and acting upon these markers is a crucial skill for psychotherapists--and for active traders.

A recurring theme in The Psychology of Trading is that successful traders do *not* eliminate emotions from trading, but instead utilize their emotions as information. Not infrequently, this information illuminates the short-term movements of stocks and index futures. Learning to become an observer of one's experience, rather than lost within that experience, is a mark of mastery in many performance domains--a crucial ingredient in finding the trading "zone".

Readers interested in previewing ideas from the book will find archived articles and a trading weblog linked at greatspeculations.com. An important theme in the articles and book is that proper trading psychology will never substitute for solid research and long hours of immersion in the markets. Indeed, The Psychology of Trading attempts to show how research and immersion can *produce* a superior trading mindset. The best traders, in the spirit of Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, seem to reach a point where working on the markets *is* working on the self--and vice versa. It is a noble path, and I am honored to travel it with readers.

Words cannot put to justice the astonishingly accurate, profoundly well-researched and lucidly written work of Dr. Brett. Using his real life clients as models The Good Dr. takes us on a journey through previously unchartered regions of the human psyche with painstaking detail. This book and the references contained in it set me on a path to self-discovery that I shall never backtrack on. I now see things with an awareness beyond which I ever thought I could attain.

It is really amazing as to how many people are sitting behind trading stations without the slightest clue as to the fiendish psychological challenges that trading presents to a human mind which is hard-wired to protect its ego at any and all costs. For those that are not brought up in an idyllic homestead with angels nursing their every psychopathological ailments trading is simply not somewhere to search for affluence and prosperity. As this applies to virtually everyone, those that intend to make money consistently must devote themselves to cultivating a superior level of self-understanding. Aspiring students of the markets must also increase their thresholds of pain exponentially since frustration & damper are the order of the day in this industry, at least initially.

The profitable trader must wield acute awareness, understanding of the underlying mechanism of the human brain and develop levels of self-discipline akin to the mythical Odysseus because the sirens of the market can be just as deadly. Dr Brett shows you step by step how the markets are relentless at exposing every one of our own individual emotional weaknesses, ferreting out every chink in our armor.Plentiful "screentime" and an objective mindset are the factors that go into the creation of a successful market player. Persistence without a doubt is the penultimate for it is their own painful battle scars that bring priceless wisdom to accomplished speculators.

This book should be on the shelf of anyone trying finish in the black on a consistent basis regardless of their level of sophistication. Thank you Dr. Brett for changing my life.

Hardest to understand book on stocks to date for me. Where is my asprin :0)

Everyday, reporters and analysts produce dozens of reports about the markets and they try to forecast what will happen next. Most of the time, analyst forecasts are wrong. Market action is in the unexpected direction. The reason why the analysts are often wrong is that they use efficient market hypothesis as a method to forecast the market action. Is the market really efficient and individuals behave rationally or the herd psychology is the main reason of the price action which is following certain patterns?

Read this book.

Mr. Plummer's book handles the problem as a psychological phenomen and examines the dynamics of crowd behaviour. This book clearly describes how financial crowds integrate and disintegrate. Every crowd has a life cycle and in this cycle, the growth, maturity and decline periods follow each other. Mathematical model of the formation and disintegration periods of the bull and bear crowd life cycles, is the Fibonacci number series and this book explains the connections between the growth and decline periods.

Mr Plummer further explains Logarithmic spiral and golden ratio in detail and how they can be used to forecast the future market movements.

This book is a must-read for the financial professionals and the traders.

Tony Plummer did a great job in helping me understand thisliving, breathing, and ever changing organism, the crowd/market;brevity and clairty and beautiful presentation; this book will never be outdated.

B. L.

This book does not stand out in any fashion other than as a forum for the author to show off his anecdotal tales of philosophy and finance.

I found nothing concrete to implement for my investment style. And the exercises to expand my "mental boundries" for unique thinking, seemed like rehashed, rhetorical self-help.

There was little correlation between the title and the content; again reminding us that one should not judge a book by it's cover.

After reading Mr. Ware's book, I found his writing style to be witty and concise. However, his book is not at all practical or useful as an investment guide. As a professional money manager, I didn't think that the book had good enough concepts in it to warrant "Beating the Market". Definitely not in the same class as, say, Warren Buffett's annual reports and his letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway.

I seriously doubt that applying the concepts in this book will be helpful in "beating the market", especially the S&P 500 index, which has consistently beaten approximately 80% of all actively-managed mutual funds.

This book makes a nice attempt at relating psychology to finance but falls short, in my opinion, by falling back into common sense generalities that should already be known, without having to read this book, by those hoping to profit in the markets.

As a die hard Index fund fan, I would disagree with the author's book title that it is possible to beat the Index year after year. However, the author's unusual mix of Myers-Brigg people type categorization plus investing was an interesting read. I gained the most from this book from the author's thoughts and stories about the creative thinking process more than anything else. Enjoyable book to read, but not sure his techniques can be practically applied by an investor.

Spirituality is a way of life to the people of my new home here in Thailand. They've been channeling the powers of Buddhism and the supernatural for many centuries, and I find it entertaining that magickal thinking -- with the help of Mr. Goodwin's book -- is only now getting around to infiltrating heartland America. Why is this resource such a shocking revelation? That using the psychic powers of the mind, body, and spirit can be used to create wealth via the stock market? Seemed obvious to me. And I was quite pleased that someone finally sat down and put it into words.

I'm a veteran player in the market. I've been doing it for more than 6-years now, and it is now my exclusive source of income. I only buy stocks at certain times of the year, and I found the information in this book was right on the money. I recommend that anyone whom invests in the markets read it, and, anyone who is considering jumping into the market, sit down and read it too.

Reading a book on investing doesn't sound like the most exciting way to spend an afternoon. I bought this book because I wanted to invest some money I've just come across but didn't want to enter that evil world of brokers and end up losing everything. This book was PERFECT because it explains the fundamentals of investing which beginners like myself need, yet it also goes into very deep and interesting places about psychic abilities that I think even veteran investors and brokers will find useful. And above that, it is even ENTERTAINING! Goodwin's commentary on New York City and the stories he tells are very funny and enlightening.

I wonder if the SEC and NASD know about this book? I sure hope not. Because it's to good to be true.

This little book of 100 pages is the most densely packed set of wisdom on markets I have ever read.

Absolute finest book on market psychology I have ever read.

Several psychological pitfalls for the speculator to be wary of are covered, along with an excellent model of how buying and selling work from an emotional perspective. I've spent 50 bucks on several market psychology books that don't measure up to this little 90 year old paperback .

"To be a good investor, first you have to Know Thyself!" Here's the book on Psychology that I feel is a necessary part of developing a proper Contrarian attitude! From Tulips to Turtle Bay, from Merchant Ships to Market Timers Mr. Dreman tells the tales of market speculation and zealous investing.

Your reading it doesn't require a degree in Psychology. The book will help you understand just what the true meaning of Fear and Greed are, relative to investing. From that basis Mr. Dreman then gives some suggestions on value and contrarian investing. The stories told will look somewhat familiar to the investor that's been through a couple of market cycles. He does a great job of describing the giddy feeling we get in a raging bull market and the gut wrenching agony of a Kodiak Bear's mauling.

A couple of mutual funds now carry the Dreman name. This adds a bit of weight to how important contrarian investing really is. It is very easy to lose sight of reality when the market is either in a strong bull or bear phase. Having guideposts along the way helps to keep our exuberance rational! This book is as important to read as any on investing.

There are a million books out there that teach investors how to price stocks. This tome instructs the investor to heed investor psychology. Investor psychology (e.g. emotion) is the biggest determinant of stock prices and Dreman makes a clear case for this in his book. Why is McDonald's, a marketing powerhouse with sub-par food, worth billions? Irrational exburence, maybe? Reading this book will tell you why