In Mastering Trading Stress, author Ari Kiev offers examples, transcripts of conversations, and personality profiles of real-life traders to illustrate how stress affects their ability to perform at their best.
Introduction:
While eliminating stress is neither realistic nor an entirely desired approach, reducing stress is. Traders can perhaps best cope with stress by being proactive and taking steps to reduce the stressfulness of their careers. In Mastering Trading Stress, I discuss various ways of doing this—beginning with developing an appropriate understanding of stress and how it physically affects us and leading all the way to the implementation of specific exercises that can help traders manage their daily stress.
Because there is no standard answer for every person, a large part of this book includes examples, transcripts of conversations, and personality profiles with other traders. I hope that you will be able to relate to the experiences that these traders are working through. Because stress often leads to carelessness, which leads to failure and therefore more stress, these examples offer insight into how stress directly impacts the trading decisions you make.
They also provide various ways of dealing with or reducing the stress in an effort to trade more effectively. It is my hope that you will directly relate to some of the individuals described throughout this book and will literally be able to learn from their mistakes. In addition, I describe a variety of stress-reducing techniques that you can use. By trying several different techniques, you should be able to generate your own approach to stress management.
There is no way to take the stress out of trading, and if you did you would probably also remove many of the very elements that make this profession so exciting and enticing. But stress does not have to make you emotionally, mentally, or physically ill, and it does not have to hinder your trading game. You can learn to reduce your stress, cope with the stresses that are inevitable, and even use stress to your own benefit.
Contents:
- The Nature of Stress: What Is Stress and Why Is It a Problem?
- The Emotions of Stress: What Negative Emotions Are Experienced as a Result of Stress?
- The Dangers of Trading under Stress: How Do Attempts to Handle Stress Create Problems for the Trader?
- How Fear Inhibits Mastery: Can You Learn to Lessen the Central Emotion of Fear?
- The Consequences of Negative Emotions
- Personalities and Stress
- Ego and Obstinacy
- Fear and Failure
- Perfectionism and Paralysis
- Failing to Manage Risk
- Failure to Dig Deeper
- Failures in Shorting
- Learning to Live with Stress
- Exercises and Practical Applications
Mastering Trading Stress: Strategies for Maximizing Performance By Ari Kiev PDF
Patrick Humphrey (verified owner) –
I knew Dr. Kiev, even worked with him at one point. I am not sure how this book came to be given his date of passing, but I am not sure it’s the best representation of his work.
Sevyn Hill (verified owner) –
Excellent read and an opportunity to look at your emotions through someone else’s experiences. I recommend this book to anyone with roller coaster emotions and want a better understanding about those emotions. It’s a book about traders, which is why I bought the book, however applies to life’s everyday situations.
Isaac Whitehead (verified owner) –
That’s what Brett Steenbarger stated in his book Psychology of Trading.
The main purpose of this book is not to help you to make more money but to help you to deal with stress.
When I read the first pages of Mastering Trading Stress I thought Great, a sequel to Psychology of Trading. It’s even the same size in the book shelf.
Kiev explaines all the varieties and levels of Stress. And yes, it’s really interesting. I thought it might be useful to know where my trading stress comes from. But I’ve found once you’re in the game or battle or whatever you want to call it; you FORGET about all this. That’s why markets are anti-therapeutic.
This book aims toward fund managers and institutional traders since all the guys he’s interviewing make millions, lose millions, and trade positions of about some million shares. It’s not like Vadym Graifer discussing scalping where you get out after momentum fades (that is, after a move of say 13 cents!).
And then at the end of the book, there are the tips about how to deal with stress: I say; nothing special. Long sleep, exercise, healthy diet, etc… you can find this kind of advice in any kind of book about trading or psychology or stress.
I am really pondering if shall rate this book three or four stars because there actually ARE some really useful informations and great interviews in it.
But let me quote some passages to show why I give it only 3:
The Nature of Stress
Personality Factors
p.8
After being a bit stressed out for several weeks, Albert made a conscious effort to stay focused, to spend fewer nights out on the town, and to take some time off and prepare for the end of the year.
The Emotions of Stress
Anger
p.27
[…..]He was also annoyed at not being included in the loop regarding new ideas in venture capital, and by not having more than a very small percentage of commission dollars being allocated for the research process.
Making a conscious effort to stay focused, he went out fewer nights and took some time off to prepare for the end of the year.
So after that passage I had to force myself to read this book to the end.
Still, I’ve found that this was the only flaw.
I can recommend this book if you are interested in psychology generally and want to know why you and other people act in certain ways. Maybe it does help you, it didn’t help me.
If you’re an institutional trader buy this book right away. Ari Kiev speaks your language. You won’t waste your time reading it nor your money.
For a more effective way how to deal with stress I’d like to recommend Morita therapy. If you went to college you probably heard about it. Otherwise you can learn about it in the world wide web. Or read Trade with Passion and Purpose by Mark Whistler.
Journi Cobb (verified owner) –
This was a suggested read by Tod Mitchell of Trading Concepts. And all trades need to read it