Zen in the Markets: Confessions of a Samurai Trader

Zen in the Markets: Confessions of a Samurai Trader presents a Zen approach that reveals how to listen, recognize, and obey the language that every market speaks. It is very easy to understand. It may, however, be very hard for you to do. Your ego may be very reluctant to be subdued. Practice will make it happen. Practice will make you money. Edward Allen Toppel gives you the basic rules of successful trading with Zen. He teaches you what he calls “inner game trading techniques.” He even shows you haiku for traders. Like the classic Zen in the Art of Archery, this small book contains life-changing ideas. Illuminating, exciting, and challenging, it can keep you on the right side of the balance sheet: a samurai in the markets.

Introduction:

The market is an easy game to play. It is just that we are hell-bent upon making it so complicated. That’s what makes it so difÞcult for us to win. A glance at the do’s and dont’s of trading in any market reveals some easily understood and seemingly simple rules to follow. We have all seen them a hundred times. They are the rules that all traders, both professional and nonprofessional, are supposed to follow. Remember, I said supposed to follow: the rules have been time and money proven. The most important and basic rules of trading and investing are as follows:

• 1. Buy low, sell high.
• 2. Let proÞts run, cut losses quickly.
• 3. Add to a winning position, not a loser.
• 4. Go with the trend.

These rules look simple and are certainly easy to understand. So, how come so many of us kill ourselves in the market? What makes it so difficult to follow these guidelines? More than likely we’ve repeatedly broken each of these rules and will probably continue to do so, despite acknowledging that we’ll wind up losers if these simple guidelines are not followed. How come? The answer to this question contains the secret for our future success in the market. The problem lies not within the rules, but within ourselves as we apply these rules to our investments and trading decisions. Yes, the problem is internal, and until we learn to change our perception about what makes the market tick we will continue to punish ourselves and remain on the losing side of the ledger.

This book attempts to offer insight into those teachings that have shaped our responses to the market’s very clear directions. Through a retraining of our conditioning and thought processes we can at last begin to see what the market is saying and not what we want it to say. We will be able to hear the market’s signals and respond accordingly.

The process of Zen, if it can safely be called a process, reveals that the market gives clear directions as to what course of action to take. The mental discipline of Zen will help cut through our own fog of self-deception and Þnally allow us to see clearly and feel the true course of the market. Then we can and will act accordingly. Zen discipline helps us to dissolve those actions and perceptions that have kept us from the winner’s circle. Let’s go back to those rules and see what happens to us in spite of knowing the rules.

Contents:

• Looks Can Kill You
• Getting Rid of Big E
• Saying Goodbye to Aristotle
• Hanging Out in the Present
• Double Up to Belly Up
• Small is Big, Big is Small
• Paddling in the River
• Zen Vision and I.Q. Test
• Listening to the Master
• No Tickee, No Tradee
• Egoitis and Its Treatment
• My Confession
• Inner Game Techniques
• Haiku for Traders
• Zen Notions

Zen in the Markets: Confessions of a Samurai Trader By Edward Allen Toppel pdf