[Soultrader]

I know this is a favorite among traders. But in my opinion, it is overated. The concepts are nothing new. Van Tharp simply went into more depth of things that can be explained in a few lines.

For a novice trader, this book can be of tremendous help. It goes through money management, trader psych, system designing, efficiency ratio, etc.. I would say Van Tharp does an excellent job explaining the preperation a trader needs to do each day. Trading should be treated like a business. Have a business plan and understand the reasons why you want to trade for a living.

Considered a classic among many traders, this book will help many novice traders in developing a professional approach to trading the markets.

[Kiwi]

Agreed it is overrated and it spends a lot of time explaining simple things. Van Tharp also, sadly, implies ideas generated by others are his own rather than giving credit where it is due (such as r-multiples).

He also misses out a lot of information about more advanced money management, I suspect, to encourage people to buy his other material. I might have a shot at writing an article on money management for the Articles section of the site and see if I can do a reasonable job of expanding on the book (this will take a while, even if I am successful).

I would still recommend this book for new traders.

[Soultrader]

Originally Posted by Kiwi »

Agreed it is overrated and it spends a lot of time explaining simple things. Van Tharp also, sadly, implies ideas generated by others are his own rather than giving credit where it is due (such as r-multiples).

He also misses out a lot of information about more advanced money management, I suspect, to encourage people to buy his other material. I might have a shot at writing an article on money management for the Articles section of the site and see if I can do a reasonable job of expanding on the book (this will take a while, even if I am successful).

I would still recommend this book for new traders.

Hello Kiwi,

You are more than welcome to write an article on money management. It would be a great article for all traders. Afterall, money management is probably the most important element of trading.

Soultrader

[torero]

Excluding the context of him selling other products, I found the book enlightening. First time I was exposed to money management, with 2% principle, got me started on the right track to become a better trader. Not his idea maybe but still a valuable read.

[ezduzzit]

Yes, I read the book and frankly I consider it a really shameful waste of good paper.

If you truly want to manage your money intelligently when trading, stick to risking no more than 1 to 3% of your trading account per trade. The most successful pros say to risk no more than 1% per trade which is why they strongly recommend your trading account have a good deal more capital than the pitifully small $5,000 or $10,000 most peopole bring to the trading game.

Stay on the side of the trend, set a reasonable profit target to get out of each trade (getting greedy will often result in things reversing on you for a loss), and if you are still having trouble, move up to a longer time frame and cut your position size so you can afford the larger stop loss points until you get the hang of things.

Focus on successfully waiting for and taking only those trades that match your rules and method, the profits will take care of themselves over the long run. Focusing on the profit in each trade means you are more likely than not feeling the fear of perhaps losing your money on that trade and you will often attract exactly that result in your trading. Focus instead on the proper executions of your rules and method. You will eventually be very glad you did.

Happy Trading

P.S. If the real answers were in all these books we read, those authors would be some of the richest traders on the planet. I assure you they are not. Yes, you can still find an occasional snippet of a useful idea that you have perhaps overlooked in your trading, but just don't expect to find any real trading secrets.

[rangerdoc]

I've read & re-read this book several times because I find it useful. While others critique the author or his motives, I'm interested in just the book. While it's true that much of the information found in here is not original, it does a good job of presenting what is covered. Personally, this book helped take my trading to the next level when I read it several years ago. In fact, I had given up on trading after early failures and it was only after reading this book that I decided to try again. Boy am I glad I did!

[HighStakes]

I was not aware that this book is highly overrated, but I would personally highly recommend it

It may not teach you how to trade, but it will learn you to understand the profile of a trading system. Neophytes may be shocked to learn that it is actually possible to have a negative expectancy with a 90% win rate.