Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

Soultrader

Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp

Recommended Posts

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
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

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Be careful who you blame.   I can tell you one thing for sure.   Effective traders don’t blame others when things start to go wrong.   You can hang onto your tendency to play the victim, or the martyr… but if you want to achieve in trading, you have to be prepared to take responsibility.   People assign reasons to outcomes, whether based on internal or external factors.   When traders face losses, it's common for them to blame bad luck, poor advice, or other external factors, rather than reflecting on their own personal attributes like arrogance, fear, or greed.   This is a challenging lesson to grasp in your trading journey, but one that holds immense value.   This is called attribution theory. Taking responsibility for your actions is the key to improving your trading skills. Pause and ask yourself - What role did I play in my financial decisions?   After all, you were the one who listened to that source, and decided to act on that trade based on the rumour. Attributing results solely to external circumstances is what is known as having an ‘external locus of control’.   It's a concept coined by psychologist Julian Rotter in 1954. A trader with an external locus of control might say, "I made a profit because the markets are currently favourable."   Instead, strive to develop an "internal locus of control" and take ownership of your actions.   Assume that all trading results are within your realm of responsibility and actively seek ways to improve your own behaviour.   This is the fastest route to enhancing your trading abilities. A trader with an internal locus of control might proudly state, "My equity curve is rising because I am a disciplined trader who faithfully follows my trading plan." Author: Louise Bedford Source: https://www.tradinggame.com.au/
    • SELF IMPROVEMENT.   The whole self-help industry began when Dale Carnegie published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936. Then came other classics like Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins toward the end of the century.   Today, teaching people how to improve themselves is a business. A pure ruthless business where some people sell utter bullshit.   There are broke Instagrammers and YouTubers with literally no solid background teaching men how to be attractive to women, how to begin a start-up, how to become successful — most of these guys speaking nothing more than hollow motivational words and cliche stuff. They waste your time. Some of these people who present themselves as hugely successful also give talks and write books.   There are so many books on financial advice, self-improvement, love, etc and some people actually try to read them. They are a waste of time, mostly.   When you start reading a dozen books on finance you realize that they all say the same stuff.   You are not going to live forever in the learning phase. Don't procrastinate by reading bull-shit or the same good knowledge in 10 books. What we ought to do is choose wisely.   Yes. A good book can change your life, given you do what it asks you to do.   All the books I have named up to now are worthy of reading. Tim Ferriss, Simon Sinek, Robert Greene — these guys are worthy of reading. These guys teach what others don't. Their books are unique and actually, come from relevant and successful people.   When Richard Branson writes a book about entrepreneurship, go read it. Every line in that book is said by one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.   When a Chinese millionaire( he claims to be) Youtuber who releases a video titled “Why reading books keeps you broke” and a year later another one “My recommendation of books for grand success” you should be wise to tell him to jump from Victoria Falls.   These self-improvement gurus sell you delusions.   They say they have those little tricks that only they know that if you use, everything in your life will be perfect. Those little tricks. We are just “making of a to-do-list before sleeping” away from becoming the next Bill Gates.   There are no little tricks.   There is no success-mantra.   Self-improvement is a trap for 99% of the people. You can't do that unless you are very, very strong.   If you are looking for easy ways, you will only keep wasting your time forgetting that your time on this planet is limited, as alive humans that is.   Also, I feel that people who claim to read like a book a day or promote it are idiots. You retain nothing. When you do read a good book, you read slow, sometimes a whole paragraph, again and again, dwelling on it, trying to internalize its knowledge. You try to understand. You think. It takes time.   It's better to read a good book 10 times than 1000 stupid ones.   So be choosy. Read from the guys who actually know something, not some wannabe ‘influencers’.   Edit: Think And Grow Rich was written as a result of a project assigned to Napoleon Hill by Andrew Carnegie(the 2nd richest man in recent history). He was asked to study the most successful people on the planet and document which characteristics made them great. He did extensive work in studying hundreds of the most successful people of that time. The result was that little book.   Nowadays some people just study Instagram algorithms and think of themselves as a Dale Carnegie or Anthony Robbins. By Nupur Nishant, Quora Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/    
    • there is no avoiding loses to be honest, its just how the market is. you win some and hopefully more, but u do lose some. 
    • $CSCO Cisco Systems stock, nice top of range breakout, from Stocks to Watch at https://stockconsultant.com/?CSCOSEPN Septerna stock watch for a bottom breakout, good upside price gap
    • $CSCO Cisco Systems stock, nice top of range breakout, from Stocks to Watch at https://stockconsultant.com/?CSCOSEPN Septerna stock watch for a bottom breakout, good upside price gap
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.