The Mental Edge in Trading (PB)

Dr. Jason Williams' book gives an inside look into your character and allows you to adapt a trading style that will accomodate your personal traits. What sets it apart from all other trading psych books is this scientific approach. We've all heard trading phrases like "cut your losses short and let your winners run", "do not overtrade", "be patient", "pay attention to risk management", "plan the trade and trade the plan" and so on and so forth. But none of the books on the subject gets down to the nuts and bolts of "why a logical human being throws out all logic out of the window when faced with a loss or worse yet a win in the trading business". The answer is given in great, easy to understand details in the book. The character traits and stories of a number of very successful traders also adds additional insights on what it really takes to make it in this wonderful endeavour called trading. If you really want to find out if you have what it takes to cut it, or how to adapt a style that suits what you are born with, this book is a must read.

First of all, this book was not what I was expecting. Since it was written by a psychiatrist I expected a deeply psychological book talking about childhood memories, the subconscious, etc. There is very little of that in this book. Don't let the fact that Dr. Williams is a psychiatrist put you off. Chapters are short and the book is very readable. Dr. Jason Williams is the son of Larry Williams, a very successful trader and one the of the best known traders in the country. I was familiar with and respected Larry Williams work. That is what attracted me to the book. What Dr. Williams does in the book is apply a psychological test, the NEO-AC, to some of the nation's top traders to see if there are any personality trades in common among these successful traders. This would give a clue as to what personality traits make up a successful trader which could then be used by the readers to assess their own psychology for trading. It was clear to me up front that I would get much more out of the book if I took the NEO-AC myself. I did some looking on line to find someone who would administer the test, had trouble finding anyone, but soon found that the test (or a form of it) could be taken on line for free so I thought that would be better than nothing. (can't vouch for the validity of the on line test). It consisted of 100 questions and the results were presented in bar graph form. I then measure the length of each bar, put the results in a spreadsheet, and sorted my NEO-AC categories from high to low. The categories corresponded very well with the categories in the book. I spend time telling you this because although you can get many insights from the book without it, I think knowing your own NEO-AC score adds immeasurably to getting full value from the book. Dr. Williams starts by talking in layman's terms about the brain. (One thing that jumped out at me was that he said to forget about the popular notion of "right brain" verses "left brain") He then talked about the two major dimensions of personality, Neuroticism and Extraversion, before getting into the specific categories of the NEO-AC test itself. All along he ties the discussion to trading and personality in general. At the end of most chapters are William's "Mental Edge Tips". At the end of the book are eight "case study" chapters where he discusses the NEO-AC test results of the top traders, including his dad. One of the chapters I found especially interesting was about Linda Raschke with whom I had recently taken a class. The last case study is of a "perfect trader" as measured by the test. There are insights to be gained in this book by both the new and experienced trader. There a lot of trading "truths" to be gleaned from the book. One of the keys to successful trading is to determine what type of trading best fits your personality....system (mechanical) trading or discretionary trading. This book will help you answer that question. Perhaps the most important finding for me was that my personality type fit very closely with the "ideal trader" as measured by the NEO-AC which gives me more confidence as I go forward with my own trading endeavors. And...yes...there are some personality traits common to most successful traders.

Neo-AC test is the first half of the book and how it relates to ones personality. It is very helpful to take this test. The test is not included in the book because of legal jar-gum, but you can find it on line. Jason goes into depth on the personality traits of when and how to take a trade. The other half of the book is a case study of winning traders. One of which is Jason's father Larry Williams. This book is a must read for every SERIOUS trader. I personally got a lot out of it. Thank you Jason and Larry on your joint effort in putting this together for the benefit of others.

Dr. Williams provided an outstanding path to both understanding how I process, interpret and make decisions. Dr. Williams provided detailed analysis of some of today's greatest traders and what sets them apart from the average trader. Dr. Williams using the latest personality assessment test, which examines a person's Big Five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) provides the foundation to understand why great traders make the "right" decisions, and select a trading style based on their unique personality traits, how they handle stress, anxiety, overconfidence, etc. As a relatively new futures trader, I desired insight into understanding why I make at times the wrong decisions, how to deal with my anxiety, how to become a better trader given my own personality traits. Reading his excellent explanation how our minds process information based on our unique personality, how the top traders adapted their trading style over their career to take advantage of their unique personality strength and minimize obstacles due to their unique personality weaknesses. I was able to both better understand my own personality, but just as important, create a plan, based on the tools he outlined in his book to hopefully address my own personality weaknesses and leverage my strengths----I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to become a better trader.

Really enjoyed this book and it provided a great deal of insight into the personality characteristics of a great trader. It would have been better if he had provided more than 7 traders but it was great nonetheless. In exploring the personality facets of great traders, Williams uses the NEO PI-R Personality Inventory. If you seek to compare your personality to that of great traders, you need to go elsewhere to complete a personality inventory because it is not included in this book. In the appendices he does include detailed descriptions of the personality facets but it is up to you to figure out where you really belong. Regardless, this is the best trader psychology book I have ever read (and I have a bunch of them). It will help you to better understand your strengths and weaknesses.

I know REBT/CBT fairly well. It is obvious Jason knows CBT very well. He also has the input of his dad who is a great trader. This makes for a combination that makes this book excellent for those who have trading issues (other than not having a great trading system). Example: I watched Jason's video, heard Jason say that great traders have open minds, though to myself that I should open up my mind a bit and spend 1.5 hours reading many lists of great trading rules, ended up making significant improvements to my trailing stop procedures, now trade with much greater confidence and realizing that Jason's input improved my trading I decided to buy the book. I don't regret it. I will do the test after reading it and at the very least may find I actually have the qualities for being a great trader which in turn would give me much more confidence to push ahead increasing my trade sizes etc.

A must ready for any aspiring trader - retail or and proffessional

Worth a quick look. Money mngt is way undervalued. it is a psy primer with a few of trading bits.

Unlike many other trading psychology books, this one is based on the actual science of Psychology and give a good background into all the aspects which affect traders most. It also gives an insight into the Personality test results of some highly successful traders including the author's father - Larry Williams. After reading it, I took a NEO-AC test and discovered that I am much further from the average than I ever suspected. I then went back to the book to find things I could do to counter-act the negative effects of my personality extremes. They seem to be working so far, so it was well worth the time and money.

I got the item at a great price and on time.