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Rating: 
Summary: Thank you Mr. Douglas
Review: ...Mark Douglas has a very unique writing style in this book, and I don't even know how to describe it. It took me three WEEKS to get through the first 80 pages. I'm a kinesthetic learner. It was agony. Concepts were coming at me I'd never considered before, and there were very few concrete analogies to sink my teeth into. The wrinting style he uses is pretty much "Welcome to Mark's World - Now Go Home." While I was reading, it didn't feel like a standard book. He doesn't seem to observe any of the standard conventions about clarity, brevity, expansiveness, repetition, or other typical tools. It was very granular at some levels, and very macro at others. Nothing in the middle, which is where a guy like me WANTS it to go. I WANTED somebody to take me by the hand and say,
"Here's HOW you change yourself.
"Do this self-evaluation form, then
"Do the exercises for the 'foundation' areas everybody needs, then
"Do these other exercises specifically for the areas you suck at worst, then
"Do them for Y weeks, and rinse and repeat as necessary." I didn't WANT to learn this weird Mark way. It wasn't fun. It wasn't hip. But I persevered. I mucked through the swamp. And my mind was opened. The light at the end of the tunnel was not a train. ... First, sometimes we think we know a principle when there's actually something bigger, broader, and more all-encompassing above it. Criminitly... I'm starting to sound like Mark. The second thing is, you gotta know WHEN to apply WHICH principles. Here's an example in my own voice, adapted from the book: The old trading mindset says, "when BAD things happen, kick in either fight or flight reaction." The new mindset says, "When INTERESTING things happen, OPEN YOUR EYES, learn from them and DELIBERATELY choose a response.... Studying this book is almost like watching one of the cooking shows on PBS. Those guys ACT like they're going nice and slow, and that you have plenty of time to keep up. But the truth is, They're burning rubber and you don't have a snowball's chance unless you taped the dang show and can re-wind at will. ... One of the things about this book - Mark seems to be a shockingly humble guy. He doesn't present himself as the world's perfect trader. Yes, he has street cred, but he doesn't present it like that at all. He wants you to know the pain he went through, so you can avoid it yourself. Not only does he see the big picture, he sees the ugly gory details... -Norm Chambers
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Summary: Learn by losing or buy this book
Review: An OK book, but very repetitive. The last chapter is the most useful. There are better books, such as Trading for a Living.
Rating: 
Summary: Should be three chapters long
Review: An OK book, but very repetitive. The last chapter is the most useful. There are better books, such as Trading for a Living.
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Summary: Thank you Mr. Douglas
Review: Anyone noticed that Mr. Douglas's detractors are NOT experienced traders? All I have to say is: THANK YOU 1000 TIMES MR DOUGLAS.
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Summary: The Trading Bhuddist
Review: I got more out of this volume than all of the experience I have had trading over the years. And not until after I read it did I realize that it was written in 1990, before the dotcom bubble even began breathing. Every word of it still rings true. Any good book that teaches you about mindset, fear, bad habits, creating confidence, etc. is a winner. Some of the principles I can think of off the top of my head are:
- creating positive patterns
- accepting a losing position
- anticipating traders' emotions
- not expecting the market to "reward" your fear
Overall the psychology in this book is a great return on investment. A few pages are somewhat redundant or off-key but still well written with high application value in any marketplace or profession.
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Summary: Learn by losing or buy this book
Review: I love this book. It has helped me understand myself in both the market and in life. I sold a stock that wasn't acting right this week because of the way I've changed my mindset from reading this book. I know I did the right thing and I fully expect it to go down in the near future. This is something I wouldn't have admitted to myself before. I feel like a chain has been broken. I really like the way he describes things. He tends to give a lot of examples and "in other words" type descriptions. CANSLIM
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Summary: More Than Trading
Review: I've had this book for a couple of years and finally got around to reading it. I wish I had done so much sooner. This book is so much more than a pyschology book for traders. It is a book about the pyschology of life. The concepts, once explained, seem so simple but most people do not think in such a way as to understand why they do what they do. Douglas doesn't use stock charts or technical analysis but rather examples from his own life and those of others to illustrate the principles he is trying to teach. This book is for anyone who wants to know why they do what they do and how to change their thinking to acheive their goals in trading and life.
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Summary: A Complete Insight Into The Disciplined Trader
Review: The number one reason that I like The Disciplined Trader is that Mark Douglas has no formal training in psychology. Rather, Douglas was trained in the only classroom that matters-the battlefield of actual trading. Even though this book was published in 1990 and there have been a plethora of trading-psychology books published since then, Douglas' material stands out has an innovative classic. He just uses his own gift for seeing the mental shortcomings of the losing trader and spells out his own fresh insights on what we, as traders, need to do to experience real success in trading. Douglas starts the book out from a perspective that many traders can identify with-crushing defeat. Humbling himself to the higher power that the market is and analyzing the formula for defeat, Douglas shows how he was able to reverse-engineer it to find the formula for success that many of the book's readers over the years have found useful in exorcising their own psychological demons. Central to Douglas' thesis is that the elements of character that produce success in most of life's endeavors are completely different from those that will make you successful as a trader. To thrive in business or some professional career, you have to work hard to develop the skills that will allow you to be in control of your environment. To build a business empire, you have to be a great leader of people. To become a heart surgeon, you have to learn how to control your scalpel. To be a good mother, you have to know how to discipline your children. But successful trading, says Douglas, is the process of yielding to the market and being in control only of yourself and the way you respond to changing market conditions. When the idea of being in control of yourself sinks in, you realize that you as a trader get exactly what you deserve from the markets. If you consistently get poor results, you deserve this. If you consistently get great results, you deserve that. The market doesn't care, one way or the other. As with any book filled with original and profound ideas, The Disciplined Trader isn't always an easy read, particularly as it slogs through the painful process of pummeling away at our self-destructive mechanisms. Fortunately, as with life, the journey provides a reward and Douglas spends the final chapters of the book explaining practical techniques that will help you to "get it together" as a trader.
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