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The 21 Irrefutable Truths of Trading
Book

The 21 Irrefutable Truths of Trading

A Trader's Guide to Developing a Mind to Win

John Hayden
McGraw-Hill, 2000
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Editorial Rating

7

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Recommendation

Trading offers remarkable rewards and attracts many new entrants every year. Most rookie traders are sure that there is a relatively easy route to the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow. Veteran trader John Hayden, who has traded stocks, gold and U.S. Treasuries since 1976, disabuses his readers of any such notions; there is no way to short-cut the system. The book is divided into two sections: The first offers a sort of trader’s self-improvement manual and concentrates on developing the attitudes you need to be a successful trader. As in many books within the personal growth oeuvre, this advice often consists of reiterating the obvious in a patronizing tone. The second half is more technical, and will be of more interest to the novice or intermediate-level trader, to whom getAbstract recommends this book for its original observations and conclusions.

Summary

Trading between the Ears

Bernard Baruch, born in 1870, made a fortune trading stocks and commodities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Baruch observed that the numerous technical innovations he had witnessed during his lifetime had not obviated the need for character or thought. Success in the marketplace depends on the ability to master your internal environment, defined as your beliefs, values and principles.

Trading is played between the ears, just like golf. But you need to make sure that the beliefs you develop about trading are based on logical and correct assumptions - just in case anyone is under the impression that successful trading might be based on illogical and incorrect assumptions. Great traders observe and accept certain immutable truths about the market in which they trade, and this is true of any trading environment from commodities to horses. At the same time, those who attain excellence in any profession are able to do so by exalting desirable personality characteristics while at the same time striving to diminish the undesirable ones.

If you are looking for short cuts, forget it. There is no way to beat the market other...

About the Author

John Hayden is a full-time trader and director of risk management at a hedge fund based in New York. He has traded stock, cash and futures markets since 1976.

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