The Inner Game of Trading by Robert Koppel and Howard Abell

Summary: A good summary of the psychological profile necessary for consistent profitability in trading. The strength of this book is that it is telling the story as it is – not everyone can become a great trader but it is possible to train anyone in becoming a good one as long as the person is willing to shape their minds into one. This is, however, also the weakness of the book as it can offend many people who think they know better.

Review

This book claimed to be a book on trading psychology. My take is that it is a concise summary of the necessary ingredients for a trader to walk the path in becoming successful. Unlike most of the trading psychology books that focus on the explanations, this book is a reflection workbook.

Throughout the book, it asks the readers to reflect, to organize their thoughts and to evaluate themselves. The goal obviously is to drive the readers to prepare themselves into seeing more clearly where they stand technically and psychologically. Then the target (or ideal) conditions are named as a comparison so that the readers can set their sight on a path to take themselves from where they are to where they suppose to be.

Several big guns are interviewed in the book with their personal takes on how to become a successful trader. This part simply re-enforce the theme of the book in case the readers are not convinced.

I have seen extremely different reactions to this book. There are those who love it so much they model their own game plan based on the book to change themselves into better traders.

There are also people who hate this book so much that they say it is completely useless. It is understandable because the book strikes a core belief conflict into these readers. Many people believe that if they have a perfect trading system they will make money without skills, psychology make up, and much less character.

A good book even though it is written many years ago. It can be difficult to understand the book if you are not doing the exercise along the way. I recommend this book to those who are willing to work on their psychology to improve their trading performance.

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