Bulletproof Trader : Evidence-based strategies for overcoming setbacks and sustaining high performance in the markets / Steve Ward.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ward, Steve, 1938- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Investments--Management.

Investments.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

La Vergne : Harriman House, 2021.

Summary:

Trading can be intensely rewarding. But it is also one of the most mentally and emotionally challenging activities anyone can pursue. As in other high-performance domains, those who are serious about mastering their craft and staying in the game spend serious time working on their game, including training their mind and body.Steve Ward has spent the last 15 years working as a performance coach with financial traders and investors at some of the biggest and most successful investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers, commodities trading houses and proprietary trading groups across the globe, helping them to perform at their best, to navigate the highs and lows of trading and investing in the markets, and to sustain high performance for the long run.As one hedge fund client put it to him, "It's about becoming bulletproof".Becoming a bulletproof trader is forged over time through experience, and by applying the latest insights from biological and psychological sciences, the best that practical philosophy can teach us, and a healthy dose of pragmatism - doing what actually works in the real world of trading the markets.This book brings together all of Steve's latest insights into how to deal with stresses and setbacks and sustain high performance in a comprehensive, accessible and unmissable book, so that you too can become a bulletproof trader.Don't trade without it.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

About the Author

Preface: A Guide to this Book

Part One: Becoming Bulletproof

1. Why Bulletproof?

Coaching traders

What brings you here?

2. The Bulletproof Framework

The key requirements

The four foundations of bulletproof trading

Getting the most from this book

A future bulletproof trader: you

Part Two: Ups and Downs

3. The Nature of Trading

Trading as a high-performance activity

The trading performance environment

Ups and downs

4. Get Good at the Downs

The pain of loss

The inner citadel

Getting good at the downs

Part Three: Commitment

5. Mindset Over Matter

Your trading mindset

Getting good at stress

Losses, mistakes and setbacks

A worthy rival

Developing a bulletproof mindset

6. Take Committed Action

The motivation trap

From motivation to commitment

Committed action

Poise - the art of disciplined trading

Perseverance - keeping going when the going gets tough

Strengthening commitment

7. Know Your Values

A different approach

The value of values

Building patterns of values-based committed action

Values, stress and difficulty

Part Four: Risk and Uncertainty

8. Manage Your Risk

Risk, stress and trading decisions

The art of optimal risk-taking

Risk-aware decision-making

9. Embrace Uncertainty

Which box?

Markets, traders and uncertainty

Impermanence

Practising uncertainty

This is what happens in the bathhouse

10. Plan for the Worst

Prepare for success

What if?

If-then

The pre-mortem

Part Five: Focus

11. Train Your Attention

Attention matters

Training attention

Attention-training builds present-moment awareness

Responding vs reacting

The observer

12. Focus on the Process

Best decision vs worst decision

Our obsession with results.

Process focus

From P&amp

L-focused to process-focused

Becoming more process-focused

13. Control the Controllables

Uncontrollability, stress and the markets

The dichotomy of control

A speedboat driver joins the crew of an oil tanker

The CIA framework

With controllability comes responsibility - and response-ability

Part Six: Discomfort

14. Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

The discomforts of trading

Aversion and the costs of avoiding discomfort

The upside of discomfort

Willingness: exposure in action

Developing willingness: getting good at discomfort

Practising willingness and discomfort

15. Unhook from Difficult Thoughts

Thinking about your thinking

Don't think of a white bear

Letting go of the struggle

1. Awareness

2. Workability

3. Defusion

4. Action

16. Work With Your Stress-Based Emotions

Trading, like life, is emotional

A trader works with anxiety

Working with emotions

Part Seven: Confidence

17. Build Confidence in Coping With Difficulty

What is confidence?

Demands vs resources

I can deal with difficult trading situations

The confidence gap: taking action

18. Stay Calm in Critical Moments

Composure builds confidence

Putting the brakes on

Tactical breathing strategies

19. Don't Beat Yourself Up

Harsh trading critic or compassionate trading coach?

What is self-compassion?

The benefits of self-compassion

Practising self-compassion, enhancing confidence

Part Eight: Flexibility

20. Find the Opportunity in the Difficult

Negativity bias

Finding the opportunity

Learning vs earning

The view from above

What would a role model do?

21. Get Good at Adapting to Change

Change is inevitable

Floored: survival of the most adaptable

Survival is not mandatory

The futures lab.

Adapting to new markets effectively

Part Nine: State Management

22. Monitor Your Stress and Fatigue Levels

The physiology of trading performance

Fatigue makes cowards of us all

Stress-induced irrational pessimism

Objective physiological feedback

State management

23. Master the Art of Recovery

Adaptive toughness and supercompensation

Getting the stress-recovery balance right

What is recovery?

Switching off to switch on: recovery strategies

Tactical recovery

24. Develop Your Physiological Fitness

Physical fitness and stress resilience

Physical activity as stress management

Trading well

The physiological platform

Conclusion

25. The End - and a Beginning

Acknowledgements

Publishing details.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780857196682

0857196685