The first trading psychology book to focus on stress management for traders, author Ari Kiev (www.arikiev.com) explains how stress causes traders to make poor decisions, and he describes a variety of methods traders can use to handle destructive emotions and out-of-control feelings. A practicing psychiatrist who works extensively with traders, Kiev describes a variety of traders and shows how stress robs them of their ability to perform at their best. Kiev emphasizes that traders experience and react to stress in different ways. He uses a number of examples drawn from real, hedge fund traders, including a previously successful trader who suddenly lost his touch following 9/11; a trader who abandoned risk control techniques in pursuit of an unrealistically high profit goal; a trader who consistently sabotaged himself after every period of success; and a trader who limited his success because of an unwillingness to challenge himself. Kiev points out that the stressors for all of these traders were different. Accordingly, he asserts that aspiring traders need to identify their own particular stressors and learn to deal with them in order to succeed. Stress cannot be eliminated. Traders need to differentiate between healthy stress that can be used to keep them alert to changing market conditions and unhealthy stress that causes them to make bad decisions. He describes a variety of conventional techniques to handle stress, including exercise, breathing exercises, and creating a balanced life. But most importantly, traders need to commit to a vision of themselves and their goals and learn to experience stress without losing their ultimate focus.

Ari Kiev is a psychiatrist who specializes in organizational psychology, stress management, and performance enhancement. He is President of the Social Psychiatry Research Institute and is recognized worldwide for his pioneering work in transcultural psychiatry, suicidology, and psychopharmacology. Kiev is the author of four trading books: Trading to Win, Trading in the Zone, The Psychology of Risk, and Hedge Fund Masters. In recent years, he has developed The Trading To Win training programs for dealing with trading stress, portfolio management, risk control, and leadership as they relate to peak performance in the trading arena.
For more information, visit www.arikiev.com