This is one heck of a slow read. Douglas dangles a carrot in front of you each chapter saying ” I will show you how to do this”; but never actually does! I thought there was quite a bit of carry over between this book and “Trading in the Zone”, so by one or the other but on the whole I would say Trading in the Zone would be the one to plump for as there are more trading references. In The Disciplined Trader Douglas does go off on a tangent for many pages and you wonder whether you are reading a book on amateur psychology.

The first 5 Chapters read well with some nice takeaways even in the Intro and Preface. Such as defining Self Confidence as “an absence of fear and self-trust”. I think we all know what he means ny that definition don’t we ?!

Chapters 6 thru to 14 were laboured in my view. Where the depth of Douglas’ attempt to describe the mental state of the trader really was a little abstract at times and to be honest lost me.

For me the best bit of the book was his penultimate chapter on the Steps for Success :

1)Stay focussed on what you need to learn

2)Deal with Losses

• Predefine the loss at time of trade is vital
• Execute them immediately on their occurence

3)Become an expect at just one market behaviour

4) Learn how to execute your trading system flawlessly

5) Learn to think in Probabilities

6) Learn to be Objective

• You feel no Pressure to do anything
• You have no feelings of fear
• You have no sense of rejection
• There is no right or wrong
• You recognise what the market is telling you and you know what you have to do
• You can observe the market from the perspective of not being in a position even when you are.
• You are not focussed on money but the structure of the market

7) Learn to Monitor yourself

So if you can borrow this from a friend, download it as an e-book cheaply or get a 2nd hand one on ebay for the beginning third and last 2 chapters – it’s worth it.

Must Read…….!!