Let's say you spent a decade or two poring over self-help literature from the likes of Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Brian Tracy, and even the venerable Napolean Hill (as I have done). You've studied eastern traditions and mystical western writings. You've pondered the big questions, but what you want most is to find moment-to-moment meaning in your daily routine. And by the way, it wouldn't hurt if you made a million bucks, mastered the piano, climbed K2 -- or achieved whatever that goal is, that is your own "ultimate intrinsic desire."

If so, then you might want to take a look at this little book.

Read through it once and you may discern (as I did) that you don't need Robbins' 3-day, $1200 seminar. (Sorry, Tony). You don't need a nine-day zen meditation retreat. You don't even need to read another self-help book. You can go on to other pursuits, feeling confident that you are stringing together a succession of days that will add up to a glorious life lived.

I keep "Strategies" on my desk and refer to it often. The daily list of 11 points at the back, which I reread with each morning's coffee, has helped me to achieve far more than I ever dreamed. I am confident it will do the same for anyone else who reads and understands, as it already has done for hundreds of thousands of others since 1973.

Thank you, Dr. Kiev.

This book cuts right to the chase of accomplishing your goals! Each page is full of stunning insights into life, and he writes it with such clarity, he doesn't need to ramble. No nonsense self help - don't waste your life reading self-help books, get out there and work! Accomplishing your goals will make you feel better, not endless navel-gazing, and journal writing. But, don't think Kiev's writing style is flat, dry, or downbeat. Not at all. He's practical, yet optimistic, uplifting. You can open any page and find terrific insights.

I carry this book in my pocketbook at all times, for a daily reminder that is grounded in reality, and inspirational.

Long before we were informed about our "inner children" or "creeping codependence", Dr. Ari Kiev wrote this small, yet powerful masterpiece. What so many authors of this type of book take hundreds of pages to say, Kiev does succinctly and with great depth. Topics covered include goal setting, self-reliance, and relationships with self and others.

This book is one you will come back to again and again. It's message is timeless, unpretentious, and relevant to everyday life. It deserves to be on the bookshelves of every thinking man and woman. Once you get a few pages into it, you will find you can't put it down, but more than that, the investment you will have made in absorbing the wonderful content will pay dividends many times over.

Kiev's thesis rests upon the premise of setting profit goals and then trying to hit them. The idea is that you will be compelled to refine everthing about your trading and put away all excuses in order to reach this goal -- a sort of goal as catalyst for improvement theory. While this seems like good advice I am afraid that for longer term traders it runs headlong into the "only take what the market gives you" truism. If I set a goal of $10,000 per month, what do I do when the market goes nowhere for four weeks? You guessed it, I would try to force things. Not good. So unless you are willing to accept the thesis of setting specific profit goals you won't gain that much from this book. A much better treatment of general trading psychology can be found in Mark Douglas' "Trading in the Zone".

This was definitely Kiev's best book yet. What made the difference between it and Trading to Win was that it was actually helpful and laid out a course of action. Trading to win was chockful of examples but you were unsure of how you fit into it.
The book is full of little tests to determine what type of trader you are. Unfortunately he is not big on advice you sorta figure that out yourself after reading so many pages of what's your best course of action.
The downside to the book though is the Master Trader section which sorta drones on.
Still his best.

....another 5* piece created by Dr. Kiev. The Psychology of Risk is an excellent tool to improve and build on one's trading technique. whether a novice or an expert, psychology of risk is a must read for all levels...

I personally admire Dr. Kiev's work and contribution to daily psychology. However I would suggest any trader - or any other person, for that matter - to read and apply the ideas in his " Daily Living Strategy". His goal-based approach is what I live on, and I certainly understand the positive comments made by his clients, but I think the reviews are concerning the book + the counselling they took personally from Dr. Kiev. By itself, the book is not complete. It is helpful, and it certainly adresses several important issues, but it doesn't go deep. Also, it is a product of Dr. Kiev's work with the professional traders working in huge trading firms or departments, and as such, addresses the problems and solutions that can be found in such settings. Even the trading methodology Dr. Kiev seems to advocate sounds very institutional: he is talking about how to get real info from analysts that call you up. Well, being a full time trader who strikes on his own, that didn't help me. Again I recommend buyiing his now-classic book, the Daily Living Strategy, and apply it to whatever it is you want to achieve in your life.

One of the most essential, yet least discussed, topics when it comes to trading is market psychology. While fundamentals and technicals are both critical in developing an understanding of a company and its inherent value, trading psychology is the processor of this information and the true measure of success and profitability. People who wish to excel in trading must have a firm grasp on their emotions to prevent them from falling victim to the same mistakes that dominate most traders. In his latest book, Dr. Kiev presents a much richer discussion of what it means to be trading "in the zone", including how to get there and how to stay there. He also expands upon some of the topics presented in his previous book, providing more detailed information as to the psychological forces at work behind the mask of fundamental and/or technical information. For an emotional trader like myself, it's reassuring to know that I am not in the investing minority and that, with work, I can overcome these self-inflicted barriers to success to achieve my personal and professional goals.

Trading In the Zone, by Ari Kiev, should be an essential component of very trader's arsenal. In this book, Dr. Kiev discusses the role emotions and psychological factors play in the realm of trading. His success is demonstrated in his ability to portray actual case studies and transfer his work into a dialogue that makes it easy for the reader to identify with. Whether a beginner or an experienced trader, Trading in the Zone provides the necessary material to become a more focused and grounded trader.

Ari Kiev's book Trading to Win might seem like just psycho-babble to some traders. That is odd, given that some of these same critics are devout followers of technical analysis, which premises that psychology factors firmly into market movements. Why then is it such heresy to believe that you can improve the performance of a trader by working on his psychology?

It is not a strange concept to Steve Cohen, who hired Ari Kiev as a "trading coach" for his hedge fund S.A.C. Kiev, who was profiled in Jack Schwager's Stock Market Wizards , teaches that traders need to stretch themselves in the goals they set. They also need to eliminate the negative thinking that prevents them from reaching those goals. Much of Trading to Win is thus actually "common sense" (as is most psychology, it seems), but sometimes it is useful to hear someone reiterate sound principles.

One principle for which critics have taken Kiev to task is his suggestion that traders should set or raise their profit goals, which seems like a veritable "no no" from a risk management perspective. The criticism misses the fact, however, that Kiev is really saying that raising your performance goals means raising your work ethic. What are you going to do to raise your game? Squeezing out extra percentage points of return requires getting onto the trading floor hours earlier (or hours later) than you normally would-and researching companies more assiduously on paper or by working the phones harder. Moreover, Kiev actually recommends stricter risk management through such time-tested techniques as understanding your reasons for each trade, as well as the setting of target entry and exit prices. He also wants you to figure out if fears and doubts are keeping you from cutting your losses and riding your winners.

This book is clearly not for everyone; it is easily too "touchy feely" for traders concerned solely with the quantitative or more tangible aspects of trading. Kiev also tends to float heavily from topic to topic, often without a clear path. But for those traders who wonder how "fixing their heads" might result in greater success, Trading to Win is definitely worth a read.

As the former risk manager at SAC, and someone who has both collaborated and co-authored written materials with Dr. Kiev, I feel it is somewhat unfair to offer a direct review of this book. However, I can tell you that I feel strongly about many of the concepts that Dr. Kiev espouses, and have witnessed their positive impact on traders of broad and diverse skill levels, objectives and trading styles.

In order to maximize profitability in the markets, I believe it is essential to have a thorough and perpetual understanding of the inputs to your successes and failures, as defined in terms of external factors such as market conditions, characteristics of position selection, trading sizes, executions relationships, holding periods, etc. but also with respect to such "intangibles" as identifying your fears and other obstacles to efficient decision-making. This book provides a useful framework for carrying forward with these exercises.

In addition, I believe that Dr. Kiev, through his organized yet anecdotal style, has created a work that conveys its essential messages in an entertaining and literary matter. I urge those interested in the markets to pick up a copy. If you don't agree with all of the concepts, at least it will get you thinking about them.

This, from my perspective, is a very good thing.

I have two copies of Trading to Win; one I lend to my traders, and one I keep for myself.

I have been involved in running a professional trading firm for the past three years. At first, there were only a handful of books to help an individual transition from active investing, to trading. These days, it seems, there is a new title introduced every few days. I look at the majority of these books, and few are worth reading from cover to cover.

Trading to Win is an exception. This book deals with the psychology of trading in a more thorough way than any book I've read. As insightful as Elder's Trading for a Living, with more detail on the psychology of winning, and a more updated perspective. Ari Kiev takes his readers through a step-by-step process, showing them how to build their personal psychologies and become "master traders". He compares trader training to the training of Olympic athletes in a way that is accurate and interesting to read. There are numerous questions and quizes in the book, designed to keep readers on track while creating their personal psychological strategies.

Bottom line: In order of importance, your average trader usually puts psychology far behind trading technique. If he worked more on understanding and developing the motivations that governed his trades, maybe he wouldn't be so average.

Buy the book and plan on reading it numerous times.