The Playbook: An Inside Look at How to Think Like a Professional Trader

When I started reading the book (the introduction), I thought I was reading a novel and was so captivated by the events that I started hoping for a happy ending. But that was real life -the author's personal life. It`s about resilience in the face of suffering and vicissitudes of life. The lesson is that you cannot control what life throws at you but you can control your reactions. Positive attitude and perseverance always prevail and the analogy with the market and trading is obvious. You cannot control the market but with hard work, determination, and persistence the trader can achieve positive outcomes. Most trading books give you "canned" methodologies. This book also give you a superb methodology to work with but it also opens the door wide open for creativity, urges the trader to keep an open mind and continually strive to hone one's trading skills in order to be able to adapt to new market conditions. Also, the book emphasizes that trading is not rocket science. It s all about doing one's homework, managing risk, and learning from one's mistakes by reviewing and scrutinizing one's trades daily. This is explained by giving real examples of real trades executed by real traders. On this basis, every trader has to create a "PlayBook" in order to "archive" the best patterns that work best, "internalize" them and make them his/her own. This creative mindset is the key to survival in the market. The following quote summarizes it: "Trading is a skill that must be learned and honed.. You must develop a PlayBook of trading patterns that make the most sense to you. To become great at these setups takes experience, practice, and a love for your game. Only then can you join First Team Wall Street." Pg 202 Moreover, the author stretches the importance of constant coaching because even the best traders need coaches. He gives the example of famous athletes who surround themselves with teams of coaches and traders are no exception, they need coaches too. Needless to say, the trader has to be always pro-active, perpetually thinking of ways to improve his/her game. In other words, mentors are important but nothing replaces hard work and the daily endeavor for self-improvement. The author writes: "understand what the masters have done and then incorporate what you've learned into your own style." Pg 44 One more thing I like in the book is the author's appreciation of the good work. He emphasizes the importance of reaching out to other traders, talking to them, inviting them for lunch. The interaction with other traders can play a vital role in the trader's development. The book refers to many resourceful works of other traders. I will mention only Dr Brett Steenbarger for whom the author has a special appreciation. It's important to note that this book is more than trading techniques and strategies. It's about the path to success and success is more about hard work and preparation than luck. The trader's focus should be on daily self-improvement and not the outcome or results. "Everyday is an opportunity for continuing education." Pg 360 With this mindset, the results will come naturally. The daily challenge is how good can you be? It's the path to self-actualization. It's a very inspiring and empowering book Finally, I liked the quotes mentioned by the author especially the Bruce Lee quote "Use whatever works, and take it from wherever you can find it." Pg 17 It's very relevant. Bruce lee studied hundreds of fighting styles but he came up with his own style -his own PlayBook- his own fighting method. This idea is the gist of "The PlayBook". Traders have to be open to all "trading styles" and work diligently to find the setups that work best for them. The author writes: "My hope for you is that this book gives you the tools to build your trading PlayBook. It will help you frame your own unique PlayBook that best utilizes your strengths." Pg 52 Bottom line, the book is an excellent read and worth your intellectual energy and time. It will push you to think out of the box when it comes to trading and inspire you to have a positive attitude towards life in general.

I read a lot of books about trading/investing. In fact, I came to a point where I thought I had gotten through all of the quality books out there and began to scrape the bottom of the barrel with many of these low-priced DIY Kindle Books (I'm not denigrating self-publishing as a whole, but you definitely get some fluff put together just to make a few bucks). As I've traded more and more over the past few years and read all of these books, my timeframe has decreased to the point where I'm now holding positions usually 1-3 days with the occasional intraday trade. Surprisingly though, I've noticed there really is a dearth of quality books on intraday trading out there, which is why I was so excited to see Mike Bellafiore put out The PlayBook since I enjoyed One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading (Wiley Trading) so much. While OGT focused more on proprietary trading as a whole, The PlayBook gets more into the nuts and bolts of trading, detailing trade set-ups and trade management, with a heavy emphasis on trade review and structure. The goal appears to be to help short-term traders develop their own set of plays, just like a football or basketball team uses, to focus only on those trades that are most comfortable and rewarding to the trader. Essentially, it reinforces the old maxim of "do more of what works and less of what doesn't." This book will help teach readers exactly what it says in its title: how to think like a professional trader. Its purpose is not to give you all the trade set-ups that will make you successful, so please do not buy the book with the intention of learning some secret technical pattern or indicator that will make you rich. While it does give several examples of trades and trade set-ups, it focuses more on the work involved and the mindset needed to succeed. It is up to each individual to develop a system that works for him or her, and the author even says that trying to copy some guru or a consistently profitable trader is not the path to follow. Overall, I think it's a good book on trading and one I'll likely read again. PROS: 1. Written in an easy-to-follow style by an author who has succeeded in trading (it sounds like he doesn't trade as much as he used to, but that's understandable given he's running a business). 2. Gives a realistic look at how difficult trading professionally is and the work involved. Many books make it sound like everyone should just quit their jobs and trade for a living. 3. Discusses the ins and outs of trading more than One Good Trade did, while also providing templates for trade setups and reviews. CONS: 1. While I didn't mind it, I know some people had issues with One Good Trade being too anecdotal and there's definitely many stories and responses to email questions in The PlayBook. This is not a textbook, but if these informal stories and examples bother you then you'll probably have a problem with this book. 2. The price. Once again, I didn't mind paying ~$30 for the book since I think I got a lot out of it, but in this day and age of <$10 Kindle Books, many people expect a full trading system with anything more than $20. This book is not a trading system or a full course about intraday trading. Go in with the right expectations.

Se você quer ser um trader, leia este livro! Leia e re-leia! Fundamental para entender este fantástico jogo! Ou melhor, este modo de viver!

Si estás entrando en el mundo del Trading sin duda este libro es para tí, era para un regalo y se ha quedado muy satisfecho y contento. Este libro sin duda es muy completo y le ha encantado.

Best book about trading. Teach you how to work to be the Best trader you can be. A lot of example of different trader that have great results thanks to their hard work

This seem to be a reprint . the original copy is more compact.

Livre incroyable qui m'a permis d'améliorer grandement mon jeu au Trading.