Come Intro My Trading Room
Dr. Alexander Elder, 2002

Nearly ten years after his first book, "Trading For a Living", Dr Elder, again offers his unque perspective as both a trader and a practicing psychiatrist to support us in trading with our head on straight. This time his book also seems to support us in standing firm on our mental legs in the churning ocean of trading material that has come on the market in these last ten years since the proliferation of trading with the advent of the personal computer.

 Moving quickly from the basics, aptly called Financial Trading for Babes in the Woods, he goes right to the central supporting architecture of his trading philosophy – the pillars he calls the 3 M's -- Mind, Method and Money.

After a brief revisit to self destructive behaviors (his first book dealt with specific examples in more detail), Chapter Four discusses how to mentally deal with the demands of trading given that it is “the most exciting thing you can do with your clothes on”. The answer is mental discipline and trade record keeping. He shows how to do this by looking at the mind of a successful  trader and discussing his own maturation process as a trader over many years of trading.

Achieving Mental Disciplines

Your best defense against self destruction is self discipline, and that means doing the right thing not the easy thing.   Elders gives you various mental discipline that will keep you safe and profitable as you go on the excitement of the wild market ride. Sagely he reminds the new trader that the first item on the agenda for a trader is to learn to trade, NOT to make money.

Moving beyond technical analysis (Dr. Elder trades stocks), this book teaches you the universal trading rules of money management and trader organization, both of which have important psychological underpinnings. 

Mental discipline will go a long way towards keeping your safe from your own self destructive psychological behavior. Among the most important mental disciplines are managing your trading capital and keeping trading records. Consider it like looking in the mirror while shaving with a very sharp blade – you are safer if you look!

Bottom Line

If the vague notion that you need more mental discipline or better record keeping has crossed your mind, or even one braincell, this books is for you! These two books, "Trading for a Living' and "Come Into My Trading Room" elucidate each other and make a very useful pair.

Come Into My Trading Room Features:

• Firm, Step by Step Mind Management Advice
• Technical Trading Strategy laced with Solid Trading Psychology
• Expansion on his Philosophy of Balancing Mind, Method and Money
• Getting solid on the best defense against self destruction - self discipline
• Lots of record keeping tips and ideas on how to use them to become a better trader

Reviewed by:
Patricia Chamberlin, Mind Trainer
MindPower for Peak Performance Trading