This book will serve as a step-by-step guide to adapting successfully to the unusual psychological characteristics of the trading world.

I say "adapting" because most people venturing into the trading environment don't recognize it as being vastly different from the cultural environment in which they were brought up. Not recognizing these differences, they would have no way of knowing that many of the beliefs they acquired to enable them to function effectively in society will act as psychological barriers in the trading environment, making their success as traders extremely difficult to achieve. Reaching the level of success they desire as traders will require them to make at least some, if not many, changes in the ways they perceive market action.

Unlike other social environments, the trading arena has many characteristics requiring a very high degree of self-control and self-trust from the trader who intends to function successfully within it. However, many of us lack this self-control because as children we learned to function in a structured environment where our behavior was controlled by someone more powerful than ourselves, whose purpose was to manipulate our behavior to conform to society's expectations.