The Art of Contrary Thinking

[Soultrader 12]

Heres another great book by one of my favorite authors Humphrey Neill. For those who are familiar with Le Bon's "The Crowd", you will find this a pleasant read. For most traders, contrary thinking is nothing new. "When everybody thinks alike, Everyone is likely to be wrong." From fading breakouts to oil prices increasing after Saudi states an increase in production... all ideas that can be profitable ONLY if one can apply the art of contrary thinking successfully. While the majority are wrong on many occasions (such as tops and bottoms), the herd are right at times as well (in the middle of a trend).

 

Hopefully those who approach trading have a mind of their own. Otherwise, I do believe trading is a tough challenge if you have always been a part of the herd or what Orwell calls "groupthink". Placing trades, taking losses, creating a strategy, etc... are elements of trading that one needs to do on his own. If you find yourself asking for trading execution advice or questions like "Are you long/short?" you may need to pick this book up and learn what mindset is required in this game where money is transferred from the many to the few. Only the ones with a bold and independant mind will survive this game. A recommended read.

[firewalker 10]

Good review Soultrader. "When everybody thinks alike, Everyone is likely to be wrong." reminds me of another aphorism: "When everybody is thinking the same, nobody is thinking much."

 

I was wondering if it would not be useful for others (who read the book) to add their votes as well? That way we could have an individual score, but also something of a 'general consensus'?

[Soultrader 12]

Good review Soultrader. "When everybody thinks alike, Everyone is likely to be wrong." reminds me of another aphorism: "When everybody is thinking the same, nobody is thinking much."

 

I was wondering if it would not be useful for others (who read the book) to add their votes as well? That way we could have an individual score, but also something of a 'general consensus'?

 

Thanks fw. The voting thing... I just realized it is a serious bug in the system. Must of been altered when i upgraded the forum system as this review system is a custom function. This is going to take some time to fix as this custom review system is very unstable with many errors and the developer changed recently. Ill see what I can do.