Financial Speculation : Trading Financial Biases and Behaviour

by Ashley, Gerald

• ISBN13: 9781905641994
• ISBN10: 1905641990
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

When we deal in the financial markets, are we investing, speculating or gambling? Does it really matter what we call it? As this book shows, the world of finance is not an easily defined game. Simple labels, such as gambling and speculation, won't help us grasp the underlying forces that drive the markets. It's far more important to understand the behaviour and biases of the players - their actions and motivations are the vital components that drive everything; bubbles, crashes, huge fortunes, reckless borrowing and complex instruments and strategies, all flow from this simple fact. And the markets are not just an external object, to be studied dispassionately under a microscope. How we act within our inner self, and apply our own set of risk and reward values to the seeming chaos of the market, is absolutely crucial.

Table of Contents

About the author	p. vii
Preface to the new edition	p. ix
Preface to the 2003 edition	p. xi
Losers Anonymous	p. 1
Past Masters	p. 27
Basic Building Blocks	p. 45
Mental Curves	p. 75
Assorted Killers	p. 107
Chartists, Economists and Gurus	p. 127
Quantum(ish) Finance	p. 165
This is the First Time Since the Last Time	p. 197
The Divine Right of Failure	p. 219
Signposts	p. 239
Bibliography	p. 277
Index	p. 281
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.