In his latest book, Tharp shows readers how to dramatically improve their trading results and financial life by looking within. He leads them by the hand through three levels of transformation, using trading as a metaphor for transformation. The first level is what he calls "Tharp Think" and it refers to the ideas gained from his modeling work with great traders. However, the second level of transformation is spiritual. To utilize "Tharp Think," people have to stop making mistakes and steer clear of methods that don't work. Tharp also has five chapters on various methods people can use to transform themselves. Using an unconventional approach to evaluating trading systems and beliefs, Tharp outlines how to make the best trades and optimize your finances.

Van K. Tharp, PhD, is President of the Van Tharp Institute, where he uses a combination of skills and education to fine-tune his strategies to coach, consult, and teach traders and investors. Dr. Tharp is the author of five acclaimed books: Super Trader, Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, the New York Times bestseller Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom, The Definitive Guide to Position Sizing™ Strategies, and Financial Freedom Through Electronic Day Trading. He received his PhD in psychology from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in 1975. He is a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Master Time Line Therapist, a Modeler of NLP, and an Assistant Trainer of NLP. He has used his expertise in NLP to create a number of trading and investing models for generating consistent profitability. Tharp has been featured in Forbes, Barron's, Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities, Investor's Business Daily, Futures and Options World, and Trader's Journal. He has given talks and workshops in over 25 different countries. His website is www.vantharp.com.

Acknowledgments

Foreword (Doug Bentley)

Preface

Understanding Transformation (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Level I: Transformation of the Trading Game

Level II: Understanding the Matrix and Reprogramming Yourself

Level III: Trading Beyond the Matrix

Your Personal Application of This Material

Section I: Transformation of the Trading Game: Understanding the Basics (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Two Sets of Rules

Section I Contents

Chapter 1: I Just Made 130%—and That Was Just the Beginning (David Witkin)

Learning to Trade

“Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!”

Tharp Think 101

Not All Lessons Are Equal

Finally, Some Winning Marbles

Chapter 2: The Automation of Tharp Think (Laurens Bensdorp)

My Journey into Doing the Trading Myself

Training Someone Else

Why This is Possible

Addendum

Chapter 3: From Commercial Loan Officer to Financially Free Trader Investor (Rick Freeman)

My Initial Psychological Changes

What I’ve Learned about the Trading Game

Understanding the Trading Game

So How Do You Get a Positive Expectancy System?

Getting a System that Works

Trading Psychology

How My Life Has Changed

Chapter 4: From Army Major to Systems Expert (Kenneth Long, Ph.D.)

What I Have Learned and How I Have Changed

The Power of Beliefs

Statistics-Based Trading

Trading Extremes

Reward-to-Risk Assessments

R-Multiples

Position-Sizing™ Strategies and Bullets

SQN® Performance to Evaluate Systems, Targets and Markets

Market Classification Strategies

Transformations

Improved Systematic Performance

Specific Systems for Specific Market Conditions

Detailed Documentation and Analysis of Trades

Evidence-Based Management

Reduced Stress

Performance

Long-Term System with Monthly Rebalancing

Weekly Swing Trade with Once-a-Week Portfolio Adjustments:

Pattern Swing Trade Using End of Day Data:

Live Trading Workshops Results

May 2011 (Bull Normal Conditions)

October 2011 (Bear Volatile Conditions):

March 26-30, 2012 (Bull Quiet Conditions):

September 24-28th (Sideways to Bull Quiet Conditions)

Chapter 5: Using Tharp Think to Go From Full-Time Broker to Full-Time Trader (Martin Horsey)

My New Venture

Going to North Carolina

Restarting Trading

Where I Am Now

Chapter 6: Adopting Tharp Think to Your Trading (Van K. Tharp, PhD.)

Area One: Thoroughly Understand the Principles of Successful Trading

Part 1: Learning to Trade is Hard Work, But it Can Be Taught.

Part 2: Knowing Yourself

Part 3: Mistakes

Part 4: Objectives and Position Sizing Strategies

Part 5: Probability and Reward-to-Risk Assessment

Part 6: Systems and Market Type

Steps to Learning Tharp Think

Section II: Psychological Transformations to Help You Function at a Superior Level within the Matrix (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Chapter 7: Beliefs: The Basis for the Matrix (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Understanding the Impact of Beliefs Will Change Your Life

How I Create My Experience

You Are the Awareness of Thoughts that Flow Through You

Belief Hierarchy

Changing Your Beliefs

Everything Has the Meaning You Give It

Chapter 8: A Journey through the Stunning World of Feelings and Trapped Emotions (Anonymous)

The Turning Point

Self-Sabotage Models

Accepting My Feelings

Where I Am Now

Note from Editor: Feeling Release as a Metric for Awakening

Chapter 9: You Are a Crowd of Conflicting Parts Inside (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Exercise: Have a Parts Party

Parts Negotiation Exercise

Interview with A CBOE Floor Trader

The Van Tharp Institute

Dealing with Conflicting Parts

What’s Changed Since Then

Where I am Now (Several Years Later)

Chapter 10: My Inner Guidance

A Personal Journey of Miracles (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

My Personal Journey

Conversations with God

Deeksha or the Oneness Blessing

My Relationship with Mitzi

My Current Inner Guidance

Revisiting the Transformed Engineering Professor

My Relationship with Durga Grows

Oneness with God

Bond with the Divine

The Nature of the Relationship is Critical

What Does this Mean for You and For Your Trading?

Some Recent Updates

Update 1: Mother Meera’s Second Blessing.

Update 2: I clear my fear-based spiritual beliefs.

Chapter 11: My Experiences Using Transformational Meditation™ (Peter Wechter)

“I” Have a Problem Using and Relating to the Word “God”

Five Transformations

Some More Little “i’s” That Didn’t Get the Message

Discussion

Closing Reflections

Chapter 12: Creating Your Own World (Van K. Tharp, PhD.)

Nine Steps to Mastering Yourself

Step 1: Learn that You Are a Crowd Inside.

Step 2: Get 25-30 Identity-Level Beliefs from Each Part.

Step 3: Do a Belief Examination Paradigm on Each of Your Beliefs.

Step 3a: Keep your useful beliefs. Once you complete your list, ask yourself, “Is the belief useful?” You’ll find that many of them are not. It’s when you start to replace non-useful beliefs with useful ones that you really begin to see change in your life

Step 3b: Replace your uncharged non-useful beliefs. You’ll find that non-useful beliefs without charge on them are easy to replace once you recognize their lack of utility. For example, “Not acting until you are sure” might be replaced with “Act when the reward-to-risk ratio is heavily in your favor.” It’s easily done, unless the first belief has a lot of fear associated with it

Step 3c: Find the charge on the remaining beliefs. You’ll probably find that at least half of your non-useful beliefs have a powerful emotion attached to them. When that’s the case, list it and the associated emotion and move on. You’ll be releasing the charge in step 5

Step 4: Learn About Projection and Your Shadow Self.

Step 5: Work on the Charge through Feeling Release Exercises.

Step 6: Do a Life Review and List the Beliefs that Come Up.

Step 7: Make a List of Your Problems and Find the Root Cause (Beliefs and Feelings).

Step 8: Get in Touch with Your Internal Guidance.

Step 9: Work to Eliminate Parts, or to at Least Get Them to Work Together with You.

Section III: Moving Beyond the Matrix by Transforming Your Level of Consciousness (Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.)

Our Most Powerful Tool

Super Trader Journeys Through Transformation

Chapter 13: How I Turbocharged My Transformational Journey (Kim Andersson)

Discovering the Linchpin

Transformations Turbocharged!

Transformational Pillar #1: Getting Rid of Fear

Transformational Pillar #2: Tapping into a Higher Power

Transformational Pillar #3: My Purpose in Life

Transformational Pillar #4: Finally Getting Rid of my Need for Control

Taming my Unconscious Fear of Becoming a Millionaire

A Snapshot of Before and After

The Turbo-charged Transformational Model

Conclusion

Chapter 14: From Engineer to Spiritual Warrior

A Trading Journey (Anonymous)

Timeline 1: Downhill Accelerating

Timeline 2: Crawling out of the Pit

A Message from Somewhere

Finding Out that I Would Be a Professional Investor as Soon as I Retire

Do I Have a Real Problem, or Do I Just See Monsters in the Closet?

Meeting Super Trader Program Students: I’ll Have What They’re Having

Transformation 1: Dropping the Pain of Past Projections

Original Situation