Book excerpt: A detailed look at the common characteristics found in most successful traders While there are a variety of approaches to trading in the financial markets, profitable traders tend to share similar underlying characteristics. Most have a methodology that they believe will prove profitable over the long run and are willing to endure short-term setbacks. If you're looking to make the most of your time in today's markets, you need to understand what separates the best from the rest. And with Trade Like a Casino, you'll gain the knowledge needed to excel at this challenging endeavor. Engaging and informative, this reliable guide identifies and explains the key techniques and mental processes characteristic of successful traders. It reveals that successful traders operate very much like a casino in that they develop a method that gives them "positive expectancy" and they unflappably implement the method in the face of changing, and oftentimes volatile, market conditions. Page by page, the book explores the intricacies of methodology, mental control, and flexibility that allow traders to develop and maintain the casino-like edge. Reveals how many successful traders tend to follow the same general principles, even if their approach to trading may differ Explores how to account for the risk of being wrong and the market moving against you Discusses how to develop an approach that combines trade selection with sound risk management, avoids emotional attachment to positions, exploits volatility cycles, and focuses on market action Regardless of how you approach markets, the insights found here will help improve the way you trade by putting you in a better position to distinguish the differences between successful and unsuccessful traders.