|  SEP 1990

The Psychology Of David Ryan by Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.

The Psychology Of David Ryan by Van K. Tharp, Ph.D. David Ryan won the U.S. Investing Championships three years in a row. I first interviewed David in May 1988 and again in August 1989. Q: What makes you successful as opposed to the average trader? A: I'm interested in what I'm doing. I love what I'm doing! I'm fascinated! I study the market because I want to do it and because I 'm fascinated to find out what makes the stock go up and what is going to be the next big winning stock. My goal is just to become a better and better trader, more and more disciplined, so I can be more and more successful in the market. I am disciplined in implementing the system and sticking to it. The only time I really start to lose money is when I really haven't stuck to my system and cut my losses short. I think it's also the time factor. I can devote a lot of time to it and become better and better. A lot of traders try to do too many things —they play commodities, stock, options—and they don't do one thing well. If they do a lot of things fairly well, they might make some money. Most probably lose money. If they concentrated on one thing and got to know it very, very well, then they're probably going to do a lot better because they know that one specific area of trading a lot better than other people do. I think it's a combination of interest, discipline, having the time and concentration.

by Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.