Dr. Van Tharp’s course is not a "get rich quick" scheme. It is a path of self-transformation. The market is a mirror; it reflects exactly who you are. To change your results in the market, you must change the person looking back in the mirror.
Dr. Van Tharp’s Peak Performance Course for Traders and Investors is a comprehensive, five-volume, and audio-based home-study program focusing on the psychological and internal control aspects of trading. The course, which aims to address self-sabotage and improve decision-making, is primarily available in a digital, non-printable format through the Van Tharp Institute. For more details, visit Van Tharp Institute.
Dr. Tharp categorizes the necessary traits for success into three areas. The Goal: Your trading system should be viewed
Before dissecting the course, we must respect the author. Dr. Van K. Tharp (1945–2024) was a clinical psychologist who pivoted to financial trading. Unlike market gurus who teach "hot tips," Tharp treated trading like a psychological disorder that needed curing.
His research, involving thousands of traders (from novices to hall-of-fame professionals), yielded a shocking discovery: Trading systems work, but the trader fails. He found that traders who followed strict systems still blew up due to cognitive biases, self-sabotage, and fear/greed spirals. is primarily available in a digital
The conclusion: To fix the P&L, you must first fix the "self."
Dr. Tharp revolutionized risk management with the concept of "R" (Risk). The Goal: Your trading system should be viewed
If Volume 2 deals with the "Who," Volume 3 deals with the "How." How do you feel when you trade? Are you anxious? Bored? Euphoric?