The Playbook: An Inside Look at How to Think Like a Professional Trader

by Mike Bellafiore

Want to become a truly great trader – either for yourself or for a proprietary trading firm? This book will help you get there. This unique approach is the closest thing to signing up for a “trader boot camp” yourself! You’ll learn by watching new traders walk through actual trades, explain what they’ve tried to do, and try to survive brutally tough expert critiques. One trade at a time, The Playbook reveals how professional traders must think in order to succeed “under fire,” how they assess their own performance, and how they work relentlessly to improve. Using concrete, actionable setups drawn from his extensive trading and training experience, Bellafiore walks through an extraordinary array of trades, showing readers how to maximize profits and avoid disastrous hidden pitfalls. He covers support plays, bull-and-bear flags, opening drives, important intraday levels, bounce and fade trades, pullbacks, scalps, technical opportunities, consolidation, relative strength, market trades, and more. He also presents indispensable insights on psychology and trader development, based on his work with hundreds of traders on a major commodity exchange and an elite prop firm’s trading desk. Packed with color, personality, and realism, this is an exciting guide to real-world trading.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business

434 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2012

Reviews

[Shravan Venkataraman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads more like an advertisement for SMB capital than a proper Playbook. But the title is "an inside look at how to think like a professional trader" and instead of throwing blanket How-To's, the author has actually given us an inside look -into the millions of dollars netting traders' journals, emails, and their thought processes, methodologies, routines, etc. The premise is simple. The book is about how SMB capital's traders work, how they look for their trades, how they take and exit trades, and how as a trader you can improve your processes. But the catch is this - you're gonna have to deduce a process for yourself from reading about all these traders in this book. This is not a "HOW TO" book, rather a book that will make you introspect and come up with solutions for yourself by yourself. Don't buy/read this book if you're looking for a step by step guidance, you'll be disappointed.

[Terry Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much I want to say about this book, but simply said, this is one of the best books I've read not just for Trading but for Life in general.

Mike Bellafiore, is a Professional Coach that trains and makes Pro Traders. This book is a book for Pro Traders written by a Pro coach. There is so much value to take from this book, many small lessons that you could only learn from an experienced and successful trader who has done his time in the markets. Mike is a strong, go-getter, who really believes in Hardwork to create true Success. His words a very motivating yet very honest (sometimes brutally honest) to convey true way to success in the markets.

By using different personalities at his Prop Firm, Mike outlines different lessons with examples of variety of different traders. Outlining many psychological and habitual aspects that can make a great trader. Just by reading this book once a year, I believe it will have a profound effect in your trading and how you approach the markets. Must read for all traders.

[An Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Bellafiore, co-founder of proprietary trading firm SMB Capital, wrote The PlayBook as a companion to his earlier book One Good Trade. While that first book laid out the principles of disciplined trading, The PlayBook dives deeper into how traders can build their own “playbook” of setups and strategies—a personalized collection of trades that fit their strengths, style, and risk tolerance.

This book blends real-world trading stories, lessons from SMB’s trader development program, and actionable frameworks for building consistency in the markets.

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Key Concepts:

1. The PlayBook Method
• Traders should catalog their best setups into a personalized PlayBook.
• Each play is broken down into: market context, entry signals, risk management, and exit strategies.
• The process builds discipline and helps eliminate weak, impulsive trades.

2. Pattern Recognition & Edge
• Success comes from recognizing high-probability patterns and exploiting them consistently.
• Bellafiore emphasizes screen time, journaling, and self-review as ways to sharpen recognition.

3. Developing Trader Psychology
• Emotional resilience, focus, and self-awareness are just as critical as technical skill.
• The book shares insights on handling losses, building confidence, and avoiding self-sabotage.

4. Mentorship and Team Environment
• Bellafiore stresses the importance of learning from mentors and peers.
• He recounts how SMB trains new traders, fostering collaboration rather than lone-wolf behavior.

5. Continuous Learning
• The markets evolve, and so must traders.
• A PlayBook is never “finished”—it’s a living document that grows with experience.

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Strengths:

✅ Real, behind-the-scenes look at prop trading life.
✅ Practical framework for self-directed growth.
✅ Candid stories of both winning and losing trades.
✅ Strong balance between technical strategy and trading psychology.

Weaknesses:

❌ Some examples are equity-focused, so forex/crypto/futures traders may need to adapt ideas.
❌ Less of a “step-by-step strategy manual” and more about mindset + process.

⸻

Verdict:

The PlayBook is a must-read for serious traders, especially those early in their journey or struggling with consistency. It’s less about “secret setups” and more about how to think like a pro and build a system that plays to your strengths. If you liked One Good Trade, this is the natural next step.

[Richard Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The follow-up to the bible of trading, One Good trade.

It’s not exactly new these days, but the examples, concepts and psychology are all as relevant as ever. Get this essential reading for traders.

[Ambassador]

Want to become a truly great trader – either for yourself or for a proprietary trading firm? This book will help you get there. This unique approach is the closest thing to signing up for a “trader boot camp” yourself! You’ll learn by watching new traders walk through actual trades, explain what they’ve tried to do, and try to survive brutally tough expert critiques. One trade at a time, The Playbook reveals how professional traders must think in order to succeed “under fire,” how they assess their own performance, and how they work relentlessly to improve. Using concrete, actionable setups drawn from his extensive trading and training experience, Bellafiore walks through an extraordinary array of trades, showing readers how to maximize profits and avoid disastrous hidden pitfalls. He covers support plays, bull-and-bear flags, opening drives, important intraday levels, bounce and fade trades, pullbacks, scalps, technical opportunities, consolidation, relative strength, market trades, and more. He also presents indispensable insights on psychology and trader development, based on his work with hundreds of traders on a major commodity exchange and an elite prop firm’s trading desk. Packed with color, personality, and realism, this is an exciting guide to real-world trading.

From the Back Cover *

"Written by one of the world's best trading coaches, The PlayBook teaches traders who do not trade U.S. equities how a pro does. At the largest prop firm in South Africa, Mike coached our guys to add U.S. equities to their trading quiver. This memorable experience is archived in humorous, engaging, and educational detail to help you build your own playbook.”

*

—Garreth Montano and Kevin Thomas, Managing Partners, African Gateway and Storm Securities

"The PlayBook teaches traders how to build a personal methodology and how to be scalable. It demonstrates the necessity for traders to embrace technology and become more bionic, so they improve their P&L. The PlayBook offers a peek into the future of trading and who will be successful. This is an important book.”

*

—Andy Kershner, CEO of Kershner Trading Group

*

“Having worked with SMB traders, I love how this book shares the real psychological struggles pro traders face, even the best ones, and explains the importance of continually working on yourself to become a Consistently Profitable Trader.”

*

—Andrew Menaker, Ph.D, Trading Psychologist

*

“Fascinating! Bellafiore has put together his experience in trading and the importance of doing one’s homework in this book in a manner that is easy for anyone to understand. The real-life examples, particularly citing Singapore, prove that the methods and strategies shared aren’t theoretical but proven facts that even Asian traders can apply. This book is recommended for those who aim to improve their trading habits.”

*

—Lee Chang Wen, Head of Phillip CFD, Phillip Securities Pte Ltd. (A member of PhillipCapital).

*

“Mike is one of the most generous sharers to the StockTwits trading community in real-time with his trading thoughts and blogging. The PlayBook is another wonderful contribution from SMB Capital and its co-founder to the trading community.”

*

—Howard Lindzon, CEO of StockTwits

Want to become a truly great trader–either for yourself or for a prop-trading firm? The PlayBook will help you get there. Based on one of the world’s most successful trader training programs, it’s the closest thing to signing up for a “trader boot camp” yourself!

You’ll learn by watching traders walk through their actual trades, explain what they’ve tried to do, and try to survive tough expert critiques. Trade by trade, you’ll discover how professional traders must think to succeed “under fire,” how they assess their performance, and how they work to improve.

Using concrete setups drawn from his extensive trading and training experience, Mike Bellafiore walks through a wide array of trades, showing you how to maximize profits and avoid hidden pitfalls. As you learn crucial trading skills, you’ll also gain indispensable insights into market psychology and trader development. Packed with color, personality, and realism, this is today’s most exciting and profitable guide to real-world trading!

*

Mike Bellafiore and SMB Capital will help you…

*

Build a trading PlayBook that builds from your strengths.

Trade bigger, with their proprietary trading risk system.

Develop a methodology to make trading decisions.

Understand what it takes to be a pro trader by meeting many successful pros from SMB Capital.

Avoid “intern-level” mistakes their pro traders have made in real-time.

See the “Future of Trading” and what you need to do to succeed.

Remember to be grateful for your opportunity to trade and invest!

About the Author

Mike Bellafiore is the co-founder of SMB Capital, a proprietary trading firm in New York City; SMBU, their education arm; and SMB Systems Trading, their algorithmic trading division. He is the author of “the trading classic” One Good Trade. His firm has regularly appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNN Money, Fox Business, the BBC, and in the Wall Street Journal and the street.com. SMB’s trader training program was highlighted on the TV documentary Wall Street Warriors. An international lecturer, Mr. Bellafiore has built trader training programs globally for hedge funds, prop trading desks, and retail traders, working with some of the world’s largest traders. He lives on the Upper West Side, with his wife and newborn son.

[Jesus Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The playbook offers you true insight into the world of prop firm trading. Through the anecdotes and trade reviews of the traders at SMB capital Mike takes you on a journey that allows you to understand what it takes to make it as an intraday trader.

This book breaks your misconceptions about finding setups and gives you actionable tools to track the setups you best perform in. Mike provides detailed guidelines and numerous examples of how to put together a playbook and how it will significantly improve your skill as a trader.

More than anything reading this gives you an unbiased perspective on the work ethic and attitude that you must portray in order to be a successful trader. Although the book is now close to 9 years old, the insights provided in this book are still effective and remain true to this day. Will recommend to anyone interested or getting started in trading!

[Akshay Iyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many advice that are worth noting.
Good examples put in, but i felt that there were too many examples and all the read was an office conversation converted into a book.

But having said that there are many good, pretty good nuggets to take away. Good work!

-Akshay

[Varandaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the traders that want to make a living in this business it is key to read this book. It gives a methodology about the way we should journal, archive, and go about the trades and strategies we want to implement. Great read

[Yiannis Arvanitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read regarding trading! So much knowledge, passion and ideas in this book... It will definitely help you understand some of your mistakes and you will learn new ways to deal with them.

[Kur Bol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Trader Should Read this book

This is a great book worthy of reading. If you are involved in the US financial markets, you should read this book. Bella is the best. I couldn’t thank him enough for his decades of experience and expertise in this industry.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Classic

A classic that every trader needs to keep in his library. Bella's anecdotes coupled with his trading knowledge make thie contents of this book fun to read as well as insightful. Technical traders well find The Playbook particularly helpful.

[Jeremiah Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for day trading.

[Ishan Panthi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seemed a bit incoherent at the beginning. I was not hooked onto the beginning and got lost somewhere within the paragraphs.

[Eric Eskin · Rating 3 out of 5]

great deal of commentary

Did not enjoy this book. Great deal of anecdotal information. Much prefer a more structured approach to the topic. This felt more like fiction.

[Rajsekhar Vavilapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for a trader

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was written in an informal/easy to read way. Most of the ideas & lessons are described in a conversational manner between the author and trader, which are mostly from his firm. My top 10 from this book are:-

1) ' The calm trader exploits that next opportunity. Opportunity that is sometimes greater than that first disappointing rip. It's the calm trader who can go from positive to negative to significantly positive in a manner of minutes'.

2) ' Sometimes you feel the markets are too hard. That you just do not get it as a trader and then there are streaks where you feel you cannot do anything but be positive. The truth is those streaks end, as well. You are not as bad as you think when you feel you cannot make money. You are not as good as you think when you believe you will never have another losing day. '

3) When having losing streaks - 'Lower your tier size, trade your best setups/time frames and just put up a positive number and repeat the next day. A lack of confidence can infect future trades. '

4) ' If you get stopped out a lot in a stock, ask what's the real stop? is your bias wrong? '

5)' When a stock's fundamentals get worse, it is not true that they normally bounce. It is factually incorrect that they will be worth your time to get long. '

6) ' Judge your trades on the process and not on your results'

7) ' If we don't experience much contentedness outside of trading, it greatly increases the chances that the trader will have a higher need for immediate gratification in trading'.

8) 'Gratitude will slow down an impatient trader',

9) ' The way you go from losing to positive is to watch a smaller number of stocks more closely'.

10) 'The mindset is not to win on each trade or you are a failure. It's how do students help themselves get in as many good risk/reward trades that make sense to them and then let the results take care of themselves'.

[Josiah R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly an excellent book for the intraday trader, with extremely practical wisdom from a professional trading coach, personal experiences from multiple successful traders, and yes even pro-level setups that can be taken and adapted by the reader. The key takeaway is to build your own playbook of your absolute best trades -- journal them, review them, make notes, take screenshots, understand what makes them work and not work -- thoroughly know the ins and outs of your best trades and keep a growing record every day.

[Doug Seaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes the case for journaling your daily trading activity and reviewing it regularly to accelerate your learning curve and improve as a trader. A really good book for new traders and those looking to become more profitable. Do your morning pre-trade prep, record your trading activity, find out which setups really work best for you and use this information to develop your "playbook" for your market.

The book is written in a conversational style and is quite readable; however, a little editing would've make it even better.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book on trading ever written. This is not a how-to, follow steps 1, 2, and 3 and then make money. This book teaches you how to think through a trade like a pro trader so that you can develop your playbook with setups that make the most sense to you. I have been adding a play every day to my playbook and am already finding out that resistance breakout trades work the best for me and make the most sense with the stocks that I trade. Love this book! Build your playbook. Write a trading review every day. Put in the hard work and deliberate practice!

[Yeoman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Mike's books

I was a stock broker for nearly 20 years. In my after life I've been day trading, a decade or so. With Mike's books I find a compatriot, who's gone against this beast, this leviathan, taken the beatings, stompings, internal wrenching with me. It's edifying I am not alone

[Scott G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, this is the same as Bellafiore's other prop trading book guide except there are charts and shit. Rather boring read if you know anything about stock trading. Long-winded for sure... But good...

[Vikas Suresh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read this book after almost a year or two. I found it more useful now that I have been trading longer. It gives you some really good tools to build our own Playbooks and Ideapads to bring in our best game! I highly recommend this for any trader irrespective of the stage they are in.

[Tim Duggan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good equity strategies and approach

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I'll be referring back to this book for the rest of my trading career!

[erjan avid reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a terrific book! i have read many, including "one good trade" by Mike B. This book really just shows how analytical he is with his students.

it shows the level of commitment.. i feel really doubtful about pursuing career in trading - now that i see what it takes..

It 's good he included examples of both good traders who succeeded and some traders who left..
It shows there is all things happening in trading.

I feel like i dont need to read other books - and even watch dvd courses - cuz now i feel like i just need to put in screen time, not collect\consume more books, videos. Cuz it wont help much!