In this important book, Gerald Ashley gets to the heart of what moves financial markets. Simple labels, such as gambling and speculation, don't help us grasp the underlying forces that drive the markets.

It's far more important to understand the behaviour and biases of the market players — their actions and motivations are the vital components that drive everything; bubbles, crashes, huge fortunes, reckless borrowing and complex instruments and strategies, all flow from this simple fact. How market players act within their inner selves, and apply their own set of risk and reward values to the seeming chaos of the market, is absolutely crucial.

The book ranges across all the major asset classes, looks at past masters of the art, examines modern thinking on finance and risk, and assesses the value of experts, economists, chartists, market gurus and analysts. The author draws on a wealth of revealing and instructive market insights, stories and anecdotes, and uses simple examples to explain how the basic tools of finance fit together and how to profit in this often complex and unforgiving landscape.

Gerald Ashley has over thirty years experience in international financial markets, having worked for Baring Brothers in London and Hong Kong, and the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. His primary financial market experience is in foreign exchange, currency options, precious metals and money markets.

He is now Managing Director of St Mawgan & Co Limited, a London-based strategy and risk consulting firm. He is also a well-known speaker on the benefits and applications of behavioural economics in decision-making and risk taking, and is a regular columnist in the financial press.