5 comments about New Trading Dimensions: How to Profit from Chaos in Stocks, Bonds, and Commodities (A Marketplace Book).

1. It's not the trading methodology that makes this book valuable. Whenever I reread it I completely skip that part. As a matter of fact, in his next book "Trading Chaos Second Edition" Bill pretty much admits the system underperforms in current market conditions and makes the very significant refinement of using a counter-trend signal that he refers to as a "divergent bar" for first entry. He says without saying it in that book that those following the method in this book will be "late and have a difficult time making any money."
   
   No, the reason I have held on to this book, instead of selling it with the others, is the psychological stuff, and the innovated way he ties physics in with successful trading. It is very introspective, thought-provoking, and yes, quite helpful. To quote the book, get out of the win vs. loss mindset and get into the here and now process of noticing what is happening and being in tune with the market.
   
   [...]



2. I've read all three books by Bill Williams and I think this is his best work.
   
   I'm not sure if I agree with every trading tool that he presents, but, like any new information: you apply them to your own objectives. However, make no mistake...his ideas are important and he's done extremely well to lay them out in a readable manner.
   
   This is just my own opinion, but I feel that you can't dismiss other aspects of technical analysis. Combining a few important technical rules with non-linear trading techniques will produce excellent results as long as you apply them correctly. Further, I've read many books on linear mechanical trading models and usually they don't describe ideas that lend themselves to you as a trader adapting efficiently to changing market conditions.
   
   Put simply, if you read between the lines, he suggests a way of thinking that is non-linear and constantly changing: the crux of the markets.



3. If moving average oscillator is part of your trading plan, this book will help tremendously. This book has very specific strategies and tactics concerning moving average oscillator usage. Although they are not meant to be mechanized, they are systematic enough to be used in very structured way.



4. 1. Everything in the Universe follows the path of least resistance
   
   2. An always underlying and usually unseen structure determines the path of least resistance.
   
   3. The always underlying and usually unseen structure can be discovered, and it can be altered.
   
   4. The four largest money gatherers and distributors in the world are: war, medicine, insurance, and religion.
   
   5. Traders who let the new incoming information organize their trading will be in sync with the market and thereby will be winners.
   
   6. "The market is infinitely complex. Freedom and free will-strange attractors-prevail over rules and determinacy.
   
   7. Fractals are the way markets organize themselves.
   
   8. Everything that exists is drawn out of this quantum soup by attractors. All outer phenomena are governed by four attractors: point attractor, cycle attractor, torus attractor, and strange attractor. Point attractor lives in the dimension of a line, which is made up of infinite number of points. Whenever, a point attractor is governing, a person is drawn to one particular activity, or repelled from another. The cycle attractor is back and forth movement, like a pendulum or circling magnet. It is characterized of a range bound or bracketed market where the price moves up and down in a range over a period of time. One activity automatically leads into another activity. In grain markets, one year of high prices produces more plantings in the next spring, which produces lower prices. The cycle attractor produces a structural tension between the two poles and opens the way for integration between the two opposites. The torus attractor begins a complex cycle that repeats itself as it moves forward. If the bond interest goes up, it attracts mre investors. Bond prices go up, which lowers the interest rate and makes bonds less attractive, and so on. Third dimension, predictions are more precise, higher degree of irregularity, patterns more complex, and repeating function. Strange attractor becomes self-organizing. One characteristic of strange attractor is its sensitivity to initial conditions. The slightest variation in the beginning can make enormous differences in the end result. The strange attractor allows us to participate in the ebb and flow of the market and of life.
   
   9. Bill Williams trade approach involves five perspectives: 1. Momentum 2. Change in the speed of current momentum 3. Appearance of initiating fractal 4. zonal influences 5. balance-line differentials.
   
   10. To win consistently in the markets you must get to know them and how they process incoming information. Get in tune with the market and change your belief about the market and the world.
   
   11. One of the keys to profitable trading is to take only those trades with the most potential and stay out of situations where there is marginal potential.
   
   12. Most of the time the market goes nowhere and about 15 to 30 percent of the time does the market trend. We don't want to waste time entering and existing the market without profiting, if the market is going nowhere then opportunity is going nowhere.
   
   13. Alligator is blue line (13 bar moving average), red line (8 bar moving average offset 5 bars into the future), and green line (5 bars moving average 3 bars into the future). Blue is the jaw, red line is the teeth, green is the lips the balance line. When all three lines are intertwined the alligator is sleeping, range bound market. We don't want to loss money during a range bound. All five highs or lows should be on the same side of the blue balance line. The stop to exit is just inside the red line (teeth).



5. I was very interested in Bill Williams's trading method, because I have used Metatrader4 to treat currency pairs. MT4's technical analyses have Bill Williams's alligator and AO and AC and others in default setting. I read this book and try to do exactly and realized that it is difficult to make profit in flat and corrective triangle waves. To avoid this waste of money, you must understand Elliot wave principle or keep eyes on the chart. But once a trend start, this method makes profit certainly. Totally make a little profit unless lost compensation at all in flat double and triple three.

5 comments about Financial Self Defense.

1. Before reading Charles Givens Financial Self-Defense, I was drifting aimlessly with my finances. I had purchased other financial books by supposed "experts" and listened to financial advice by other so called "experts" and came out on the losing end.

   Charles Givens was a master at money strategies. He empowers us all to take control of our personal finances and not leave it in the hands of commissioned financial people and other financial authors who are using your ignorance for their bliss.

   In Financial Self-Defense, Givens uncovers all of the tricks that various professionals do that costs us thousands and thousands of dollars over a financial lifetime.

   This is one of three must read books. The other two are More Wealth Without Risk also by Givens and The Millionaire Mind. Another book to read is SuperSelf by Givens which will help you maximize effectiveness. For Wealth Builders, I also strongly recommend Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

   Be careful with other books written by people who do not have your best interests at heart. Givens is on your side. You'llbe surprised to find out who isn't.




2. I had been for many years an aggressive tax preparer and felt that I know just about everything there was to know about taxes. Givens books Financial Self Defense and More Wealth Without Risk taught me many strategies that I wasn't aware of.

   Also recommend SuperSelf, a super personal development book by Givens and Money Mastery another great book on reducing taxes...legally.




3. If you have already read More Wealth Without Risk, you probably think you have all of Mr. Givens best strategies. Not so. Financial Self Defense is even better and offers more strategies to reach your financial dreams.

   In Financial Self Defense, Givens goes right after banks, brokers, auto salesmen and even the IRS, exposing the schemes and scams perpetrated by these people.

   My son was going to buy a car. I loaned him Financial Self Defense and he saved over $6,000 with the advice. A $14 book saved $6,000. Now that's not bad!

   Most of us are wasting an easy $1,000 per month in financial mistakes. Givens shows you how to plug up the dike and use that money to invest or improve your lifestyle.

   More Wealth Without Risk is excellent and Financial Self Defense is in many ways even better. Read both and prosper.




4. This great book by the late, great Charles Givens along with More Wealth Without Risk is all the protecion you need to save yourself from dangerous advice disseminated from brokers, insurance salesmen, car dealers, financial advisors or planners.

   Financial Self Defense is actually even more hard hitting that More Wealth Without Risk. One area that I saved was in buying cars. Following the advice in this book, I bought my dream car, sold my old car myself and pocketed nearly $10,000 in savings compared to what I would have spent had I followed conventional wisdom.

   Great book Mr. "G". Rest in peace and thank you.




5. Charles Givens died before his time. I appreciated his way of explaining things. Because he spoke with authority, he actually lived what he was talking about. And I believe he was genuinely attempting to help people see the way to get out of their mundane 9-5 debt slavery and see a brighter way. I know he got into trouble in later years, but from reading all his books and getting to know him from his writings, I believe he was a decent person who cared. I think everyone needs to know what is in this book. Granted some references are dated, but that is only because he is dead and can no longer update his work. Would highly recommend this book as one of many references to the road to independent wealth, many people just dream about it, the real deal busts his backside getting the info he needs to attain his goal. Because knowledge is indeed power.

5 comments about The Motley Fool Investment Guide : How The Fool Beats Wall Streets Wise Men And How You Can Too.

1. The Motley Fools, for a novice investor, can be a life changing experience. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating" and their savvy insights regarding investments have served me well. Their stock market insights are delivered with wit and wisdom, and I was actually sad when I turned the last page and realized I had finished the book. That's my personal criteria for a well written book, does it leave you wanting more. The Fools deliver.



2. Overall,a well-written, easy to follow, and a solid book for people who attain a basic knowledge about mutual funds and stocks. This book is a must read for people who are interested in learning, exploring and testing stock picking techniques and for people who believe in the importance of doing fundamental analysis (financial ratios,data,etc.)when selecting the right company to invest in. The book offers a useful eight-item checklist that investors most follow when choosing the best small cap growth stocks. Also offers the pertient ratios from balance sheet,income statement, and cash flow that investors need to pay careful attention to when picking the right small cap stocks. The Motley fool shows a reader another way to make a positive return on stocks which is perfectly set for investors who are only interested participating during the bear market. The book recommends them to short stocks. Shorting stocks is the complete opposite of buying stocks. In addition, the book provides an useful overview of how companies go public (IPO) to issue stocks to investors to raise money, how common people can either look for brokers, discount brokers, deep discount brokers, or directly purchase stocks from the company to avoid paying commissions to purchase stocks online, and etc.
   
   However, not recommended book for readers who are technical investors because the book never delves into the subject of technical analysis but gives a short overview of why they dislike the method and should not be used when picking stocks. Moreover, not the right book for option and future investors because they have a little knowledge in this area.
   
   In conclusion, if you want to know how to analyze company fundamentally, purchasing this book should help but be wary and skeptical about one chapter that discusses about dow dividend investment technique. The brothers give false hope to investors that anybody is guaranteed a 25.5% annual growth return for 20 years if they buy 2 of the second lowest and 1 of third,fourth, and fifith lowest price from 30 dow stocks or called foolish 2-2-3-4-5 approach. This might be true in the past 20 years but due to our unstable and unforeseeable economy in the future, a stock return of 25.5 % for 20 years is highly unlikely to happen. More likely situation we can experience is witnessing another stock market crash or seeing a rise of inflation 4 % every year making 25.5% return look a dismal 14%. The only aspect on their approach to Dow investment that I agree with is their claim about the safeness of dow stocks. Nobody can argue this claim since Dow stocks consist of 30 well-established companies which have been in business for a century and it would be hard picturing them filing bankruptcy.
   
   Overall, I would give a 3.5 star to this book.



3. This book provides different viewpoints for investing, but mainly profiles their strategy: finding those diamonds in the rough. With chapters titled "maybe you should just buy mutual funds" and "maybe you should avoid mutual funds", this book builds up to their main focus: providing good suggestions on valuing companies (with the focus on small cap companies).
   
   Having previously taken finance courses, I found this book as a good refresher. Written in a light hearted manner, this book was pleasing to read, rather than perusing old text books. As with any book, they showcase their views. I would recommend reading other books, not only to gain more knowledge of investing but to see other strategies.



4. This book dramatically changed how I invest with great results. This is not a book that encourages get-rich quick schemes or will tell you how to "trade" stocks. It will give you the building blocks to create a solid investment portfolio that, over the course of a lifetime will make you wealthy. If you know nothing about the stock market, but are considering moving into this realm or are just wondering if there isn't something better than your underperforming mutual fund THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.



5. David and Tom Gardner are real heroes because they are helping people know more about the great opportunities they have by investing their money in the stock market. I recommend this book to any person who is trying to improve their game as well as people that dont have experience with stocks.
   They tell you how stocks work they are not the kind of investment authors that say alot of "how great they are" but intstead they take you and teach you how stock work.
   
   Keep on the good work.

5 comments about Fiscal Administration.

1. Public Budgeting Systems by Robert D. Lee, Philip G. Joyce, and Ronald Wayne Johnson is written more clearly... if you have a choice, buy this book. The problem with Mikesell is that he has to write 200 pages (six chapters) to explain the concept of revenues in the budget process. Too many trees were wasted in the development of this book. Lee, Joyce, and Johnson can do this in 40 pages.
   
   The greater majority of my Public Budgeting Systems class at George Mason University feels that the Mikesell book is written in a manner to lull oneself to sleep... the benefit is that one could read the book rather than using drugs to induce sleep.
   
   However, if you are required to purchase the Mikesell book, you should go to the Amazon UK web site and complete your transaction there... you can save yourself about 70 to 80 dollars.



2. Although big (and pricey) this book contains very good illustrations and explanations of financial and budgeting concepts and principles. A must have for serious students in graduate programs.



3. This book is written so poorly I can barely get through it. Mikesell goes on and on with run-on sentences, excessive details that get in the way of the concepts, and very poor organization of the concepts. He shifts styles, meanders off topic, and fails to get to the point. He also uses very few graphs or illustrations. Instead, he includes large tables of numerical data (rather than a chart, like a pie, line, or bar graph, that would bring out the important message).
   
   Even though it's in the 7th edition, it reads like a rough first draft. It needs major revision. In order to get through it, I skim for the ideas and skip a lot of the text. When I try to "read" it (i.e. every word), I get so bogged down, I can't move forward and I don't retain much. Mikesell obscures the main concepts in a haze of excess words, unhelpful information, and pervasive use of the passive voice.
   
   Unfortunately, I have to use this book for my graduate Public Financial Management course. If you have the choice, find something better.



4. Almost perfect!The book is new,and reaches me on time.
   I find that the question marks printed in the book are all inverted,anyway, it doesn't affect reading.



5. This is a simple, clear, practical public finance text. It describes the basic processes of taxing, borrowing (and investing public funds), and spending, carefully delineating capital budgeting and operational budgeting from cash budgeting, their purposes and functions. My students, both in our executive program and regular MBA students find it much more approachable and useful than the other public finance texts I have used, in part because it relentlessly focuses on administrative matters. The text is also sensitive to jurisdictional issues in fiscal management -- federal. state. local.
   
   The questions at chapter ends are thought provoking and challenging without being overwhelming. I provide Excel set-ups for the problems I use, which allows students to perform a greater number of exercises in a timely manner and also for me to grade their work more easily. I'd also like to see more attention to mean variance analysis, which is one of the main integrating ideas in financial management, but otherwise I am quite pleased with this text and recommend it highly.

5 comments about The New Science of Technical Analysis.

1. I heard the author speak a few years ago and was bowled over by all the information he covered. I concluded he was either a phenomenal salesman or he was truly an exceptional student of the market. i bought this book as well as one of his other two(?). I knew that if i truly wanted to digest what he presented I had to be committed to studying his techniques. Frustration reigned and interruptions only served to hamper my understanding. Fianlly, after losing countless dollars on sham techniques I learned at seminars and reading books by others I was determined to give the author a serious try. I have never regretted this decision. While nothing is perfect in the investment business I can certainly represent that the author's ideas are fresh, innovative, original and and have enhanced by trading performance markedly. Sure I still have losers and nothing is infallible but his techniques are the closest I have come to providing me with the knowledge and game plan to be a successful trader. Yes, I am making money, lots of it. No, I am not going to share what of his many tools have I found to be the most helpful. That is your job and if for no other reason, it is because some of the methods I may have found to be not to my liking may very well be suited to you and trading psyche. In any case, welcome to the world of a one of a kind trading mind. The author is special and so are his indicators.



2. TD suppy and demand lines. If I only knew before the rules for trendlines I would have save a lot of time and wasted effort. I can't comment on this book past chapter #1 as I've not gone any further. However, this book is worth the purchase many times over just for the proper explaination of trendlines. As this book was recommended to me for the first 2 chapters, I will also recomend it if only for the first. Before I could look at the same chart of a currency pair and "see" different trend lines. Oh, I think that is one. But now I will look at the same chart and see the same trendlines every time. This goes a long way to making trading a repeatable, measurable proccess... essential to success.



3. good book if you have mastered the basics, if not then good luck my friend cause there is no methods that can really stand alone in this book. But this book will really help you if you have a good method but just want something to confirm buy signals . but i guess if you combine 2-3 methods in this book you might just be able to make it into a profitable method.



4. If you want to learn Tom Demark school of technical analysis, this book should be the first step. Learn what's in this book before moving onto other books of Demark. This book will show you that there are indeed different way to look at the market technically. And most importantly, have an open mind. If you earnestly spend some quality time with this book, you will come out with some valuable insights.



5. Many talk about mr. DeMark. I'd found soo many versions of his work that I could not make up anymore what is actually original. Thats why I bought his book. Compared to other books, some simpler explanation is done (but not too simple), which means a little more paper to explain the issues, which I like very much. This brings me into the power to skip the things I already understand and continue on my own level. The material is basic and at the same time advanced. Even for non mathematic fellow traders this book is very well readable. I thank mr DeMark for sharing his knowledge.

5 comments about Zen in the Markets.

1. Pink elephant or
   white heron? Value is in
   the understanding
   of haiku and zen.
   
   I learned how to
   write haiku.
   Lines of seven
   syllables interspersed
   with lines of five.
   
   Poetic licence allowed
   
   
   If you are an afficianado of the above skills you may appreciate the book. It is one of the slimmest volumes you will find ( < 90 pages; 99% white space) . Great for poets, meditators and zen aphorists. Questionable for trading.
   
   Toppel qualifies himself in the preface by saying "quality of thought, not quantity of paper is presented here." Which would be fine if it were true.
   
   The book starts with a dedication "to those whose warrior souls have been perfected and to those of us who are still trying". Reading this in zen spirit you should see immediately that Toppel is no master. Not of zen and not of trading. His starting premise is to include himself as a "tryer" and he underlines this a number of times in the book. Here is the irony: it is difficult to pump yourself up when you are selling a book on egoless trading.
   
   The major weakness in the book is that it assumes there is only one way to trade. The Toppel-go-with-the-flow-zen-Samurai-way. This may be true for day-trading in the pits (where Toppel has experience) and in highly leveraged derivatives markets, but in the stock market (at least) I can attest to there being more than one path up the mountain. "The trend is our friend" mantra is all very true, but the real zen part is to be able to recognise our friends. Unfortunately all Mr Toppel offers in this domain is a quick check to see if we can count from 27 to 29 ( If the current tick is above the last tick the movement is up, if the current tick is below the last tick the movement is down). As I said, this may work for a samurai in the pits but it's not much help on a PC in Pennsylvanea.
   
   According to Toppel, here are the only rules that matter :
   
   1. Buy low, sell high.
   2. Let profits run, cut losses quickly.
   3. Add to a winning position, not a loser.
   4. Go with the Trend.
   
   
   The book is really about how to get ourselves to submit to these rules.
   
   If you want a cursory introduction to Chicago zen, this book is probably it. And Toppel is definitely a zen/samurai evangelist. There is even a short glossary with a number of terms that I couldn't even find mentioned in the book ( eg Ai -harmony, Bushido -The conduct code for Samurai, Mushin - pure consciousness of no thought, Satori - pure enlightenment, sensei - a learned teacher).
   
   For me, Satori came on the final page:
   
   " The Warning
   Those who know
   do not talk.
   Those who talk
   do not know".
   
   There were quite a few gems like this.
   
   I would have given it 4 or 5 stars if it was just called Zen Trader (and had only blank pages).



2. I really enjoyed this book. What he says is sooo clear and simple - yet he admits that HE can't always comply with his own rules!! The gist of his book is this...
   Buy high - sell higher!! (and vice versa)
   Stay in the moment..
   Trade what you SEE - NOT what you think !!
   All of the above requires the dismissal of EGO !! And that is far easier said than done. The book is a quick & enjoyable read and you can apply his principles immediately.



3. I train daytraders for a living, I make them read 2 books before they start: 'Reminiscences of a Stock Operator' and this book 'Zen in the Markets.' I quote it almost daily when instructing traders - Trade what you see, not what you think. It is a very quick read.
   
   It is NOT for long-term stock investors, anyone reading it for those purposes will be disappointed and give it a negative review about how it downplays fundamentals, charts, technical patterns, and such. Short-term (like 1-2 minute in a trade) daytraders and pit traders are the ones who swear by this book, as I do. I traded on the floor of the exchange and still make my living in the quick in-and-out daytrading world, and for people like me this book is a must have.



4. What causes us to break the golden rules of trading?
   
   1. Buy low, sell high.
   2. Let profits run, cut losses quickly.
   3. Add to a winner, not a loser.
   4. Go with the trend.
   
   This book shows how we break these rules out of the desire to be right. Our ego gets in the way. We should let the market dictate to us what to do based on its movement, not what we believe for what ever reason. If the market is on an up trend. Buy. Down trend. Sell.
   The mistakes arise when we refuse to cut losses, waiting to prove we were right. Trade in the NOW, what is going on NOW, not on past trends or future predictions.
   
   Read "Reminisces of a stock operator" to learn how a master traded this way, and "The power of NOW" to learn more about this spiritual path.
   
   I wish you happy and profitable trading.(These rules have worked for me, 24% average return over the past 4 years).



5. This book is terrible! Everything the author said in the book could've have been gleaned from a self-help book about discipline in general and everything could've been summarized in a 1 page "cheat sheet"...
   
   Don't waste your money.

5 comments about Using SAS in Financial Research.

1. SAS, like income tax and Microsoft Office, is a necessary evil in the daily existence of a well-educated but poor white-collar worker such as myself. I've used SAS for many years and I'm a fairly good programmer (though not a profesional one0, but I still get frustrated over SAS all the time. The way the data steps work just kills my imagination and motivation.
   
   The present book offers some relief in the form of ready-to-use code segments for various topics in financial research. It's a thin volume at 150 pages, so its usefulness and coverage are limited. Covered topics include variance ratio testing in a random walk model, building event study code, and (most useful of the bunch) processing stock transaction data and running VAR regressions.
   
   Of course, if you are using SAS, chances you are smart enough to figure out most of the stuff on your own, but the book serves two good purposes: 1) to save us the time and frustrations of working with SAS, and 2) to help the SAS beginner learn how to think in SAS and program in SAS. This is NOT a SAS primer. Each chapter dives into the topic right away, first offering some research background (e.g., what is a random walk) and then offering detailed analysis of the sample code.
   
   In the end, it's the SAS code collection in this book that wins the book 4 stars from this harsh book critic. There are a few errors but no hideous hidden bugs. If you want to use SAS to quickly carry out some financial research, this book may be right for you. On the other hand, it doesn't cover a lot, so those looking for a more comprehensive code compendium will be disappointed.



2. Programming in SAS is soul destroying, and being chained to SAS is equivalent to being on Devil's Island, but it has turned into a lunatic asylum. Add to that the fact that you are trying to deliver financial analysis or support trading strategies, risk management, or option pricing, and you have a recipe for succumbing to insanity.
   
   If you are in that unhappy state, this book is very useful in the "cut-and-paste" world of cobbling together Franken-code to get a job done. I have not gone through every routine to check for bugs (I mercifully have escaped from the asylum), and I suspect they are there, but nothing would be beyond standard de-bugging.
   
   If you are in finance and have to use SAS, this book is an excellent edition to your weapons arsenal.



3. I enthusiastically recommend the book to others, but hope that second edition will add discussion of PROC SQL - its knowledge is a must for any serious data manipulation, and its omission a major flaw - and SAS graphics.



4. I don't understand why the other three reviewers liked this slim volume. It just has a few code examples covering a handful of niche topics that I feel few people know or care about. Financial research is a really rich and diverse field, ranging from accounting to options pricing to technical analysis. This book covers a minimal amount of topics. I don't think this is helpful at all. If someone could write a "SAS cookbook" a la "Perl Cookbok" that would be great.



5. When someone writes a good introductory book like "Matlab for Engineers", they don't restrict themselves to providing a bunch of Matlab codes for a range of typical Engineering problems with a very brief explanation of Matlab language itself. A decent language tutorial is a necessary part of the package. It is even more desirable for a Finance-oriented SAS book because SAS language is more arcane than that of Matlab (for instance, SAS DATA step language is different from that used in SAS macros).
   
   If the authors of this book had organized it this way, it would have been a great publication, and priced at least $65, too. Unfortunately, almost no SAS language tutorial has been included (and fairly enough, the price is much lower - that's why I'm giving it more than 2 stars).
   
   The bottom line is that if you have no SAS background you should start with something like The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Third Edition. Then, if you feel you need to know more about SAS macros, try SAS Macro Programming Made Easy, Second Edition. Only after that decent introduction does it make sense to open this book.

5 comments about How to Buy Stocks.

1. If you are a beginner in the area of stocks, and have a lots of basic questions, this book is for you. All the terminology and the functioning of the stock market is nicely developed. I definitely recommend it instead of frantically searching on the internet for learning the basics.



2. The problem with so, so many investment texts on the market is that the authors of the texts have a clear conflict of interest: read my book, buy my tapes and come to my seminar, and they'll teach you how to make a million dollars. A sucker is born every minute, and the dark scary world of investment books is proof of it.
   
   This is the best book on investing, and how to measure value generally, that I've ever read. It's very, very old school. If you feel yourself attracted to the NYSE like a big exciting roulette table, but you don't know what a P/E ratio is or what a stock split really means, buy this book before you do anything stupid.



3. Had I realized that this book was 14 years old I would not have purchased it. One of the bullet points on the front cover is "Latest Statistics and Regulations" which of course was the case back in 1994. I am sure some information may still be pertinent, but again there is no way to know what is and what isn't still valid. Personally I would not trust any investment advice that is almost 2 decades old, but then again what do I know, I'm the fool that bought this book in the first place.



4. Covers the basics very well. I've had it on my shelf for years and have reread several times.



5. Bought this book 14 years ago. I was 25 and knew NOTHING about money let alone the stock market. This book has EVERYTHING!! From stocks to bond to life insurance it will teach you everything about money how to handle it and profit from it. I lost both my parents and had no one to go to for advice and couldn't afford to pay for it. I learned so much and so many topics are covered to say this book is comprehensive is a huge understatement. BEFORE YOU BUY A GET RICH QUICK BOOK BUY THIS BOOK!! YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE BASICS ABOUT THE MARKETS AND HOW THEY WORK OR YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING.

5 comments about Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets (Wiley Trading).

1. Ari Kiev's book Trading to Win might seem like just psycho-babble to some traders. That is odd, given that some of these same critics are devout followers of technical analysis, which premises that psychology factors firmly into market movements. Why then is it such heresy to believe that you can improve the performance of a trader by working on his psychology?

   It is not a strange concept to Steve Cohen, who hired Ari Kiev as a "trading coach" for his hedge fund S.A.C. Kiev, who was profiled in Jack Schwager's Stock Market Wizards , teaches that traders need to stretch themselves in the goals they set. They also need to eliminate the negative thinking that prevents them from reaching those goals. Much of Trading to Win is thus actually "common sense" (as is most psychology, it seems), but sometimes it is useful to hear someone reiterate sound principles.

   One principle for which critics have taken Kiev to task is his suggestion that traders should set or raise their profit goals, which seems like a veritable "no no" from a risk management perspective. The criticism misses the fact, however, that Kiev is really saying that raising your performance goals means raising your work ethic. What are you going to do to raise your game? Squeezing out extra percentage points of return requires getting onto the trading floor hours earlier (or hours later) than you normally would-and researching companies more assiduously on paper or by working the phones harder. Moreover, Kiev actually recommends stricter risk management through such time-tested techniques as understanding your reasons for each trade, as well as the setting of target entry and exit prices. He also wants you to figure out if fears and doubts are keeping you from cutting your losses and riding your winners.

   This book is clearly not for everyone; it is easily too "touchy feely" for traders concerned solely with the quantitative or more tangible aspects of trading. Kiev also tends to float heavily from topic to topic, often without a clear path. But for those traders who wonder how "fixing their heads" might result in greater success, Trading to Win is definitely worth a read.




2. This book is about developing the right attitude and relaxing. It can be applied to almost any risk taking endeavor or competative profession.
   
   The parts that profess to teach about trading per se are not useful. This book will not teach anybody anything about buying or selling financial products.
   
   It repeats a lot of the same stuff over but the real message is to chill out and get serious about performance. Be a winner, examine your losers and why you went wrong and vow to change for the better. Again, have the right attitude and approach and learn to control stress with breathing exercises and muscle relaxation. To be a good trader, one must learn to endure stress and not react to it just to releive it but focus on the trade and do what is right based only on the objective analysis. This is hard to do because it is pleasurable to close out a trade and avoid the stress of being in it.
   
   The book is useful in order to help one focus and work through stress. I imagine there are a number of self-help books that are similar in this regard. Nothing special.



3. 
   The Trading profession is a tough one because there is not 1 school that teaches it per say. So being only about 300 to 400 good books on trading. You need to get a bit from each and discard the rest.
   
   There are a few but very valuable pieces of information that can be applied in this book. Just because 80% of the content of a book does not apply to you does not make it bad , you have to be objective and open in your assessments.
   
   If you are a trader and want to be a Master Trader then this book is really for you.
   
   I personally only trade futures at the moment so all of the Stock examples did not really apply to me.
   But that does not make the book bad, there are little gems in there you will seem them sparsely around the book specially in Part 1 and Chapter 12
   
   Chapter 12 is worth the price of the whole book on its own !!
   
   At the beginning of the book there is some really good content on behaviour modification for traders the chapters at the start of the book are worth the price of the book in it self.
   
   No book is ever the perfect book for you unless you wrote it yourself. You need to get bits and pieces from here and there and make your own.
   
   If you like Mark Douglas's "Trading in the Zone" then you will love this book.
   
   This is an absolutely excellent book, but all of the goods are in 20% of the text.



4. This and his other book, Trading in the Zone, are a complete waste of time. Instead, read the books by Mark Douglas (he is not even trained as a psychologist) and Richard McCall if you really want something that will change your mental makeup towards trading.



5. Because it is unquantifiable and generally misunderstood by most traders and investors, psychology is the often overlooked intangible aspect of trading. Unlike the precise mathematical formulas used in technical analysis, we cannot easily reduce human behavior to a mathematical equation that can be plotted on a graph as a trend line or as a series of variables that we can examine in detail throughout history.
   
   That said, much current research in the social sciences is attempting to bring psychology more in line with mathematics for the precision that it gives to experimental methods. Mathematical methods are applied to behavioral science for the purpose of observing and comparing human behavior according to a set of strict numerical criteria - the only stable benchmarks that allow comparison of behavior from person to person and from time to time

5 comments about Stock Market Technique, No. 1 (Fraser Publishing Library) (Stock Market Technique).

1. This is a compilation of articles written in the early part of the last century. The stories are fun to read, but more important there are messages that will serve to make you money, and help to preserve capital. It is funny, there is a 1929 chart of GE that shows the same type of rise and fall that we saw over the past year with many of the must own stocks. I found that what was true 70-100 years ago is still true today.



2. This is NOT the book to get familiar with Wyckoff's specific trading techniques. It's a compilation of articles published in a newsletter that emphasise some basic principles of trading (cut your losses, let your profits run, your trading decisions should be based on market action, disregard news, etc.) and promote his other services. The message: if you KNEW how to trade you would make money. You will not find much more help in this regard. A telling example is the discussion of a figure chart of a stock where you are told that there were 10 different buy signals near the bottom and if you had bought the stock there you could have tripled your money. But there's no mention of where these signals occured exactly or what they are.

   I've read a lot about Wyckoff's technique from other authors and I know they work. I would still like to read about them from Wyckoff himself. I keep ordering his other books and hope I will find more specific information.




3. I picked this up last night and finished it today. The first few pages contain a list of Stock Market Maxims. Just getting the book, ripping the maxims out and posting them on your fridge or PC and throwing the book away would be worth 11 bucks. That not withstanding, the short stories in the book are fun to read and very practical in today's market. If you like market books, I am certain you will like this, if you want to increase your investment returns, buy the book and follow the tenants.



4. They say good things come in small packages and it is so true with this one. Good market wisdom never changes and everything in this book still applies today.
   
   For those of you who don't know Richard Wyckoff used to have a magazine called "The Magazine of Wall Street". In it he would have articles written to teach his customers about the markets and how to trade sucessfully. This book was a part of some articles originally written in 1933 and 1934. It is full of great tid bits that mean so much to sucessfull trading that you can't find anywhere else.
   
   He tells about market behavior and the difference between the way an amateur trades and a professional. Also discused is the way the professionals deceive the public with all their retoric. The emphasis is for the reader to learn on his or her own to make the best decisions without the influence of others. It is a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about investing or trading. I would call it a must read.



5. 
   A quick read on how Livermore prepared each day, the kind of stocks he traded and some of his methodology. I am a huge Livermore fan and this is a nice addition to the collection.