No comments about Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks (Angel Series).

5 comments about Short-Term Trading in the New Stock Market.

1. I just finished reading Toni's newest book, Short-Term Trading in the New Stock Market. I am happy to report that each chapter has given me helpful advice. I have been trading for five years, and even in the initial chapters, which talk to newer traders, I learned useful points and strategies that I had forgotten, or had not previously known.
   
   Toni teaches trading with a fast-paced writing style and a sense of humor that I appreciate. I particularly liked her chapters on ETFs: their origins, the benefits of trading and hedging with these funds, and where to find them. (She provides a list of the most actively traded.) Her discussion on market internals, meaning futures, TICK, TRIN, put/call ratio and VIX were very helpful to my day trading strategies.
   
   Unlike other trading authors, Toni keeps her ego out of the picture. And, she adds very useful information between chapters on behavioral concept that help keep your trading mindset clear and constructive. All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and have recommended it to my trading friends.



2. I read a lot of trading books and have been trading for quite a while. I am always searching for a better book and new ideas. While this book doesn't have any revelations, it does do a wonderful job of reviewing the basics in an easily digestive manner. The author even has some review questions at the end of each chapter to see if you have a good understanding of the material. I particularly like the way the author discusses her stock picks and tells you what she is looking at and her decision process. It helped me ask some different (and better) questions concerning my stock selection before I entered a trade. There are some intermediate level discussions of indicators but very little on system trading (which I am currently researching). All in all an enjoyable book.



3. Toni Turner has written an overall informative and fairly comprehensive guide to investing in the stock market. If you have read a lot of other investment books, you won't find a lot of new material in this book. But, as with most books on trading, there are almost always a couple of little gems hidden in the pages that justify the expense.
   
   This book is certainly a good 'primer' for anyone just getting into investing or who wishes to get past just sticking money in their 401K account. It is a good next book past "Investing for Idiots," and a good prerequisite before tackling a book like John Murphy's "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets."
   
   For those more interested in simple, long-term investing, I would recommend a book like Leslie Masonson's "All ABout Market Timing."



4. Most of the info on stock trading is full of the same thecnical analysis jargon that makes you lose a lot of times.
   
   Basically most tehcnical trading books tell you the same story but organized in different chapters using different words and charts as examples.
   
   [...]
   
   Understanding how to trade a rally is one of the most important aspects of trading, since for us traders it's all about the rally, either for shorting or going long.



5. I've just been introduced to the Investools.com course, took their 2 day training, finished their online training, and am still studying the subject.
   
   The title of this book described what I was looking for after the above activity and it proves to tie information together, plus provides direction and greater depth.
   
   I am a technical writer by trade and based on that, am amazed at the clarity and amount of detail Toni Turner packs into each paragraph. Because of that, this shouldn't be the first book to introduce you to the subject, but it should be among the first books you read. If you are already a successful, experienced trader, I'm not sure of its value unless you are switching from a "buy and hold" mold.
   
   My approach to this book is to do a 100% read-through, marking pages of particular interest, then returning to those pages of particular interest, along with other activities on Investools.com (which, itself, seems to be a worthy educational tool).

2 comments about Elliott Wave Principle: Key To Market Behavior.

1. This book is awesome, it teaches you a way of technical analysis that nobody else can even imagine. It implies that the markets are patterned, and that those patterns repeat themselves in all time frames, from 1 day to even 5 years or more.
   
   Elliott Wave consists of 13 basic patterns. These patterns are formed by waves and/or market movements. If you can learned to recognize this patterns you can make a lot of money by been able to identify the next move.
   
   Elliott wave analysis has rules and guidelines that will help you to know where to place your stop, how to recognize these patterns, how to make the correct wave count within these patterns, will give you the tools to predict price objectives and time frames for those price objectives, and a stop or a limit that will negate the whole thing if been wrong. The result is method that offers high probability trades that works the majority of the time if you are a discipline investor.
   
   This book alone won't be enough to make you a great trader, but it would improve your trading dramatically. One tip, you need to learn to validate those wave counts and/or patterns by using several technical indicators that should show certain divergences in certain faces of those patterns and/or waves. The combination of Elliott Wave analysis with traditional Technical Analysis beats any other form of analysis you can possibly imagine.
   
   In longer time frames, you need to combine those two with economic cycle theory. I like the Princeton Model. And see the charts and technical indicators in weekly or even monthly basis, and probably in logarithmic scale.
   
   Some said that Robert Pretcher was wrong by calling the market top in 2000. Well he wasn't, neither the S&P 500, nor the Nasdaq has regained their 2000 highs, in more than 7 years. And in real terms, as well as in gold terms, the DJIA is still below its 2000 highs.
   
   But indeed that doesn't matter to me, I am a position trader, an options position trader, I buy calls and puts, and create spreads, with time frames of two to four months. And believe me, the only way to win with options these way consistently, or at least, most of the time, and grow your money fast and quickly is by using Elliott Wave analisys. If you don't dominate this technique, stay away form options. If you do, be discipline, and trade only deep in the money options.
   
   Appling it in for real is a little more difficult than understanding it, and it could probably take several months to learn to do it correctly and to obtain good results consistently, that is assuming you are already a fairly good market technician and have several years of experience investing in the market.
   
   Well, it works for me, so I hope it would work for you too.
   
   Good luck.



2. This is a slightly technical (you can skip to the good stuff) explanation of the hightly rated Elliott Wave Theory for predicting direction and breaks in the stock market. Even if you are not into stocks the book is a good read to show how mathematical theory applies in everyday life. While researching a lecture to be given to gifted students back in the 90's I found a book published in 1964 that laughed at the theory outlined here. The '64 book dedicated a small paragraph to the theory and tossed out the statement to the effect, if one believed this theory, the stock market would have to be at a certain incredible level in the early 90's. A quick check of the market confirmed that it was!

5 comments about Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing (Financial Management Association Survey and Synthesis Series).

1. Wondering what Brealy & Myers or Sharpe left out? Don't expect your broker (or fund manager, excepting Richard Thaler) to fill you in. This book is a must read for any active (or passive) participant in the markets, or any other citizen who is affected by said markets. Meaning all of us.
   
   Shefrin provides a masterful exposition of the application of cutting-edge cognitive psychology to the behavior of retail and institutional investors, analysts, mutual fund managers, CEO's and even heavily-advised university investment committees. The result is the theoretical demolition of the efficient markets hypothesis in even its weakest form, and the related CAPM(s), catching up to their long-noted empirical failings. As it turns out the market does have a memory, and that's not just an anomaly any more. Not every trade is zero-NPV: trust the market price at your own peril. Think dividends are irrelevant? Think again.
   
   What we're left with is a fascinating account of how market participants actually behave: holding on to losers too long, trading too much and trading on "noise," and most alarmingly, undersaving for retirement. What is significant is that these phenomena are so prevalent that they can no longer be dismissed as irrational with the hope that "more sophisticated" money will magically correct the market. To the contrary, what Shefrin describes is proved to be the psychological norm; if you believe you're different, you're either very lucky or overconfident about your lack of overconfidence.
   
   One quibble, in an area that I have looked at before, is in Shefrin's discussion of takeovers. First, I found a bit of confusion between the question of whether the takeover premium should be tested by reference to the post-announcement combined value of both firms, or just the buyer. Since the buyer's CEO is initially fiduciary for just his shareholders, I see only the latter as relevant.
   
   More significantly, Shefrin does not provide any means to rigorously discriminate among his hubris hypothesis and other, more rationalistic theories, such as agency costs and private benefits. And his brief treatment omits many puzzling follow-up questions: if CEO psychology has the potential to systematically destroy shareholder wealth, what should we then conclude about the investors and analysts who allow them to get away with it? Just a governance problem, or is there yet another psychological story to be told?
   
   But the desire to delve further into the subject is just indicative of Shefrin's compelling and readable narrative. For bottom line types, I'm afraid the answer to your question is no, he doesn't explain how to get rich. But you'll surely do alot better with a single yellowing copy of Graham & Dodd than all the reams of abstruse, dogmatic journal articles ever spewed by the Chicago School.



2. If only you could bring yourself to ditch those losers from your portfolio, and hang onto your winners. If you can, you are unusual. Unprofitable habits afflict nearly all investors, beginners and pros alike, writes Hersh Shefrin in this intriguing study of the role of emotions in investing. Shefrin balances the jargon with plenty of real-world examples and wisely cautions you not to delude yourself into thinking that his tips will make you rich. Viewing investing through the prism of behavior finance, he analyzes emotionally-laden decisions made by private investors, money managers, bankers and other professionals handling stocks and various other forms of investments including options, foreign currency and futures. Shefrin offers juicy case histories, so his tour of behavioral finance is mostly enjoyable and useful. At times, though, the book bogs down in the author's attempts to legitimize behavior finance, a relatively new school of thought. For instance, he charges failed investors with committing "heuristic bias" or falling prey to "representativeness." That quibble aside, we recommend this intriguing tome to investment decision makers on any level. Whether you are running billions or managing a retirement account (which, as Shefrin notes, most people do badly), maybe this book will buffer you against emotional investing and pocketbook pain.



3. I am a behavioral economist with a deep belief in the notion that human decision-makers deviate in important ways from the scientific principles laid down in modern rational choice theory. There is no doubt but that very many investors hold erroneous notions of the dynamics of price movements, and having a correct understanding will, on average lead to better returns on one's portfolio. Sheffrin presents the evidence for this position in an interesting and accessible manner.
   
   Shefrin's main advice for investors is absolutely correct, and would improve the asset positions of many poor souls with idiotic notions of stock dynamics. His advice is that if you are not a gifted and dedicated stock expert, you should invest in a low-maintenance cost array of mutual funds, and above all, do not churn your stocks. It doesn't help to be smart, lucky, a stud with the girls, or blessed by God. Moreover, if you think you have one of the "gifted analysts" for a broker, you are to be counted as among the suckers who are never given an even break.
   
   Shefrin has another thesis which he presents with great verve, but which is on very shakey grounds. This is that "gifted stock analysts" can on average, significantly out-perform the market. He believes this MUST be the case if a significant fraction of investors are behaving irrationality. However, there is another possibility, which is that stock brokers as a group gain from the excessive churning that irrational investors permit or ask them to do, but that it is impossible to "beat the market" except by pure luck or by personally studying firm fundamentals and future prospects.
   
   Shefrin's data in favor of the "gifted analyst" is episodic and anecdotal, and there is plenty of data on the other side. For instance, in Malkiel's classic "Random Walk Down Wall Street", he relates the evidence that chimps throwing darts do as well as major brokerage houses. Sheffrin presents contrary evidence for a more recent period in which "gifted experts" outperform the random darts. New evidence, collected by Money magazine, shows that a group of experts did far worse than the darts in 2003. All of this evidence is spotty and anecdotal. The plural of anecdote is not data.
   
   I am not convinced by this book that the efficient markets hypothesis, applied to final returns to investors (after payments to stock brokers and other transactions costs), is not correct. I think the author makes a mistake taking so strong a position when the evidence is so weak on this account. I am certainly not convinced that Malkiel's analysis is in any way overturned by new evidence.
   
   However, if Shefrin convinces a few investors to act more sanely, he will have fulfilled an important social function.



4. So long as market investors are human beings rather than machines, market participants will be governed by emotion. The efficient market theory, as Warren Buffett states, works most of the time. But when unusual or exceptional news comes into play, a stock (and/or markets) nearly always overreacts.
   The best book I have found on investing is "The Intelligent Investor". There is a clear picture of what works and does not work in investing, and why. There is a fair amount of analysis of the behavior of market participants.
   Warren Buffett asserts that he doesn't have much use for what is taught in a typical college business class. As he points out, if professors understand stocks and markets so well, why are so few of them wealthy? People like Ben Graham, Buffett and Peter Lynch are not 'lucky'. They read a great deal, they have keen insight into what makes a stock go up and they are unafraid to buy when prices are low if prospects look good. I would prefer to emulate those who are truly successful rather than those who postulate about what may work.



5. I am currently enrolled in a masters program in International Business majoring in Finance (University Maastricht, The Netherlands (www.unimaas.nl) . For a course on behavioral finance, I had to use this book as a reference. Though it is not quiet a hard core finance book, it is useful to learn about real life examples from the corporate field and to see the contradictions with overall acknowledged assumptions on investors behavior and real life results.
   The book is easy and fast to read and hold lots of examples. It is a perfect book for people interested in finance, but I doubt the academic use of it (no offense to both the author and my course coordinator).

5 comments about 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success: Learn the Most Important Investment Techniques from the Founder of Investor's Business Daily.

1. That is WHY he is "plugging" his paper. You must UNDERSTAND his paper to USE his paper so he "PLUGS" his paper - more correctly - DISSECTS - his paper so you can more easily USE the information. To all the ingnoramus reviewers who denounce this book as a "Sales Pitch" have clearly not bothered to pick up and read the Investors Business Daily but are paranoid of being sold and snookered. Perhaps they've been had too many times. Sometimes its ok to be sold. If you're sold on sound princibles and solid information as in the information in this book and it's "plugged" paper Investors Business Daily by Mr. O'Neil (ranked 12 in in the top investors of all time) which he offers FREE for a MONTH home delivered daily wrapped in plastic. C'MON GUYS!!!



2. I tried this and it works most of the time! You have to follow all the rules to make it work.



3. This book isn't about getting rich quick. It takes time, study diligence and patience coupled with controlling ones emotions to become an excellent investor.
   
   William O'Neil, who started a successful financial paper known as Investors Business Daily, wrote How to Make Money in Stocks. Decade of research, critical thinking and common sense has helped O'Neil to create some very powerful ways of investing successfully. He melds both the technical and fundamental aspects of investing.
   
   Each of the 24 lessons in this book is provided in a chapter form. Just a few of the powerful lessons are: Follow a system Rather Than your Emotions (Lesson 3), How to Buy a Stock at Just the Right Moment (Lesson 9) How to Gauge the Stock market's Health (Lesson 12) and many more.
   
   I have read many books, magazines and articles on investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more over the years. O'Neil's ideas are some of the most solid and consistent I have found to apply to the stock market. They are easy to read and understand the basic...but like anything worth while...it takes years to be good. I have read three of O'Neil's books and have found rich ideas in all of them.
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking



4. Just finished "24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success" by Bill O'Neil, who happens to be the publisher of Investor's Business Daily. Consequently, the book is more or less an extended commercial for the paper -it is an investor's guide, but an investor's guide as applied to using Investor's Business Daily.
   
   However, there's a good balance of information here. If you can steer past the obvious bias, he has some good tips I'd like to try out some day. He presents a formulaic approach for success in the market - not too conservative nor too risky. It certainly makes good sense. And it's obviously worked well for him.



5. I read `The Successful Investor' and `How To Make Money in Stocks' by O'Neil. Both are good books for the beginning investor. However `24 Essential Lessons' is a big disappointment, it is nothing but a plug for O'Neil's newsletter the Investor's Business Daily. '24 Lessons should be given away for free to entice people to use Investor's Business Daily (IBD) instead of sold as a book. There is a plug for IBD on almost every page, often more then five times per page.
   
   Page 38 has IBD plugs 5 times:
   Only Investor's Business Daily gives you "Volume Percent Change"........
   
   For example, a stock showing a +356 volume percentage change in Investor's Business Daily stock tables indicates.........
   
   Additionally, Investor's Business Daily provides special screened lists daily which identify stocks with the greatest percentage rise in volume.........
   
   It's impossible for big institutions to buy a stock without it showing up in either Investor's Business Daily "Volume Percent Change" column in the stock tables .....
   
   Investor's Business Daily enables you to easily track the institutional elephants......
   
   Page 39 only has 2 plugs:
   Investor's Business Daily has another proprietary gauge that can be very helpful in indemnifying whether a stock being sold is being brought or sold......
   
   All you need to do is get in the habit of checking Investor's Business Daily Mutual fund section.......
   
   Page 40: 2 more plugs
   
   Page 41: 3 plugs.
   
   I can go on and on listing the pages IBD is mentioned on and how often.
   
   The ending of this book is dedicated to the advantages of using Investor's Business Daily. I'm writing this review because the author is taking advantage of people selling this book. He should be ashamed for himself.

1 comments about Bond Investing For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)).

1. If you are a neophyte who knows absolutely nothing about bond investing this is a perfectly good first book for providing an extremely basic overview on the subject. However, in my opinion there is not nearly enough information here to make you even barely competent as an investor.
   
   Although I have found some books in the 'Dummies' series quite valuable as a painless resource for learning new subjects, this one takes its title far too seriously and the author dumbs down the material to the point where too much of the 'meat' is missing.
   
   I have been investing in bonds for a few years but always felt that I was going about it half-blind, not understanding many of the vagaries of what makes one bond a better buy than another. I hoped that this book would clearly explain the various buzzwords and metrics used in the bond market. Unfortunately the author provides little depth and I feel that I'm really no smarter than I was before reading the book.

5 comments about You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits.

1. I don't think you can find the information and ideas presented in this book anywhere else. These ideas can come only from a smart investor with a long experience like Greenblatt.
   
   The book teaches you how to utilize special corporate events like spinoffs, mergers, and bankrupcies to make big profits in the stock markets. The ideas are very useful and supported by many real life examples.



2. Don't make my mistake. I avoided this book because of its title which makes it seem cheap and superficial. I finally decided to give it a try and I'm very glad that I did. Greenblatt is funny, direct, and easy to understand. His advice is practical that can be put to use immediately by investors at all levels. He actually "spoon feeds" a lot of this info to the reader which is rare. Of course no how-to book can completely do this and effort and time by the reader is absolutely required and essential to fully take advantage of this book from a financial standpoint. As Greenblatt points out this is good otherwise if investing were easy then there would be too many people competing with you and the profits would disappear.
   
   At the end of the book he also lists many other sources (newspapers, magazines, book, publications) where the reader can gain further knowledge. Even if you do not benefit financially from Geenblatt's book, it is still worth reading due to it entertainment value. It is delightful. From a practical standpoint this book is far better than The Little Book That Beats the Market also by the same author.



3. 1999 Fireside reissue of 1st edition (1997), 299 pages (of which 261 pages form the main body of the book).
   
   Despite the awful title, I really enjoyed `You can be a Stock Market Genius'. Greenblatt laces his (excellent) content with plenty of jokes, which I always think of as a somewhat risky approach: some readers who would otherwise appreciate the content will not like the delivery.
   
   By the time of publication, Greenblatt's investment firm had already achieved 50% compound annual growth for 10 years, so could write his book however he pleased. I like it when people don't need to write books for financial reasons - you get a better look at the author.
   
   Greenblatt's book reminds me strongly of Mohnish Pabrai's `The Dhandho Investor', which I read a few months ago. I don't think one should be particularly surprised, as they both belong in that tiny group of investors who have not just beaten the stock market, but have absolutely smashed it. The following summary points for `You can be a Stock Market Genius' could be used for either book:
   
   1. Concentrate your efforts on areas where bargains are likely to occur ("If you preselect investment areas that put you ahead of the game even before you start ... the most important work is already done.")
   2. Limit downside risk ("If you don't lose money, most of the remaining alternatives are good ones.")
   3. Load up on only a few best ideas ("...don't screw up a perfectly good stock-market strategy by diversifying your way into mediocre returns.")
   
   The second point, which is the same as the concept of `margin of safety,' works because it - unlike the world of analyst earnings forecasts - acknowledges the severe uncertainty that is reality. I particularly enjoyed Nassim Taleb's `The Black Swan', partly because the world he reveals ties in so well with the `value' approach to investing. Both good and bad large, unpredictable events occur more frequently than we expect. If you organise your investing (and your life) so that you are protected from some of the negative shocks, but left exposed to the positive ones, this is likely to serve you well.
   
   Pabrai focuses on distressed situations (what he calls `high uncertainty, low risk') and Greenblatt likes special situations (spin-offs, merger securities, etc). But the theme is the same: in order to get really good results you've got to be looking in areas other people are not.
   
   Greenblatt is willing to concentrate more than Pabrai, who simply limits his positions to a maximum 10%, to protect himself against error. But these are differences in style rather than substance. They both look for promising situations/ideas and only then do the necessary work. Both profess to avoid use of Excel spreadsheets (In 2006 Greenblatt was asked if he used spreadsheets: "I really don't know how to build spreadsheet models. But the good news is that you don't need spreadsheets to make money.") In other words, they keep it simple.
   
   Before he gets into the specifics of special situation investing, Greenblatt spends a chapter going over `some basics'. This short section of the book is either an excellent primer or reminder of the general requirements of a successful investment strategy - and I commend it to you without reservation.
   
   His book also contains some excellent advice about selling. It is something I have been thinking about a lot recently after reading Pabrai's `The Dhandho Investor' and Katsenelson's `Active Value Investing' - both of which make a strong case for the need to learn to sell in order to get significantly above market returns. The problem with this advice is that selling well is somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible (as various super investors, such as Greenblatt, Marty Whitman, Munger, etc. have said).
   
   Greenblatt's advice is very simple:
   
   "The bargain created or unmasked by the special corporate event - that's what draws me in. The quality and nature of the business - that's what usually determines how long I stay. So trade the bad ones, invest in the good ones."
   
   (You may note that this is essentially the same as Buffett's counsel, who wrote: "when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favourite holding period is forever.")
   
   I was struck by how often Greenblatt rammed home the importance of incentives throughout his book:
   
   "Insider participation is one of the key areas to look for when picking and choosing between spinoffs - for me, the most important area."
   
   His understanding of the critical importance of incentives is very wise and is surely one of the key reasons for his outstanding success (although I wonder if he still holds stock options in such high regard, now it is clearer that the lack of downside risk can encourage excessively risky behaviour?). Charlie Munger said this about incentives in `The Psychology of Human Misjudgement':
   
   "...almost everyone thinks he fully recognizes how important incentives and disincentives are in changing cognition and behaviour. But this is not often so. I think I've been in the top five percent of my age cohort almost all my adult life in understanding the power of incentives, and yet I've always underestimated that power. Never a year passes but I get some surprise that pushes a little further my appreciation of incentive super-power."
   
   It's also one of the reasons why I like Karen Pryor's book, `Don't Shoot the Dog,' so much. Munger pointed out in the same talk I quoted him from above, that what economists call `incentives' is the same as what psychologists call `reinforcement'. Reading an excellent book on training using positive reinforcement (like Pryor's) is thus extremely useful in improving your understanding and critically, practice of making use of incentives.
   
   So long as you're not the type who objects to a light-hearted approach, you're likely to find Greenblatt's book a lot better than the title suggests. Highly recommended.



4. I get up in the morning and walk my dog on the walking path just off the beach (Pacific Ocean adjacent). On my walk I always say hello to Mrs. Rothchild who is reading the Investor's Business Daily while sitting on her polished teakwood patio set. I jibe her that she should switch to the Wall Street Journal and get a real job investing like I do. After a quick but nutritious breakfast, I settle down to my state of the art computer where I E-trade my way to this lavish lifestyle I currently enjoy (takes no more than an hour!). After my "investing", I'll cruise PCH in my new convertible BMW and work on that driving tan. Thanks Joel Greenblatt!
   
   What the heck? Oh drat, the alarm went off. I was having that dream again; now I must get ready for the drive to Pomona in my '98 Daewoo. So kick me, I am not yet a stock market genius. Can I be if I apply the lessons of this book? Maybe... but I have neither the time nor the money. For the person with both it might still be a great idea to have a stock market genius walk them through the paces for a few months.
   
   On the merits of readability, Greenblatt dishes out the drudgery in a well presented and entertaining style. You get case studies, nifty chapter summaries, advice not to run through dynamite factories with lit matches, and a Gilligan's Island hit in the glossary (not bad for fourteen Yankee Dollars).
   
   P.S. All you reviewers and review readers out there, have any of you struck pay dirt following the advice in this book?



5. This book was copyright 1997! Old information, very confusing for 2008 (old references, which are in my opinion, now irrelevant). B. Hodgson

5 comments about Behavioral Finance and Wealth Management: How to Build Optimal Portfolios That Account for Investor Biases (Wiley Finance).

1. A very good book that summarises the key theories very clearly and in a very easily readable manner. It has been written for private investors and their wealth mangers although I'm not sure how many would actually delve so deep. As a professional investor dealing with currencies I also nevertheless found the book very useful. Clearly the same behavioral mistakes bedevil the professional market and the concepts cane easily be applied top a broader setting.



2. This book covers most of the important cognitive biases that affect investment decision. It makes a great read. The only thing that can be improved is on the aspect of "objective truth". When talking about bias, the author has to assume there is an objective truth out there that is ex ante and easily oberservable to everyone. While this may make it handy for his discussion, it could be misleading if one digs deeper into the market nature of uncertainty.



3. I'm hard to please. So when I say this book is superb, that's really saying something. It is a well organized reference of twenty cognitive and emotional biases, and I refer to it frequently. Yet it's engaging enough to read cover to cover. You will probably recognize yourself being described a bit more often than you might expect. But with an open mind you will learn how to mitigate the tempting errors of thought that have in the past steered you wrong. And most fun of all, you can use your new knowledge of these biases to take advantage in the marketplace, and all the way to the bank. Game on.



4. I am a graduate student of finance and I am now writing my degree thesis about implications of behavioral finance for individual investors. Pompian's book is a great inspiration for me. It is just a guide how to use results of behavioral finance research to be a better investor.
   
   What I mostly appreciate is a very deep description of 20 behavioral biases. Each of these chapter starts with General Description of the bias, Technical Description. Then there is a Practical Application, Implications for Investors, Research Review, Diagnostic Testing and a Final Advice. I have alredy read Shefrin's Beyon Greed and Fear and I must say that this book was kind of research review and survey. Pompian's book is very practical. Novice investors and also professional traders and portfolio managers will greatly appreciate this book.
   
   There are really a great bunch of practical advice. Pompian is just a great teacher. Every serious student of finance and every investor must read this book!!!



5. Especially in these crazy financial times, this is a good book to do some self-analysis through little quizzes and learn how emotions can take over from making good, rational financial decisions. While somewhat geared for financial advisors, it definitely is readable for the intelligent investor who can take the time to read and apply the lessons learned from this book.

5 comments about The Options Playbook.

1. This is by far the best book on Option plays. It doesn't get too fancy, and is more of a summary of the most commonly traded strategies.... all in a neat little book.
   
   You need to understand Options before getting this book, but it does explain it a little... but there are better books out there that do better explaining.
   
   I keep this book JUST for the plays. It's a quick reference that is easy to access.



2. this book is so helpful to the new option trader. It makes option trading and how it works very clear, awesome tool.



3. Before reading this book, I knew nothing about options. I had been trading stocks online for 5 years. The book is easy to read and understand. Options are still complex to me and I often refer back to this book. Brian Overby does a good job breaking down options trading into understandable parts.



4. The book is more of an introduction with some basic methods to trade, it does not go into much detail. If you are interested in trading options and what strategies to use for different scenarios, you are better off looking elsewhere.



5. This book enabled me to find Brian Overby's videos, created for the CBOE and I think still available on the CBOE website [...] and Youtube. While I enjoyed the book and learned from it, after watching the author's video classes I realized that the book is mostly a quick reference. For example, Mr Overby does a *one hour* video on bull call spreads--and he needs every minute of it. His book, on the other hand, has just one page of text on the same subject. So, find and watch the videos first, then keep the book as a reference on the properties of each strategy. One more thing: the tone of this book seems just right. None of the "let's all get rich now!" nonsense found in some investing books and options seminars, but also none of the ominous, exaggerated warnings contained in others.

5 comments about Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders.

1. I think this book provides some very relevant ideas for the mental preparation required to be a trader. Sure, it may be a bit repetitive but the author's believe in repitition for learning anyway. I'll re-read it again and again.



2. This book is really the one. Now I fell more confident when I strike the market. No more words than JUST PERFECT. I do recommend this book.



3. They have written the perfect book for the beginning trader or the trader who is struggling and needs to get back to the basics. They cover trading psychology thoroughly and offer an excellent introduction to basic trading systems.
   
   David Colletti
   Founder
   StockTradersHQ.com



4. This book is by far the most informative that I have read in a very long time. Most other books on the subject of trading offer only so much. However, O.V. goes much further in that he gives actual methods by which one can enhance his trading techniques many fold. I recommend this book to any and all - beginners and experienced traders. I only wish I had come upon this book years ago!



5. Wow. This book sure has received a wide range of reviews. I do respect that those who claim many years of successful trading didn't like it, but then I notice that some of them seem to despise it because it didn't tell THEM anything new or meet THEIR expectations for style.
   
   Then some of the one star reviews leave me wondering if we read the same book. I didn't see as much advertising as they did at all.
   
   I'm rather new to short term trading and have read a number of other books before this one. I thought that there was a lot of specific insights in the book clearly presented and some clear tactics and chart formations presented in the context of making trading decisions (as opposed to simply educating people on general chart analysis). However I come to the book understanding that it is only information, not a recipe and that I need to investigate and test out their ideas to see if they work for me.
   
   I appreciated the explanation of using Level II information. This is the first practical information I've been able to find on this subject (not saying it isn't out there, I just haven't found this kind of tactical explanation).
   
   It's true that you will regularly run across misspellings which shouldn't be in such a professional publication and their repetition of the phrase "the master trader" makes the authors seem a bit pretentious but then I've noticed that many authors on trading aren't English majors. That's OK with me if they can teach me to trade successfully.
   
   My biggest concern is that a number of the practical nuggets in the book are out of date. It was written before the crash of 2000. The market and the electronic trading landscape that they describe is 8 years older by now. Not all of the "big 5" companies they tell us to follow as indicators aren't the leaders they were back then.
   
   All in all, as a beginner mining for information of all kinds, I found some helpful information and advice in the book if taken in the context of other books, but would rather see something that is much more current.
   
   I highly recommend Van K. Tharp's "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" before, as a basic primer on investing/trading to put all the other books and courses in context.