No comments about Swing Trading For Dummies.

5 comments about Invest Like a Shark: How a Deaf Guy with No Job and Limited Capital Made a Fortune Investing in the Stock Market.

1. I read this book from cover to cover in three hours .....and it is a total nonsense. It is filled with the author's constant ramblings abt some shark attitude and stuff. He has nothing useful to say. Just one of those guys who got lucky in the dot com boom. The book does not have even one good concept or idea as to how one should trade . May be he is just interested in promoting his website etc. This kind of people should never be allowed to write books. They bring disgrace to the subject.
   Pls dont waste yoyr time and money.



2. The author has given good tips on buy and sell timing on the stocks. The theme is around preserving your capital and not making too much loss.



3. I have seen many reviews stating that this book "offers nothing new". I agree, however there is one important point that I would like to address about this book:
   
   Even though this book doesn't offer anything new, it offers for experiences individuals a path back on track. Before reading this book, I knew investing and often hedged, however over time I began be become emotional about the stocks. This book allowed me to get on track and I wasn't derailed no more.
   
   So if you are experiencing some bearish portfolio outcomes, it may be the book to read, even if you are experienced trader or investor.
   
   Newbies: It doesn't stop here!



4. This is a surprisingly mediocre book. And I say that as someone who respects James DePorre a great deal. When I finished the book (in about two hours, and I'm a slow reader) I found myself asking, "where's the beef?"
   
   There's not much beef here. It's very simplistic. It's a pedestrian read, which feels as if it were written in about a weekend, as if a publisher said, "hey Jim, you're popular now, why not write a book real fast and we can make some money?" No humor, no style, no real imagination.
   
   Again, I really respect RevShark. I have been reading his work for years on RealMoney. His columns are witty, insightful, and literate. But his book reads as if it were written for a first-grader, and a slow first-grader at that.
   
   I don't understand it. The only explanation I can come up with, was that it was written by someone else. Shockingly mediocre. Save the money on the book, and subscribe to RealMoney, and read RevShark's columns on the web site. It will be money much better spent.



5. This book taught me to trade what I see, not what I think. It deals with investing psychology or human emotions. In my opinion all results stem from our actions which in turn are based on our philosophy. People lie, market price movements do not. This book was very helpful to me as an investor in achieving my investment goals. The greatest lesson I learned from this book was sell discipline... It's like insurance, sell early and often. There is no reason to try to act like a mutual fund. Most investors squander their greatest advantage over WallStreet Whales....the ability to move quickly.I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about The Options Workbook: Fundamental Spread Concepts and Strategies for Investors and Traders, 3rd Edition.

1. This books explains most option constructions and how to calculate there potential profit. If you need to train yourself in spreads concepts, this training manual is for you. First the spread is explained and then some calculation examples are given. Don't expect a when to use these spreads manual. It's not there. This is a excellent book for training yourself in setting up all kind of option structures and know what the costs are and profits. Also all the Greeks are explained in detail, and the first manual that makes it understandable for me :-)



2. I am an amateur stocks and options trader. I have read, and continue to read, many books about the markets, about stocks, and about options. Options are more interesting to me than any other investing medium because of the ability to make quick gains and because of the innate limitation of losses. With so many options plays in existence, it's easy to get confused.
   
   I picked up The Options Workbook and it cleared away much of the mystery of options investing. This book outlines the most common options plays including spread concepts, butterflies, condors, and many other trading techniques. It contains a primer that teaches about the Greeks, and about how to read the fundamentals on potential investments.
   
   I didn't find a lot about chart reading technique n this book, but you can get that from other excellent books. Part of this book's strength is found in its quick charts that show, at a glance, exactly how to execute most options strategies for upward and downward moving markets. Since I have read this book, I have traded nothing but options and have grown my portfolio steadily. I'm no longer interested in buying stocks; they are simply too expensive and slow moving.
   
   Hope this helps.
   
   - Craig Nybo, co-author of Total Human: The Complete Strength Training System



3. I picked up this book in preparation for an interview I was having in the equity structured products desk at Morgan Stanley. Although I had taken a Financial Derivatives class at Wharton, this book helped explain the basics. It goes through all of the fundamental and basic strategies, as well as spreads. The value in the book is in doing the examples and working out the max gains, loses, break-evens etc. It seems basic but as you begin to put together more complex trades these exercises stay with you and guide your understanding. The book also does a decent job of explaining the Greeks and volatility. You won't come away ready to put on any overly complex trades, but you might be comfortable putting on your first call back spread knowing what your risk and reward profile is.



4. Haven't been able to put it down.The questions after each chapter really help you make sure you get the info.I can't wait to finish the rest of the book.The author has a great way to simplify the information.



5. Saliba describes each of his fundamental spread concepts and strategies in plain simple english, yet so concise, almost skeletal with such verve that I decided to construct a wall chart reflecting its contents.
   
   The wall chart now sits proudly on my wall ( in the presence of 3 other wall charts ) and shows the 7 categories of option strategies - Synthetics, Insurance, Directional/Neutral, Directional, Either Direction, Non Directional and Volatility and their sub categories etc.
   
   For this reason I think that Salibas book is perfect for the beginner.

5 comments about Bollinger on Bollinger Bands.

1. "Bollinger on Bollinger Bands" is a through explanation of the theory behind the analysis tool, and means for increasing its value. Examples are given in both independent use of the tool and for its use in concert with other measures. Codependent variables are discussed and reasonable cautions are stated. Multiple trading systems are discussed as well.
   
   However, I was sorely disappointed that the book made reference to "free" tools on the internet. Most of these were available only for a 30-day trial pre-purchase, and without stating the purchase price--before signing up for the trial. It was not possible to evaluate the value of the proposed trading methodologies by using what was stated to be "free" access. I felt mis-lead, at best.
   
   This is not a book for a beginner in stock technical analysis. It pre-supposed knowledge of several acronyms, which are sometimes explained later in the text (to be fair). It would have made a better read had all acronymns been defined and explained on their first occurence.
   
   I still found this to be a valuable text on the derivation and logic behind Bollinger Bands, and for that reason alone have gien it a relatively high rating. But don't expect to buy the book and directly apply it to trading without purchasing or developing some additional software, or in the alternative, doing a lot of pencil and paper work.



2. As a beginning trader, the concept of Trendlines, Stochastics, MACD, RSI, Moving Averages (Weighted, Exponential, Simple) can begin to all blend together. And of course, if you are paper trading, or even actually trading, then your Charting software has the capability to show the Bollinger Bands to help you make your trading decisions. John Bollinger does perhaps the BEST job of all the books I have read on nailing for the reader the statistical value of each type of 'methodology' along with which types of methodolgies are 'co-linear' in that they provide you with the same information. He shows you the power and value of Bollinger bands OVER other moving average technologies, and finally, helps you get a handle how to trade. He is direct, clear, and very helpful in conveying a broad and deep subject, along with also keeping the reading interesting. This book is not a beginners book. You should either already have lots of trading experience OR have read a number of books on trading. Many of his examples are for Stock Traders, but he also shows the power of Bollinger Bands in Commodities and Futures. I highly recommend this book for the beginner who is 'educating' himeself through books and has a number of books under his belt, OR for someone who is doing trading already, and wants to improve their game.



3. It is quite mind boggling that many traders don't have some kind of bands, channels, and envelopes incorporated into their trading plan. I'm a
   strong proponent of using 'absolute limit indicators' in trading, though I do not personally use Bollinger bands because I use different bands in my trading. Neverthless, this book contains many patterns which can certainly be transfer to other 'absolute limit' type of indicators.
   This serious book should be studied by all technical traders



4. This book wasn't all that bad, and there was some worthwhile trading information in it, however it could've have been half the size had the author not wanted you to know how "really really" smart he was. As a result of this it included a lot of waffle about unrelated history about non trading/investing matters. Still O'Neill did it as well, so did Sperandao.......why do guys who've made a few bucks in the market and turn themselves into authors confuse themselves with Einstein?



5. I bought Bollinger on Bollinger Bands yesterday and only wish I had bought a year ago when I began short term trading. The book is NOT just about Bollinger Bands, although there is nothing wrong with that. It contains several strategies and Technical Analysis techniques. I have played around with so many Tech Anal's and just get more and more confused. Because of this book, I am going back to basics, using Bollinger and Volume and go from there. I highly recommend this book...terrific for beginning traders and the more experienced. John Bollinger is gold, deserving of his master reputation.

5 comments about Generate Thousands in Cash on your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them: Third Edition.

1. The strategies in the book are attractive. However, there seems to be a constant underlining theme: "All the setups will work". There should be more material on considering the downside risk also. For example, in the strategy that focuses on stock with price less than 5 dollars, the trade example only focuses on the amount of profit a person can get when the stock increases in price. There is very little discussion how to manage the position when the stock price goes down.
   In summary, use more caution when using the strategies in the book.



2. I had began studying this book aside my trading courses and it has been very helpful filling some gaps, especially on technical analysis.
   The technical analysis part is very well done and worth the price of the book alone.
   This book will teach you also how to get out of trouble when things will not works as planned.
   When followed to the letter, the methods in this book are very reliable and successful.
   You need to be patient of learning very well what it is written and be sure you are really executing the trades with very good attention to detail.
   Probably you will need to study this book as you would do it at school.
   Do not rush in to trade just because it seems very doable, wait until you are sure you are executing precisely what is written on the book and that the stock you are going to trade, has the fundamental and technical requirement to apply the strategies of this book. that is very important.
   The only difficult part is to find the stock that meet the requirement, But once you find the right stock or wait for the right conditions on your preferred stock before placing the trade, it will work as planned.
   Some trades are pretty aggressive, and I advise to do them only when you have developed some experience.
   In any case a great book with great technical and sentiment analysis, some very interesting strategies and a lot of examples of real trades. It will teach you how to pick your stocks, how to find good entry and exit points, especially how to anticipate downturns in the market and your stocks and how to protect your gains.
   again, I suggest of being very carefully on following instructions in detail and picking the stock and the market trend that meet all the requirement described in the book.
   
   Of course, try of getting the third edition of this book because it is the most up to date.
   
   In any case, for those that are not fluent with "options" trading, I suggest you to read some other books or take courses that teach you the options instrument and its implications, in order to understand your obligations and risks in using options. another important thing that you need to get familiar with, and this book does not cover completely is, what i would call: "options behavior" (for not being technical), which sometimes may be quite unsettling to the inexperienced trader and scare him/her out of a trade even when nothing is wrong, but to the inexperienced trader may look like things are not working as they should.
   hard to explain in few words... you need to take your time learning.



3. In my quest to become a profitable trader I have read many books on both stock and option trading. This book is unique in that it combines trading stocks with practical option strategies to reduce risk and increase profits.
   Most books exclusive to stock trading tend to reduce risk using stop loss points.
   In addition to offering insights on how to place stops so you are not a victim of "stops running" and `Front running" traps by market makers (explained in the book); the author shows you how to use options to enhance profits and minimize losses when trading stocks. A chapter entitled "risk control and money management" discusses how to strategically place stops and how to use options as a risk reduction tool applicable to most trades in the book.
   On the other hand most books dedicated to trading options tend to discuss esoteric and theoretical aspects of option trading such as greeks and implied volatility etc . Rather than rehashing what is present in most books, the author focuses on simple option strategies that can be effectively used by the small stock trader to improve results.
   To me this was a breath of fresh air, since almost in every options book each author goes through the same things (greeks, implied volatility etc) in a different way. This book offered me what I was looking for. Strategies that are simple and practical and help me make money.
   There are many firsts in this book. It is the first to offer a practical and simple method to manage long term holdings as represented by convergence/divergence charts. Having heard about the potential explosive profits reaped from short squeezes, this is the first book I have seen offer a stepwise procedure to identify stocks with the potential of a short squeeze . The author also discusses a scan to find stocks reversing from a bottom that he uses to identify low risk trades. He then goes through the process step by step to show you how to narrow down candidates to find profitable trades.
   My favorite Chapter is the one entitled "Tricks of the Trade" where the author discusses how to play different trading strategies based on his practical experience in the market.
   As another reviewer mentions this book deserves multiple readings and constant reference due to the practical and innovative concepts it offers.



4. This probably has to be the most valuable book I've bought to date on share/options trading. Maybe not a lot of new info for the "experienced" options trader, although it may be a reminder even to them of how truly effective certain strategies can be... especially with relatively little risk. But I would say a MUST-HAVE book for anybody else and especially for those considering a start in options trading.
   
   It's a book that gets the point across of ensuring you're getting paid FIRST, when entering a trade, and not just hoping that you make money later.
   
   Here is a book that goes beyond just the theory and ideas repeatedly covered in other books. The tools and methods suggested may not be new, but the concepts are certainly eye-opening, well described, and certainly achievable. It's more a book on how to EARN AN INCOME (more than capital growth) and how to TIME your trade/adjustments-to-trade to achieve this most profitably.
   
   The greatest benefit I gained from this book was that it gave plenty of suggestions and ideas on how to salvage a bad trade, using strategies such as covered-calls, writing puts, and collars (to name the main strategies). He also does a great job describing how to "fine tune" his techniques, by using certain indicators to better time entry and exit points, as well as going through how to deal with the number of possibilities of a position nearing option-expiration dates or if a position was to adversely/unexpectedly move against you before then.
   
   His techniques though are not all about salvaging any "bad" positions still held, but also useful in entering a new trade and maximising profits and reducing risk, through the use of selling options... and insights on how to monitor and profitably ADJUST those positions so as to maximise your returns by the time you exit the trades.
   
   The best thing though about the book is that he uses real examples and goes through how to handle a number of possibilities (negative outcomes as well as positive). One truly begins to understand a trader's thought process and mentality before and after entering a position, by going through his detailed examples.... and it's reassuring that the results claimed can truly be achieved using strategies and means that are readily understandable and available.
   
   The only negative(s) I have about this book, is that Samir doesn't go into the "finer" points about short-selling options and money management and could make somebody feel too overconfident and not appreciate ALL the risks involved. He eludes to them towards the end of the book but these very important points can easily be glossed over by the unwary reader. A lot of the examples he provides are stock/option positions in the tens of thousands... not so risky if you have an even larger starting capital, but potentially very risky if it's smaller and brokerage also begins to have en effect too.
   
   For example one would need to: clarify how much option collateral is necessary to open a particular position, take into account brokerage, take into account "slippage" between ask/bid prices, be prepared for and have a plan to deal with an increase in implied-volatility (something not touched on at all). All these and more, will determine one's starting-off capital and how much risk one is prepared to take per position.... Determining individual risk isn't covered very well in this book, thereby making these strategies and returns, to appear deceitfully "easy".
   
   Finally remember it's a percentage game, and it's very easy while reading his book, to get too carried away with the "tens of thousands" of profits one can make through his strategies... these returns are only possible on large initial positions... the percentage returns though will remain almost constant.
   
   Despite this negative feedback, I still think that the book deserves 5 stars, purely on the excellent information provided. Strategies, their execution, and profit returns, are truly realistic and within the means of most people... provided one has an adequate starting capital and sound concepts of money management



5. I do not usually write reviews but I felt compelled to write one on this book since it proved to be invaluable in the recent down market.
   There is one chapter I found extremely useful for long term holders , namely chapter 14 titled "Do This Every Week and Never Lose Money in The Market". At first I felt that this is too much of a blanket statement, however, after I studied the real examples the author gives I decided to apply it to my long term holdings. This technique requires that you perform a couple of simple calculations each week on every stock. The final value is then plotted as one data point for each stock on a specific chart paper then the weekly data points are connected. To my surprise the negative divergence between the C/D indicator described in the book and price alerted me to the potential collapse of two of the financial stocks I hold. My first inclination was to ignore the warning especially considering the apparent name brand and stability of these companies .After reading the examples again in the chapter and remembering how companies like Enron and others collapsed I decided to get out. Within few weeks those stocks with many other financials literally fell off a cliff. In this sense this one chapter saved me thousands of dollars and the little time and effort I spent plotting data every week was certainly worth it.
   Although the author explains step by step the calculation procedure, as well as normalizing and plotting the data on the chart, I recommend, if he happens to read this, to put out a CD with a program that can automatically plot such data. Doing this will allow investors to back test data and see with their own eyes the utility of this concept and thus will be more likely to use it.
   Another valuable insight is presented in the parameters used to assess market trend. The author combines volatility, short interest and a timing indicator to determine whether the market is likely to go higher or lower. The past few months these indicators pointed to a weak and deteriorating market with rallies likely to be short lived.
   I am in agreement with other reviewers that the unique combinations of technical indicators used and trading concepts in this book are easy to follow especially since they are supported by real stock examples. A word of caution, however in regards to expecting to use this book to trade complex option instruments such as butterflies, condors etc.. The author says in the introduction on page xvii that the book is not intended as a comprehensive options trading book detailing the many complex option strategies. His goal as he states it is "to use simple but effective options strategies in combination with stocks to enhance profits and control losses".
   I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn effective and practical money making and income generating tools.

5 comments about Exchange-Traded Funds For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)).

1. Reading this 338-page book will make you a very intelligent ETF investor. Whether or not you will be successful depends on you. Russell Wild, the author, provides a solid, entertaining, and comprehensive analysis of ETFs - the latest Wall Street craze. ETFs have grown to over $400 billion in assets with over 438 ETFs in existence.
   
   Wild begins with the history of ETFs. Then he compares ETFs to stocks and mutual funds including the tax implications of selling ETFs, and the differences in annual expense ratios. A comparison to closed-end funds would have also been helpful, since many investors are not familiar with that useful investment category.
   
   One chapter introduces the need to open a brokerage account to buy and sell ETFs, and then focuses on the major firms offering them. Next, the author delves into the riskiness of ETFs, how risk is measured, and discusses beta and correlation. Many investors will learn a great deal about risk in this chapter, which they often neglect in making investment decisions.
   
   The author has multiple chapters on the basic ETFs, including large and small caps focusing separately on value and growth, and then reviews sector ETFs, REIT ETFs, and commodity ETFs.
   
   In one of the closing chapters, Wild provides sample ETFs portfolios for different risk levels, suggest that buy-and-hold is the way to go, and then provides a few exceptions to that approach. He also includes a chapter on using ETFs in retirement plans, as well as has chapters on the 10 most common questions about ETFs, and the 10 biggest mistakes investors make.
   
   Wild includes a 12-page appendix from www.etfguide.com that contains a listing of 300 ETFs by broad categories, their name, ticker symbol, expense ratio and exchange. Since there are now 438 ETFs, this appendix is out-of-date and useless, wasting twelve pages. The reader can go directly to the website to get the latest listings.
   
   Another appendix contains a cross section of ETF and other useful websites. Another excellent website to add to his list is www.etfscreen.com, which provides current short-term performance data after each day's market close on all the ETFs. The 6-page glossary of terms and the 14-page index all provide helpful information
   
   In conclusion, this is simply the best introductory book on ETFs. The author provides many useful tables, charts and diagrams to bring home his key points. For those investors looking to actively trade or invest in ETFs, or are searching for profitable back-tested strategies the next book they should buy after this one is Marvin Appel's Investing With Exchange-Traded Funds Made Easy (see my review of this book on AMAZON). If investors/traders want to use a simple relative strength approach, then they should consider David Vomund's ETF Trading Strategies Revealed paperback recently released.



2. Mr. Wild is an entertaining writer, who breaks down what is appropriate for small, medium and wealth investors. My only wish is his chapter on sample portfolios were more detailed. I would have liked to see sample portfolios optimized for cost, risk tolerance, equity only and for those nearing and in retirement. Vanguard should consider giving away this book out to anyone opening an account with them, given how much he repeatedly triumphs Vanguard's nearly universal low fees!



3. excellent book for people who know less than nothing about exchange traded funds. I found it very helpful with one or two areas not covered by this book. It does give you the basics to understand books that a weightier on the subject.



4. I've been in the ETF 'game' for awhile now and have read quite a number of books on investings, ETFs, finance, and the whole lot. As always, the Dummy series does an excellent job in explaining what might be complicated for some folks in an understandable and fun way. The author does a superb job with cutting through the bull of the bear n' bull pundits and giving you very real and very good advice. This should be your first book to read if you are considering ETFs - then you can take on more detailed and convoluted volumes. Good job!



5. PROS
   - enjoyable writing style, easy read.
   - author's knowledge.
   - author provides specific reviews of many ETFs.
   - much additional information on financial management, beyond ETFs.
   
   CONS
   - the author carefully builds a solid case for buying ETFs, but does not adequately address why someone would buy an EFT over a low cost index fund held in a retirement account.
   
   - for some readers (like me), there needs to be more technical discussion of how ETFs are structured and how they operate, as opposed to describing ETFs merely by their benefits and roles in a portfolio.
   
   - the author's case for ETFs does not address one serious drawback of ETFs: difficulty of conducting automatic dollar cost averaging (DCA); of course, this is possible to do transaction-fee-free (or nearly so) at some brokerages, but ETFs require trading commissions and you have to conduct DCA yourself, as brokerage typically will not buy stocks (or ETFs) on an automatic schedule.

5 comments about Investing the Templeton Way: The Market-Beating Strategies of Value Investing's Legendary Bargain Hunter.

1. The Templeton Way is possibly the best book on stock investing that I've ever read. Between this and One up on Wall Street, one will receive the insights need to invest in stocks successfully. One thing that sticks out to me is the simplicity of thought and wisdom that comes from the pages. If you are serious about strengthening your skills as an investor, this book is for you.



2. If you really want to read this book, borrow it from the library. It's not worth owning; frankly, it's not worth reading either.
   
   It certainly does not compare to One Up on Wall Street or any of the offerings of Peter Lynch. The best part of this book is the foreword by John Templeton; however, there is truly nothing worth reading after that.
   
   The style is engaging; the content is anemic. Sure, there are lots of anecdotes about the highly successful investing style of Sir John and his penurious predilection--nothing new there; his value investing style is well known and documented. There's nothing really valuable in the anecdotes that he provides. If what is written is novel, perhaps the ready shouldn't invest directly in common stock!
   
   Overall, a disappointing book, but I am sure it was a nice present for Uncle John.



3. I bought this book hoping to learn more about how to invest in foreign stocks since Templeton was known for that. Unfortunately other than a few simple things like checking to make sure a government's debt is no more than 25% of GDP, there were very few specifics. The author presents a couple of examples where "Uncle John" took advantage of distrust in foreign markets (like investing in South Korea during the Asian financial crises) to make great investments, but doesn't go enough into enough detail to be of any real benefit to anybody.
   
   The book is more about the very basics of being a value investor and the attitudes needed to be successful in investing (ie, don't follow the crowd, buy low P/E or low PEG stocks, diversification). But even that is presented in somewhat of a haphazard way compared to other books, such as Peter Lynch's books or some of the books about Warren Buffet. Chapter 6, "No Trouble TO Short The Bubble", is not much more than a recount of the tech wreck and an admonishment to people who bought tech stocks at high P/Es. The main points of the book could have been made in half the pages. Only the last chapter on China was interesting.
   
   I gave three stars because this would be an ok book for a beginning investor, but for an intermediate or advanced investor this in not much more than a rah-rah book about value investing and is more like one or two stars.



4. I was very exited to find a Investment book on John Templeton investment strategies. But after reading this book I am very disappointed. This does not mean I disagree with John Templeton strategies. The main problem is with the structure of this book. To me, author seems to be very confused whether he wants to write Templeton biography, his strategies or history of countries which Templeton used to cover.
   
   To give you an example, chapter 10 runs into 20 pages detailing China's economic and political events. It has got just three main messages. Buy stocks in countries 1) with high savings rate 2) trade surplus 3) and high profits attracts competition.
   
   So If you have patience to read 268 pages, which could well be condensed into not more than 100 pages, this is a good book. I have given it two star, because I do not appreciate anything which waste time.



5. Templeton was truly one of the greatest investors of all time. This book does give you insight into his thinking and methodology. So it should be a great book since there are very few books about him. However be warned the writing is just horrendous. I never cared about the writing style of a how to book, but this one is just terrible. Extremely hard to keep you interested, as if a 11 year old wrote this. It repeats the small irrelevant points as if it was the greatest discovery ever. It is just very annoying to read. Still I did learn from it. It explained that Templeton used bottom up approach to pick countries, if he found many companies to buy in Japan then he picked that country (He did not look at Macro factors and then decide to pick stock in that country)It gave good examples about how not to follow the crowd into hot markets and simple pointers like look for low P/E's, and use diversification unless you are right 100% of the time. But it was truly very hard to read.

5 comments about Investing with Exchange-Traded Funds Made Easy: A Start-to-Finish Plan to Reduce Costs and Achieve Higher Returns (2nd Edition).

1. The book covers ETF for investors - new or not - and does a very good job at explaining risk and volatility. From my point of view, it's more than just ETF and "how to", but also a good background on historical behavior of markets and a review of "well known facts".
   
   For example, read the following excerpt from page 69:
   "Since the start of 1941 - a period of 65 years - there have been 35 market corrections of 10 percent or more in the S&P 500, representing one correction every 1.9 years on the average..."
   
   Conclusion page 70:
   "Identify the worst period for each of the investments you are comparing..."
   
   and a question (page 70):
   "What if your investment was not around during a bear market?" (like the new ETF's offered)
   
   In addition, there are data tables and graphs (for the ones inclined to look at hard data).
   
   By the way, if you assume that investing in ETF's is superior to a mutual fund investment, think again. See page 22:
   "As already discussed, ETF share prices are sensitive to the balance between supply and demand - a risk absent from regular mutual funds.
   ----
   "The result is that at the time you are most anxious to sell, you might not be able to get a fair price (relative to the value of the underlying shares) as you thought you would."
   
   All in all, a good reading on markets and new investment vehicles like ETF's.



2. Not as clear or as useful an introduction as the 'Dummies' series book on ETFs, but a good additional introduction if you have no knowledge of statistics and time-series etc, and want a little more detail patiently explained to you.
   
   If you already know basic statistics and correlation, you don't need this text - as the explanations are rather long-winded and, at times, irritating.



3. I read this book over the Christmas holidays and found it very helpful. It is one of the best books on investing that I've read of late. The best part about the book is that it gives you some guidelines on how to develop a diversified portfolio. The author gets a little long-winded in some parts, but he gives you a good idea of what to look at in terms of trends and sectors of the market to get into. I appreciated the list of Web sites he provided.
   
   I found the book very readable, but I would not recommend it to a novice investor. Overall, this is a very good book for an intermediate/advanced investor and it encourages using the Internet to track price movements. Bear in mind that the author assumes that you have the time of day to get on the Internet and track prices in order to observe trends, which may be profitable. This is a book for those who can devote some spare time to investing on their own. If you don't have the time or energy, buy a bank CD and call it a day.



4. Like other Appel books, this one is too heavy on fluff and not enough on the real thing: solid strategies. There's also way too little discussion on international ETFs, esp. given how such ETFs account for a large percentage of all ETFs out there in the marketplace. I also have doubts about the buy-and-hold strategy; after all, one can easily have done that with mutual funds.



5. Marvin Appel does a very thorough job covering ETFs. His book is surprisingly wide-ranging. On the one hand, he explains some very basic concepts, for example explaining a bid-ask spread. On the other, he gets into the sophisticated details of ETF composition. This book is a like a small ETF encyclopedia. Well done!

5 comments about The ART of Trading: Combining the Science of Technical Analysis with the Art of Reality-Based Trading (Wiley Trading).

1. Never miss an opportunity to refine your craft. If you are an active/interested trader this is a must read.



2. This book is comprised of really good trading fundamentals and also some outside of the box trading concepts that will not only benefit the new trader, but the veterans as well. The book serves as a companion to the ART trading software, which by the way is one of the best trading software packages available at any price.



3. I have read this book and the accompanying video. Both were well-organized and easy to understand. After reading the book, the DVD was very easy to follow. I've been trying to educate myself on the tools needed to be a more active trader. Given the events of the past month on the stock market, it was clear to me that my current method of buy-and-hold was missing some very important components. I have started my 30-day trial period and will be paper-trading. Now that I have the software, it's sure easy to see the points where I SHOULD have gotten out or gone short on the stocks in my portfolio.



4. Worth the read. Whether you ever get their software or not, the sections on trade sizing and money management are worth the cost of the book. Additionally, you can get a trial of the software for FREE if you purchase the book. Seems like a great deal to me!
   
   JCM



5. I've always been a big fan of McDowell's money management approach and his book "A Trader's Money Management System" A Trader's Money Management System: How to Ensure Profit and Avoid the Risk of Ruin (Wiley Trading) -- but his market calls are equally impressive.
   
   Listened to McDowell on the Vince Rowe radio show, [...], on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 -- and McDowell told the listeners that his Elliott Wave and ART software analysis clearly was showing a 1,000 point decline in the immediate future. And, sure enough, the following Monday the market plummeted right through the entire week -- causing the largest decline in market history. WOW -- that was impressive to me. Plus, back in 2000 he called for the technology bust as well.
   
   Another great market technician, Larry Pesavento, who wrote "Trade What You See" Trade What You See: How To Profit from Pattern Recognition (Wiley Trading), using a different technique combining Astrology and pattern recognition, also made the October 2008 call.
   
   You certainly want to buy McDowell's book and learn how to listen to the market by using the ART software and technical analysis and see where it is going. Technical analysis and the ART software has helped me tremendously in doing just that, plus I'm always listening to McDowell and Pesavento -- which also keeps me on track.

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