As a trader for 25-plus years, David Stendahl takes you inside his library, giving you insight into his personal favorites and a wealth of knowledge. David’s career includes working as a stock broker, options analyst, newsletter writer, software developer, educator and portfolio manager. All of the books in this library reflect his personal interests in the financial industry. This financial library categorizes each book to help you hone in on topics that will help in your continued education.
- All
- Alternative Investments
- Basic Intro
- Behavioral
- Commodities
- Cycles
- Favorites
- Futures Markets
- History
- Options
- Patterns
- Portfolio Allocation
- Reference Guide
- Systems
- Technical Analysis
- TradeStation
- Trading
- Trading Code
Full Title: Alternative Assets and Strategic Allocation: Rethinking the Institutional Approach
Author: John Abbink
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $85 Hardcover / 509 pages
Cover Notes:
An insightful guide to making strategic investment allocation decisions that embraces both alternative and conventional assets
In this much-needed resource, alternative and portfolio management expert John Abbink demonstrates new ways of analyzing and deploying alternative assets and explains the practical application of these techniques.
Alternative Assets and Strategic Allocation clearly shows how alternative investments fit into portfolios and the role they play in an investment allocation that includes traditional investments as well. This book also describes innovative methods for valuation as applied to alternatives that previously have been difficult to analyze.
- Offers institutional investors, analysts, researchers, portfolio managers, and financial academics a down-to-earth method for measuring and analyzing alternative assets
- Reviews some of the latest alternatives that are increasing in popularity, such as high-frequency trading, direct lending, and long-term investment in real assets
- Outlines a strategic approach for including alternative investments into portfolios and shows the pivotal role they play in an investment allocation
Using the information found in this book, you’ll have a clearer sense of how to approach investment issues related to alternative assets and discover what it takes to make these products work for you.
Related Books:
Full Title: The Trend Following Bible: How Professional Traders Compound Wealth and Manage Risk
Author: Andrew Abraham
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
There is no easy way to make money in today’s markets. If you’re looking for get-rich-quick advice or the holy grail of trading, the only thing you’re really doing is wasting time and money. In order to truly excel at this difficult endeavor, you have to work hard, stay focused, and follow a method that will put the odds of success in your favor.
Nobody knows this better than author Andrew Abraham—a commodity trading advisor with over eighteen years of experience using trend following techniques to compound wealth and manage risk. And now, in The Trend Following Bible, he shares valuable insights, from the perspective of a professional who trades for a living, of what you need to know and internalize to become a consistent and successful trend trader over time.
Written with the serious trader in mind, this unique guide skillfully puts trend trading in perspective. It discusses the development of a robust trading plan, which is applicable to all time frames and markets, details how to manage the inherent risks of trading, and reveals how important patience and discipline are in order to see your plan through.
Along the way, Abraham explains the psychology behind successful trend trading, provides practical examples of traders who have applied it, and addresses the underlying principles you’ll need to know in order to make this approach work for you—from trading the best markets, betting small, and using stop-losses to trading with the trend, cutting losses, and avoiding over trading.
Trend trading is a journey filled with ups and downs. But by taking the ideas found here, and applying them to your own personality and risk tolerance, you’ll discover what it really takes to capture trends and make money with them in the long run.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Beating the Business Cycle: How to Predict and Profit From Turning Points in the Economy
Authors: Lakshman Achuthan & Anirvan Banerji
Publisher/Date: Crown Business (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 208 pages
Cover Notes:
How can you make wise decisions about your company and your personal future when you have no idea where the economy is headed?
The answer is, you can’t. But you can learn how to accurately predict turns in the economy so that you can see the road ahead. And Beating The Business Cycle shows you how.
In Beating the Business Cycle, Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji, the directors of the renowned Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) show how anyone can predict and profit from the inevitable booms and busts of the economy.
Why should we believe them? Because while so many economists and financial gurus have failed to predict recessions in the past, ECRI’s forecasts are known for being uncannily accurate. The institute successfully predicted the U.S. recession of 2001 many months before the economists did; the 1990 recession and later recovery; and most recently, the weak U.S. recovery in 2002. ECRI is in constant demand by corporate America and the media. It is the “secret weapon” of companies from Disney to DuPont, the major fund managers, and many central banks.
Beating the Business Cycle is the first book to reveal how decision makers at all levels—managers, small business owners, and individuals—can see into the economy’s future when making key decisions. Should a large company search out new clients and build new factories or stores, or should it consider cost cutting and layoffs? Is it the right time for you to splurge on that luxury vacation or addition to your house, or would it be more prudent to cut back on big expenditures and save money for a rainy day?
Written in an easy-to-understand, accessible style, Beating the Business Cycle takes the guesswork out of deciding which of the hundreds of economic indicators to trust and which ones to trash. It will give you the tools and confidence you need to make the right decisions at the right times—even when the rest of the investing and business world would persuade you otherwise. Whether you are a corporate manager or the owner of a small business, whether you have your money invested in stocks or in your home, Beating the Business Cycle will give you the edge you need to trump the competition and stay ahead of the crowd.
Full Title: Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets
Author: Colin Alexander
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $65 Hardcover / 266 pages
Cover Notes:
In just a few years, futures trading has grown from a specialized area to a major sector that is attracting pension funds, hedge funds, and other capital pools. Technological advances have led to increased globalization and around-the-clock trading, which has generated huge volumes that can be traded at minimal cost.
In Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets, expert stocks and futures advisor Colin Alexander explains how to make money in all market conditions. He shows you how to set up monthly and weekly charts with indicators that determine which markets may be worth trading. Then he shows daily and intraday charts tell you when to pull the trigger and get into a trade and stay until market action generates an exit signal.
With Alexander’s proven approach to evaluating markets, you’ll learn how to avoid high-risk and marginal trades without sacrificing the high-potential ones. And, you’ll see how informed applications of today’s most effective indicators-including MACD, moving averages, stochastics, and Bollinger Bands-can help identify markets with the potential for extended moves.
Through a focused examination of how money determines markets, Timing Techniques for Commodity Future Markets shows you how to:
- Define a trend
- Interpret who trades what and how much
- Set stops and get out of trades
- Fine-tune short-term trading
Along with expert advice on such fundamental practices as building charts and reading candlestick charts, Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets provides an insider’s edge with rare information on the best chart patterns for all time frames, cyclical and seasonal forces and price rules for knowing when to pull the trigger on a trade. To illustrate real-time use, the Alexander includes two revealing case studies–one based on a prospective long position on gasoline and one based on a short position in copper.
Stendahl Comment:
Well beyond the basics this book covers a lot of trade related information in only 250 pages. I’d suggest this book for traders looking concise and distilled information before tackling full books on specific topics. In the end … Timing Techniques offers traders a major time saver as it covers topics with enough detail to get them started in the correct direction.
Related Books:
Full Title: Investing in a Secular Bear Market
Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher/Date: iUniverse Star (2005)
Retail Cost/Pages: $16 Softcover / 142 pages
Cover Notes:
How to Invest in a Secular Bear Market is a sequel to Alexander’s 2000 book Stock Cycles, which forecast the start of a secular bear market, a lengthy period of poor investment performance. Alexander describes the structure of a secular bear market and explains why they happen. He then shows what an investor can expect from this secular bear market over the next 5-10 years and provides some investing strategies.
Stendahl Comment:
If you are an investor or trader you had better know the difference between a secular market and a cyclical market. Michael Alexander’s books (see below) do a superb job explaining the different cycles associated with the stock market. You can’t trade off the information but you can insure that your most lickly on the correct side of the dominate trend.
Additional Reading:
- Stock Cycles: Why Stocks Won’t Beat Money Markets Over the Next Twenty Years by Michael Alexander
- The Kondratiev Cycle: A General Interpretation by Michael Alexander
- Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles by Ed Easterling
- The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles by Jeffrey Hirsch
- Super Boom by Jeffrey Hirsch
- The 17.6 Year Stock Market Cycle by Kerry Balenthiran
Full Title: The Kondratiev Cycle: A generational interpretation
Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher/Date: iUniverse (2002)
List Cost/Pages: $26 Paperback / 314 pages
Cover Notes:
Michael Alexander extends his analysis of cycles in the stock market to the last seven centuries of Western social, political and economic history. Alexander presents a series of conceptual models for the Kondratiev economic cycle over time and shows how they describe the interaction between economic, social and political cycles. Emphasis is placed on careful empirical demonstration of the reality of these cycles. Alexander then weaves these cycles together showing that they are deeply related to yet another cycle, the generational cycle identified by William Strauss and Neil Howe. This synthesis is used to project political and economic trends over the next twenty years.
Stendahl Comment:
If you are interested in leaning more about the Kondratiev cycle … this is the book to read. The book is well written, researched and documented. Enough said.
Additional Reading:
- Stock Cycles: Why Stocks Won’t Beat Money Markets Over the Next Twenty Years by Michael Alexander
- The Kondratiev Cycle: A General Interpretation by Michael Alexander
- Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles by Ed Easterling
- The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles by Jeffrey Hirsch
- Super Boom by Jeffrey Hirsch
- The 17.6 Year Stock Market Cycle by Kerry Balenthiran
Full Title: Stock Cycles: Why Stocks Won’t Beat Money Markets Over the Next Twenty Years
Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher/Date: iUniverse Star (2000)
Retail Cost/Pages: $15 Softcover / 216 pages
Cover Notes: For most Americans, a 401k plan is their first exposure to investing. Many of us are relying on the stock market to provide for us in our retirement yet at the same time, most of us are afraid of the stock market. It’s a valid concern. How can something so important to our financial future be so completely unpredictable? When Michael Alexander first started investing in the stock market, he noticed that few analysts seemed to have much knowledge of what the market has done in the past. While no one can give precise answers to questions about the future of the market and be right all the time, Alexander feels that it’s possible to gain an understanding of the future of the stock market by studying its past.Analyzing years of historical data for patterns of behavior that might repeat in the future, Alexander provides strong statistical evidence for a cyclical pattern in the stock market. These Stock Cycles show that long periods of poor stock returns have always followed long periods of good returns. Are we in for good times or is the party over?
Stendahl’s Comment: A quick read that goes into a lot of detail about secular bull and bear cycles. I’ve never been able to incorporate cycles into my day-to-day trading but I did enjoy the chapter on the long-term Kondratiev Cycle. Michael’s other book “The Kondratiev Cycle: A Generational Interpretation” covers the subject in greater detail. Between the two books I’d lean towards “The Kondratiev Cycle”.
Additional Reading:
- Stock Cycles: Why Stocks Won’t Beat Money Markets Over the Next Twenty Years by Michael Alexander
- The Kondratiev Cycle: A General Interpretation by Michael Alexander
- Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles by Ed Easterling
- The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles by Jeffrey Hirsch
- Super Boom by Jeffrey Hirsch
- The 17.6 Year Stock Market Cycle by Kerry Balenthiran
Full Title: Trade Like a Hedge Fund: 20 Successful Uncorrelated Strategies and Techniques to Winning Profits
Author: James Altucher (Twitter @jaltucher)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $74 Hardcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
High-performing and highly leveraged, hedge funds are among today’s most talked-about subjects in the world of investing. But it’s not the hedge fund managers doing the talking. These secretive financial pros, while relentlessly pursuing every possible angle to provide their clients with far-better-than-average returns, are just as relentless in revealing as little as possible about the techniques they use to achieve those returns.
Trade Like a Hedge Fund changes all that. Written by hedge fund manager James Altucher, this technique-heavy introduction to the day-in, day-out world of hedge fund trading explores twenty trading systems, strategies, and techniques that active traders can use to uncover hidden pockets of inefficiency in any market. Altucher is well known to hedge fund managers and other market professionals for his regular contributions to TheStreet.com, and he wastes no time in getting right to the bread-and-butter trading strategies that form the foundation of today’s well-documented hedge fund successes.
Learn the tips and techniques that allow fund managers and frontline traders to:
- Identify stocks that are gapping up or down, then trade those with the greatest short-term likelihood of filling that gap
- Intraday trade the NYSE tick indicator–perhaps the purest indicator of investor sentiment at any given second
- Provide impressive short-term trading profits using an innovative Bollinger Band—based trading system
- Buy a portfolio of less-than-five-dollar stocks–and average over 100 percent annual return
- Follow the low-profile movements of fixed-income investors for valuable clues to equity market direction
- Profit from playing stocks on the verge of being deleted–not added, but deleted–from major indices
- Profit from trading against common market fallacies that continually win praise even as they are continually proven wrong
Despite evidence to the contrary, hedge fund managers and traders are not magicians. But they are distinctive and savvy traders who–as opposed to staid, rules-driven mutual fund or portfolio managers–enjoy the freedom to employ virtually any strategy in search of trading profits for their high-wealth clients. Let Trade Like a Hedge Fund give you a rare first-person look inside the world of the hedge fund manager, and introduce you to numerous hedge-fund techniques and tactics that you can seamlessly–and profitably–integrate into your own trading program.
Stendahl Notes:
Looking for some ideas for trading systems then Trade Like a Hedge Fund is a good place to begin. The book cover a wide variety of systems complete with historical stats. As the co-developer of the performance report inside TradeStation, I appreciate it when authors take the time not only to describe their systems but also provide back testing data.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Technical Analysis: Power Tools for Active Investors
Author: Gerald Appel
Publisher/Date: FT Press (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $70 Hardcover / 241 pages
Cover Notes:
Unlike most technical analysis books, Gerald Appel’s Practical Power Tools! offers step-by-step instructions virtually any investor can use to achieve breakthrough success in the market. Appel illuminates a wide range of strategies and timing models, demystifying even advanced technical analysis the first time. Among the models he covers: NASDAQ/NYSE Relative Strength, 3-5 Year Treasury Notes, Triple Momentum, Seasonality, Breadth-Thrust Impulse, and models based on the revolutionary MACD techniques he personally invented. Appel covers momentum and trend of price movement, time and calendar cycles, predictive chart patterns, relative strength, analysis of internal vs. external markets, market breadth, moving averages, trading channels, overbought/oversold indicators, Trin, VIX, major term buy signals, major term sell signals, moving average trading channels, stock market synergy, and much more. He presents techniques for short-, intermediate-, and long-term investors, and even for mutual fund investors.
Stendahl Notes:
If you are new to technical analysis and want a start to finish outline of techniques to review the markets then this is the book for you. Gerald Appel, the inventor of the MACD indicator, describes and tests a number of trading strategies throughout the book. Although he does not provide specific code each strategy is clearly spelled out. I specifically enjoyed the sections on political, seasonal and time cycles.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Stock Market Trading Systems
Authors: Gerald Appel and Fred Hitschler
Publisher/Date: Traders Press (1990)
List Cost/Pages: $45 Hardcover / 208 pages
Cover Notes:
A thorough examination of moving average trading systems, timing market cycles, the twelve-day rate of change, and many other topics of interest, such as:
- The Time-Trend Momentum Trading System.
- Determining market trends with moving and exponential averages
- Setting price objectives with multiple moving averages
- Changing the lead time in moving averages
- Market momentum: how to use velocity to predict turning points in advance
- Catching market tums with a channel reverse and filter trading systems
- Systems for determination of the market’s major trend.
Stendahl Notes:
Okay it’s a bit dated … but it introduces indicators and basic systems that are still used in varying ways today. Although it’s a good book I’d suggest reading Gerald Appel’s other book Technical Analysis: Power Tools for Active Investors as it’s a more up-to-date.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Evidence-Based Technical Analysis: Applying the Scientific Method and Statistical Inference to Trading Signals
Author: David Aronson
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $105 Hardcover / 544 pages
Cover Notes:
As an approach to research, technical analysis has suffered because it is a “discipline” practiced without discipline. In order for technical analysis to deliver useful knowledge that can be applied to trading, it must evolve into a rigorous observational science.
Over the past two decades, numerous articles in respected academic journals have approached technical analysis in a scientifically rigorous and intellectually honest manner, and now, Evidence-Based Technical Analysis looks to continue down this path. Organized into two parts, this valuable resource first establishes the methodological, philosophical, and statistical foundations of evidenced-based technical analysis (EBTA), and then demonstrates this approach—by using twenty-five years of historical data to test 6,400 binary buy/sell rules on the S&P 500.
Evidence-Based Technical Analysis examines how you can apply the scientific method, and recently developed statistical tests, to determine the true effectiveness of technical trading signals. Throughout these pages, expert David Aronson details this new type of technical analysis that—unlike traditional technical analysis—is restricted to objective rules, whose historical profitability can be quantified and scrutinized.
Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Evidence-Based Technical Analysis provides you with comprehensive coverage of this new methodology, which is specifically designed for evaluating the performance of rules/signals that are discovered by data mining. Experimental results presented in the book will show you that data mining—a process in which many rules are back-tested and the best performing rules are selected—is an effective procedure for discovering useful rules/signals. However, since the historical performance of the rules/signals discovered by data mining are upwardly biased, new statistical tests are required to make reasonable inferences about future profitability. Two such tests, one of which has never been discussed anywhere heretofore, are described and illustrated.
If you want to use technical analysis to navigate today’s markets, you must first abandon the subjective, interpretive methods traditionally associated with this discipline, and embrace an approach that is scientifically and statistically valid. Grounded in objective observation and statistical inference, EBTA is the approach to technical analysis you need to succeed in your trading endeavors.
Stendahl Notes:
This is a powerful book. David Aronson describes in full detail how to statistically evaluate trading systems. It’s not an easy read … but for those that are stats oriented I would highly recommend Evidence-Based Technical Analysis.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Trading Systems
Author: Bruce Babcock
Publisher/Date: Irwin (1989)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 316 pages
Cover Notes:
Comprehensive and authoritative description of the theory, creation, and use of mechanical trading systems. Presents historical tests of various trading systems approaches in 10 markets over a 5 year period.
Stendahl Notes:
Bruce Babcock in my mind was a legend who past away too soon. Bruce’s book Trading Systems is well organized and complete. It describes a wide variety of systems and provides historical trading performance. As the book was published back in 1989, Bruce used System Writer Plus (now TradeStation) and CompuTrac (Tim Slater’s program) to design and test his systems. As I’ve been around awhile myself, I too used both of these programs back in early 90’s … so this book is near and dear to my heart. So if you are interested in simple, eloquent and pragmatic trading systems then this is the book for you. Back in the day I used a few of these systems as starting point for some of my own trading systems.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Guide to Commodities: Producers, players and prices, markets, consumers and trends
Author: Caroline Bain
Publisher/Date: Profile Books (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Hardcover / 275 pages
Cover Notes:
Written by the Senior Commodities Editor for The Economist Intelligence Unit , this book provides you with a comprehensive, highly practical look at the commodities markets. In addition to covering major trends and key changes in the markets, both past and present, it supplies you with proven tools for analyzing and taking full advantage of this ever-changing asset class. Focuses specifically on natural commodities classes, such as natural resources and raw materials, both mineral and agricultural Explores trends in the consumption and production of the commodities in question as well as the changing markets for those goods Describes how commodities prices have changed historically and in recent years and how they are likely to change in future Arms investors with an array valuable tools for analyzing market movements, timing trades and tracking and predicting price volatility.
Stendahl Notes:
As you might expect Caroline Bain, Senior Commodities Editor with The Economist, has done a phenomenal job detailing all you need to know about a wide variety of commodity markets. It’s not a trading book so don’t think systems … think commodity background. Bottom line you better know a little more about the markets you trade than just indicators and patters.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: The 17.6 Year Stock Market Cycle: Connecting the Panics of 1929, 1987, 2000 and 2007
Author: Kerry Balenthiran (Twitter @17_6YrStockCyc )
Publisher/Date: Harriman House (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $33 Paperback / 156 pages
Cover Notes:
How do we know where we are in the current stock market cycle? Are we in the midst of a new long term bull market or a market rally within an ongoing bear market?
The answers to the above questions are critical to forming an appropriate investment strategy to plan for the future. The difference between anticipating the end of a secular (or cyclical) bull market and reacting to the significant crash that follows will have a big impact on anyone’s investment returns and retirement plans.
This book is concerned with cycles. A cycle is a sequence of events that repeat over time. The outcome won’t necessarily be the same each time, but the underlying characteristics are the same. A good example is the seasonal cycle. Each year we have spring, summer, autumn and winter, and after winter we have spring again. But the weather can, and does, vary a great deal from one year to another. And so it is with the stock market.
Kerry Balenthiran has studied stock market data going back 100 years and discovered a regular 17.6 year stock market cycle consisting of increments of 2.2 years. He has also extrapolated the cycle forwards to provide investors with a market roadmap stretching out to 2053. He describes this in detail and outlines the changing character of the stock market through the different phases of the 17.6 year stock market cycle.
Whether you are an investment professional or private investor, this book provides a fascinating insight into the cyclical nature of the stock market and enables you to ensure that you have the right strategy for the prevailing stock market conditions.
Stendahl Notes:
I meet Kerry via Twitter when he saw some of my tweets related to seasonal charts. He was kind enough to send me a copy of his book for review. Kerry provides a detailed description to his 17.6 & 2.2 year cycle … showing past periods as well as future projections. If you are interested in secular cycles this is a great read.
Full Title: Money Management Strategies for Futures Traders
Author: Nauzer Balsara
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1992)
List Cost/Pages: $105 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
Distills complex theories for the benefit of the average trader with little or no background in finance or mathematics by offering a wide range of valuable, practical strategies for limiting risk, avoiding catastrophic losses and managing the futures portfolio to maximize profits. Numerous topics are explored including: why most traders lose at the futures game most of the time; why most mechanical trading systems are apt to fail; the probabilistic approach to trading; how to make stop-loss orders work for, rather than against you; the pros and cons of options versus futures trading; and how to limit risk through diversification.
Full Title: Trading in Choppy Markets: Breakthrough Techniques for Exploiting Non-Trending Markets
Author: Robert Barnes
Publisher/Date: Irwin (d)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 448 pages
Cover Notes:
Here, Barnes describes a variety of techniques for trading in choppy, trendless markets. He provides details on how to utilize technical indicators, set parameters and establish profit and loss levels and, reveals several recent indicators. The text also highlights four schools of market timing, methods for mercurial markets and, choppy market types and matching methods to market types.
Full Title: The Secrets of Economic Indicators: Hidden Clues to Future Economic Trends and Investment Opportunities
Author: Bernard Baumohl
Publisher/Date: Pearson Prentice Hall (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Paperback / 432 pages
Cover Notes:
If you want to translate economic data into better decision-making and higher profits, The Wall Street Journal says one book is “the real deal”: Bernard Baumohl’s The Secrets of Economic Indicators. Now, Baumohl has thoroughly updated his classic best-seller to reflect today’s most valuable U.S. and foreign economic indicators and offer new insights into what they mean.
This brand-new third edition introduces many new, forward-looking economic markers, including those that monitor small business plans, freight traffic shifts, Web searches, and even gambling. Baumohl identifies new real-time foreign indicators that help anticipate swings in European and Asian economies and reveals how the financial crises have changed the behavior of even the most familiar indices. Baumohl also lists some free cell phone apps that will keep you on top of the economy and financial markets wherever you are.
New graphics make it easier to understand how key indicators impact interest rates, bond and stock prices, and currency values, and Baumohl has systematically updated his comprehensive listings of U.S. and global Web-based data sources.
Which economic indicators matter most today?
Choose the indices that offer the best predictive value and most crucial insights
How has the new global economic environment reshaped the use of indicators?
Understand the implications of deeper economic integration and increased sovereign risk
How do you transform data into better investment decisions?
Discover how key indicators impact interest rates, bond prices, stock prices, and currency values
Full Title: One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading
Author: Mike Bellafior (Twitter @MikeBellafiore)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $60 Hardcover / 368 pages
Cover Notes:
Proprietary trading firms do somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of all the equity volume in the U.S. markets on any given day. But unlike most firms on the Street, proprietary firms have no clients. They do not take other people’s money and speculate it on their behalf. Proprietary trading (or ‘prop trading’ for short) is done for the benefit of the company’s partners and employees only: the firm is the client. Their profits are generated solely from the bets they make on their traders. If they are wrong, they lose their own money. When they are right, they keep a percentage of their winnings. The world of prop trading is mentally and emotionally exhausting, but the rewards can be substantial, if you understand how to identify good trades, take profits at the right time, and limit losses.
In One Good Trade, Mike Bellafiore reveals the inner workings of the proprietary trading firm he cofounded, detailing the challenges of prop trading and explaining why traders succeed or fail. In the process, he shows how you can use the skills and strategies developed at his firm to improve your own trading success.
The author takes you inside the world of prop trading to show how the professionals trade successfully, sharing all the important market lessons he has learned over the course of his career while introducing a fascinating cast of characters, some of whom have succeeded, and too many who have failed. He offers a range of straightforward trading strategies, such as breakouts from congestion, trading off support and resistance, and identifying consolidation setups. Perhaps more importantly, he explains the importance of other, often overlooked skills critical to successful trading: developing consistency in monitoring markets and uncovering trading opportunities, discipline in executing trades, making rational risk/reward bets, and managing trading capital. He reveals those skills through illustrative stories of the growth of his trading firm and the ups and downs of traders he has trained.
Becoming a better trader requires discipline, a thick playbook of trading setups , and well-rounded trading skills, and One Good Trade will show you how to develop all three.
Full Title: Against The Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
Author: Peter Bernstein
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1998)
List Cost/Pages: $22 Paperback / 400 pages
Cover Notes:
Risk management, which assumes that future risks can be understood, measured and to some extent predicted, is the focus of this solid, thoroughgoing history. Probability theory, pioneered by 17th-century French mathematicians Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat, has made possible the design of great bridges, electric power utilities and insurance policies. The statistical sampling methods invented by dour Swiss scientist Jacob Bernoulli undergird diverse activities such as the testing of new drugs, stock-picking and wine tasting. Bernstein (Capital Ideas) animates his narrative with a colorful cast of risk-analyzers, including gambling addict Girolamo Cardano, 16th-century Italian physician to the Pope; and John Maynard Keynes, whose concerns over economic uncertainty compelled him to recommend an active, interventionist role for government. Bernstein also traces the development of business forecasting, game theory, insurance and derivatives, and surveys recent advances in risk forecasting made possible through chaos theory and by the development of neural networks.
Full Title: Momentum, Direction, and Divergence: Applying the Latest Momentum Indicators for Technical Analysis
Author: William Blau
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1995)
List Cost/Pages: $90 Hardcover / 142 pages
Cover Notes:
Momentum, Direction, and Divergence The Wiley Trader’s Advantage is a series of concise, highly focused books designed to keep savvy traders in tune with the latest successful strategies and techniques used by the keenest minds in the business. In this latest volume, technical expert Bill Blau shows you how momentum, direction, and divergence form the basis of most technical indicators and how they can work for you to provide a considerable competitive advantage. Clearly, concisely, and with a minimum of complex mathematics, Blau shows you how to understand and apply them. Integrating the latest financial insights with more than 75 easy-to-follow graphics, Blau describes the uses and limitations of many of today’s most notable technical indicators. He then demonstrates a variety of ways in which the principles of momentum, direction, and divergence can be used to create a versatile new set of technical indicators or to improve the effectiveness of the most widely used traditional indicators. Focusing on the groundbreaking double smoothing concept, which he introduces for the first time in this book, William Blau:
- Develops reliable new momentum indicators based on double smoothing techniques
- Shows how these indicators improve the effectiveness of most popular oscillators, including the RSI, MACD, and stochastic indicators, by solving a host of timing problems
- Combines the standard Welles Wilder techniques with his original True Strength Index to improve the effectiveness of most directional movement indicators
- Introduces new ways of identifying divergence that make implementation simpler than ever
A complete guide to the most potent new indicators and their applications, Momentum, Direction, and Divergence is an indispensable resource for traders, portfolio managers, and all financial professionals.
Full Title: The Great Reflation: How Investors Can Profit From the New World of Money
Author: J. Anthony Boeckh
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
A guide to understanding and thriving in today’s new economic environment
Now that the housing and credit bubbles have burst, toppling banks and sending shockwaves through the stock market and around the world, it may seem like the worst has passed. But the full impact of the crises we have recently faced will create far more problems, and unless you’re prepared, you’ll struggle to regain your financial footing.
In The Great Reflation, author Tony Boeckh helps you understand how these crises, and the policies passed to jumpstart the economy, will play out for investments and business, and provides you with the tools to excel in today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape. He reveals how similar episodes compare with the current crises and what this could mean for your financial future.
- Arms you with practical insights that will allow you to evaluate different investment options
- Explores the implications of the end of the private debt cycle, the possible rise of a new age of thrift, and the new government debt crisis
- Reveals how you can profit from once-in-a-lifetime opportunities as well as proper portfolio allocation strategies
While things may never return to “normal,” you can still make choices that will allow you to prosper. This book will show you how.
Full Title: The Commitments of Traders Bible
Author: Stephen Briese
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $74 Hardcover / 279 pages
Cover Notes:
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report has established the U.S. futures market as one of the most transparent exchanges in the world—and created a level playing field for commodity and futures traders of all sizes in the process. But the information found within the COT report extends well beyond the confines of the commodity pits and can be profitably applied to virtually any market sector, from equities and treasuries to forex, gold stocks, and exchange-traded funds.
Nobody understands this better than author Stephen Briese, an industry-leading expert on COT data. And now, with The Commitments of Traders Bible, he shares the insights and experiences of his successful career to help put the COT report in perspective. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this detailed guide skillfully examines the predictive power of COT data and reveals how you can accurately interpret it in order to analyze market movements and make the most informed investment decisions possible.
Divided into two comprehensive parts, this reliable resource:
- Takes you through a brief history of the COT report and explains how it has evolved over time
- Illustrates how the dozens of numbers published on specific markets expose the positions of the biggest and smartest market insiders
- Describes how to properly view the COT Index and use it to avoid the traps that most observers fall into
- Offers technicians and chartists various ways to incorporate COT analysis into their existing programs
- Discusses individual idiosyncrasies and patterns that appear in certain markets—from oil to interest rates
- Lists hundreds of securities from all over the world whose prices are highly correlated with commodities contained in the COT report
Regardless of your trading methods, and no matter what markets you’re involved in, there is a COT report that you should be reviewing every week. With The Commitments of Traders Bible as your guide, you’ll gain an invaluable edge over uninformed market participants as you learn how to use legal “insider” information to enhance your everyday investment endeavors.
Full Title: Red-Blooded Risk: The Secret History of Wall Street
Author: Arron Brown
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 432 pages
Cover Notes:
From 1987 to 1992, a small group of Wall Street quants invented an entirely new way of managing risk to maximize success: risk management for risk-takers. This is the secret that lets tiny quantitative edges create hedge fund billionaires, and defines the powerful modern global derivatives economy. The same practical techniques are still used today by risk-takers in finance as well as many other fields. Red-Blooded Risk examines this approach and offers valuable advice for the calculated risk-takers who need precise quantitative guidance that will help separate them from the rest of the pack.
While most commentators say that the last financial crisis proved it’s time to follow risk-minimizing techniques, they’re wrong. The only way to succeed at anything is to manage true risk, which includes the chance of loss. Red-Blooded Risk presents specific, actionable strategies that will allow you to be a practical risk-taker in even the most dynamic markets.
- Contains a secret history of Wall Street, the parts all the other books leave out
- Includes an intellectually rigorous narrative addressing what it takes to really make it in any risky activity, on or off Wall Street
- Addresses essential issues ranging from the way you think about chance to economics, politics, finance, and life
- Written by Aaron Brown, one of the most calculated and successful risk takers in the world of finance, who was an active participant in the creation of modern risk management and had a front-row seat to the last meltdown
- Written in an engaging but rigorous style, with no equations
- Contains illustrations and graphic narrative by renowned manga artist Eric Kim
There are people who disapprove of every risk before the fact, but never stop anyone from doing anything dangerous because they want to take credit for any success. The recent financial crisis has swelled their ranks, but in learning how to break free of these people, you’ll discover how taking on the right risk can open the door to the most profitable opportunities.
Related Books:
- The New Technical Trader by Tushar S. Chande
- Building Reliable Trading Systems by Keith Fitschen
- Technical Traders Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures Markets Hardcover by Charles Lebeau & David Lucas
- The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators, Second Edition Hardcover by Robert W. Colby
Full Title: Fibonacci Analysis
Author: Constance Brown
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 208 pages
Cover Notes:
In “Fibonacci Analysis,” Constance Brown distills for traders the essentials of this little-understood but highly effective technical analysis tool. Emphasizing practical market applications that can be put to use immediately, this book: shows how to use Fibonacci ratios for price projection, provides detailed charts of actual trading situations, explains the importance of proportion when analyzing charts, alerts traders to the most common errors, and describes how to identify false signals. Brown gives traders a better understanding of this powerful technical analysis tool, leading to more effective trading.
Full Title: Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional: Strategies and Techniques for Today’s Turbulent Global Financial Markets
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $60 Hardcover / 464 pages
Cover Notes:
Now in its second decade, Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional is the number-one go-to guide for market technicians seeking to improve their market timing skills with the most up-to-date tools and techniques. This second edition provides an updated look at unique formulas and key indicators, while retaining all the foundational material that made the previous edition an instant classic.
Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional has been enhanced and expanded to bring you fully up to date on all the essentials, including:
- Dominant trading cycles
- Moving averages
- Fibonacci projections
- Gann Analysis
- Relative Strength Index and stochastics
- Dominant trend lines
- Price projections
- Elliott Wave Principle
- Volatility bands
- Composite Index
Full Title: Backstage Wall Street: An Insider’s Guide to Knowing Who to Trust, Who to Run From, and How to Maximize Your Investments
Author: Josh Brown (Twitter @ReformedBroker)
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
Wall Street is very good at one thing: convincing you to act against your own interests. And there’s no one out there better equipped with the knowledge and moxie to explain how it all works than Josh Brown. A man The New York Times referred to as “the Merchant of Snark” and Barron’s called “pot-stirring and provocative,” Brown worked for 10 years in the industry, a time during which he learned some hard truths about how clients are routinely treated—and how their money is sent on a one-way trip to Wall Street’s coffers.
Backstage Wall Street reveals the inner workings of the world’s biggest money machine and explains how a relatively small confederation of brilliant, sometimes ill-intentioned people fuel it, operate it, and repair it when necessary—none of which is for the good of the average investor.
Offering a look that only a long-term insider could provide (and that only a “reformed” insider would want to provide), Brown describes:
THE PEOPLE—Why retail brokers always profit—even if you don’t
THE PRODUCTS—How funds, ETFs, and other products are invented as failsafe profit generators—for the inventors alone
THE PITCH—The marketing schemes designed for one thing and one thing only: to separate you from your money
It’s that bad . . . but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Brown gives you the knowledge you need to make the right decisions at the right time.
Backstage Wall Street is about seeing reality for what it is and adjusting your actions accordingly. It’s about learning who and what to steer clear of at all times. And it’s about setting the stage for a bright financial future—your own way.
Full Title: The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm
Author: Robert Bruner & Sean Carr
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 296 pages
Cover Notes:
Though business professors Bruner and Carr approach their subject, the spectacular financial crisis that gave America the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, with grave pedantry, they devote the majority of the book to the more colorful events and personalities of the crisis, which even academic prose cannot dull. The chronicle follows one speculator’s attempt to corner the copper market, which leads to panic, the failure of banks and trusts and the impending bankruptcy of New York City. In the midst of chaos, one man was able to halt the domino effect with calm, character and capital: J. Pierpont Morgan. The Panic, the authors note, hit America at a moment eerily similar to our own: coming off 50 years of postwar economic expansion with a Republican “moralist” in the White House, an increasingly interventionist government, the formation of enormous new corporate conglomerates and a muckraking news media fueling resentment. Further, in a didactic final chapter, “Financial Crises as a Perfect Storm,” the authors list the seven forces that, once converged, trigger alarm in investors, among them “buoyant growth,” “inadequate safety buffers,” “adverse leadership” and “undue fear, greed, and other aberrations”; that many (if not all) of these conditions are already met by today’s market gives this authoritative history a relevance and vitality that should make business types sit up and take notice.
Full Title: Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts
Author: Thomas Bulkowski
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $120 Hardcover / 1032 pages
Cover Notes:
The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, recognized as the premier reference on chart pattern analysis, extends its lead with this Second Edition. This definitive text includes new bull and bear market statistics, performance sorted by volume shape and trend, more than a dozen additional chart patterns, and a new section covering ten event patterns. Significant events—such as earnings announcements, stock upgrades and downgrades—shape today’s trading, and Bulkowski gives readers the best information on what happens after those events occur. He also shows you how to trade them and uses reliable statistics to back it all up.
In each chapter of Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition you’ll learn the following about each pattern:
- Results Snapshot—A statistical summary of pattern behavior, including its performance rank, breakeven failure rate, average rise or decline—all separated by breakout direction and market type (bull or bear)
- Tour—A broad introduction to the pattern
- Identification Guidelines— Characteristics to look for
- Focus on Failures—What failed patterns look like, why they failed, and how to avoid them
- Statistics—The numbers and what they tell you, separated into bull/bear markets and breakout direction, including average rise or decline, failure rates, volume shapes, performance by size, and busted pattern performance
- Trading Tactics—Strategies to increase profits and minimize risk
- Sample Trade—Puts it all together, showing the chart pattern in action, with hypothetical or actual trades using real data
- For Best Performance—A table of selection tips to boost performance
Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition also includes summary tables ranking chart- and event-pattern performance for easy reference; a glossary; a chapter on methodology explaining what each statistical table entry means and how it was calculated; and a visual index to make chart pattern identification a snap.
The result is today’s most comprehensive and valuable technical analysis reference—one that will save you critical time in identifying chart patterns and increase your likelihood of buying near the price bottom and selling near the top.
Full Title: Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns
Author: Thomas Bulkowski
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $120 Hardcover / 688 pages
Cover Notes:
The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, recognized as the premier reference on chart pattern analysis, extends its lead with this Second Edition. This definitive text includes new bull and bear market statistics, performance sorted by volume shape and trend, more than a dozen additional chart patterns, and a new section covering ten event patterns. Significant events—such as earnings announcements, stock upgrades and downgrades—shape today’s trading, and Bulkowski gives readers the best information on what happens after those events occur. He also shows you how to trade them and uses reliable statistics to back it all up.
In each chapter of Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition you’ll learn the following about each pattern:
- Results Snapshot—A statistical summary of pattern behavior, including its performance rank, breakeven failure rate, average rise or decline—all separated by breakout direction and market type (bull or bear)
- Tour—A broad introduction to the pattern
- Identification Guidelines— Characteristics to look for
- Focus on Failures—What failed patterns look like, why they failed, and how to avoid them\
- Statistics—The numbers and what they tell you, separated into bull/bear markets and breakout direction, including average rise or decline, failure rates, volume shapes, performance by size, and busted pattern performance
- Trading Tactics—Strategies to increase profits and minimize risk
- Sample Trade—Puts it all together, showing the chart pattern in action, with hypothetical or actual trades using real data
- For Best Performance—A table of selection tips to boost performance
Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition also includes summary tables ranking chart- and event-pattern performance for easy reference; a glossary; a chapter on methodology explaining what each statistical table entry means and how it was calculated; and a visual index to make chart pattern identification a snap.
The result is today’s most comprehensive and valuable technical analysis reference—one that will save you critical time in identifying chart patterns and increase your likelihood of buying near the price bottom and selling near the top.
Full Title: Harmonic Trading, Volume Two: Advanced Strategies for Profiting from the Natural Order of the Financial Markets
Author: Scott Carney
Publisher/Date: FT Press (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $90 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
Now, in Harmonic Trading: Volume 2, Carney takes a quantum leap forward, introducing new strategies, patterns, and methods that make Harmonic Trading an even more powerful tool for trading the financial markets. For the first time, he reveals how to utilize harmonic impulse waves and introduces measurement techniques that identify market turning points even more accurately. Finally, he demonstrates how to integrate the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) with advanced Harmonic Trading techniques to separate minor “reactive” moves from major opportunities.
Full Title: The Prop Trader’s Chronicles: Short-Term Proprietary Trading Strategies for Both Bull & Bear Markets
Author: Francis Chan
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Audio / 155 pages
Cover Notes:
Part trader’s memoir, part day-trading how-to, The Prop Trader’s Chronicles takes you inside the fast-paced, “you eat what you kill” world of proprietary trading to offer an unparalleled look at who the prop traders are and how they operate. In a compelling narrative, author Francis James Chan relates his experiences at some of the most prestigious prop trading firms on two continents, clearly describing the strategies and techniques used by today’s most successful traders.
An indispensable source of practical, real-world insight, advice and guidance for independent traders and aspiring professionals alike, The Prop Trader’s Chronicles:
- Offers a priceless glimpse into the white-knuckle day-to-day of the prop trader’s world
- Schools you in the fundamentals of the major strategies for the rapid day trading of stocks
- Describes how the most successful traders use direct access technologies, Level II quotes, time & sales feeds, and ECNs
- Covers, in-depth, scalping, rebate trading and statistical arbitrage
- Clearly explains advanced reading of time & sales transactions to detect short-term swings
- Shows independent traders how to adapt the strategies used at the most successful prop trading firms
- Provides a solid foundation for those looking to break into the exciting world of proprietary trading
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to benefit from the story of a young trader’s education and rise during the most tumultuous and revolutionary era in the history of the global securities trading industry.
Full Title: Beyond Technical Analysis: How to Develop and Implement a Winning Trading System
Author: Tushar Chande
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2001)
List Cost/Pages: $100 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
If you want to achieve enduring trading success then it’s essential that you create a winning trading system, control your risks, and withstand the psychological pressure of the markets. Whether a beginner or an expert, now you can reap profits from stocks or futures using the proven trading systems, robust risk-control methods, and powerful new tools from sports psychology in the updated and expanded second edition of Beyond Technical Analysis.
- Find entries and exits consistent with your trading beliefs
- Avoid common pitfalls in system testing
- Write and test trading systems using commercial software
- Correctly interpret test results
- Create profitable trading strategies
- Define, control, and manage risk
- Manage trading stress using sports psychology
- Focus on disciplined execution
A complete and thorough guide, Beyond Technical Analysis, Second Edition will help you build robust trading systems and follow sound money management and risk control techniques that will give you the winning edge.
Related Books:
- The New Technical Trader by Tushar S. Chande
- Building Reliable Trading Systems by Keith Fitschen
- Technical Traders Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures Markets Hardcover by Charles Lebeau & David Lucas
- The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators, Second Edition Hardcover by Robert W. Colby
Full Title: The New Technical Trader: Boost Your Profit by Plugging into the Latest Indicators
Author: Tushar Chande and Stanley Kroll
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1994)
List Cost/Pages: $50 Hardcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
The breakthrough trader’s guidebook that combines the latest, most promising methods of technical analysis with the classic tactics of risk control and money management… In The New Technical Trader, trading system wizard Tushar Chande and money management expert Stanley Kroll present a bold new array of dynamic, price-based, and risk control indicators that provide timely, reliable answers to the difficult analytic challenges of pattern recognition, variable indicator length, and price projection. Developed by the authors to overcome the specific limitations of existing technical indicators, they can be used in virtually any market—futures, commodities, stocks, indices, and mutual funds. Each new indicator is supported by step-by-step tutorials and real-world trading scenarios that illustrate the best strategies for its use, and show how to adapt it to your trading style. Now you can develop a successful, comprehensive personalized trading plan using:
- New momentum oscillators—the Chande momentum oscillator, stochastic RSI oscillator, variable-length dynamic momentum index—that overcome the limitations of the relative strength index
- Qstick, a quantitative candlestick that generates objective numbers instead of subjective patterns
- Linear regression analysis that quantifies trendiness, projects prices, and prompts the development of a better game plan
If you need to reliably project prices under different market conditions, estimate risk on new positions, create stops to cut your losses, or plot momentum swing failures, The New Technical Trader is your first place to turn. It’s the frontline guide for developing objective consistency in your decision making and gaining a valuable edge in today’s commodities, currency, and stock markets.
Full Title: Commodities Rising: The Reality Behind the Hype and How to Really Profit in the Commodities Market
Author: Jeffrey Christian
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 272 pages
Cover Notes:
Commodities markets are a fascinating part of the world economy and financial markets. Besides being the building blocks of the real economy, commodities provide investors with superior long-term investment performance results and offer traders tremendous short-term opportunities.
Over his thirty-year career, commodities expert Jeffrey Christian has gained broad firsthand knowledge about how these markets work; how commodities are monetized and traded around the world; and how these various transactions are executed. Now, in Commodities Rising, he wants to share those experiences with you.
Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Commodities Rising analyzes the current commodity environment and looks out over the next few years to identify potential profit situations for investors and traders. More importantly, it will show you how commodities can be used to reduce risk and increase returns in a balanced investment portfolio. You’ll be introduced to a variety of ways in which you can gain exposure to commodities—through both direct and indirect means—as well as discover some specific strategies that will allow you to use the instruments you choose effectively and manage your positions with confidence.
Commodities Rising also works hard to debunk much of the misinformation currently circulating about this market, and provides a reasoned and authoritative reality check. Some of the more widely circulated myths are addressed, including the concept of a long-lasting supercycle in rising commodity prices and the idea that China will be a massive consumer of commodities whose actions will drive prices even higher.
The second half of this book takes a deeper look at sixteen specific commodities grouped under the following headings:
- Precious metals: gold, silver, platinum,and palladium
- Energy: petroleum, natural gas, and uranium
- Tropical agriculturals: cocoa, coffee, and cotton
- Grains: corn, soybeans, and wheat
- Base metals: copper, lead, and zinc
Each chapter includes critical background information needed to assess the attractiveness of these individual commodities as investments.
Filled with in-depth insights, practical examples, and a number of engaging anecdotes, Commodities Rising is an invaluable informational resource for today’s serious investor or trader.
Full Title: Portfolio Performance Measurement and Benchmarking
Authors: Jon Christopherson, David Carino & Wayne Ferson
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $100 Hardcover / 480 pages
Cover Notes:
In order to make sound investment choices, investors must know the projected return on investment in relation to the risk of not being paid. Benchmarks are excellent evaluators, but the failure to choose the right investing performance benchmark often leads to bad decisions or inaction, which inevitably results in lost profits.
The first book of its kind, Portfolio Performance Measurement and Benchmarking is a complete guide to benchmarks and performace evaluation using benchmarks. In one inclusive volume, readers get foundational coverage on benchmark construction, as well as expert insight into specific benchmarks for asset classes and investment styles.
Starting with the basics—such as return calculations and methods of dealing with cash flows—this thorough book covers a wide variety of performance measurement methodologies and evaluation techniques before moving into more technical material that deconstructs both the creation of indexes and the components of a desirable benchmark.
Portfolio Performance Measurement and Benchmarking provides detailed coverage of benchmarks for:
- U.S. equities
- Global and international equities
- Fixed income
- Real estate
The team of renowned authors offers illuminating opinions on the philosophy and development of equity indexes, while highlighting numerous mechanical problems inherent in building benchmarks and the implications of each one.
Before you make your next investment, be certain your return will be worth the risk with Portfolio Performance Measurement and Benchmarking.
Full Title: Following the Trend: Diversified Managed Futures Trading
Author: Andreas Clenow
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $85 Hardcover / 300 pages
Cover Notes:
During bull and bear markets, there is a group of hedge funds and professional traders which have been consistently outperforming traditional investment strategies for the past 30 odd years. They have shown remarkable uncorrelated performance and in the great bear market of 2008 they had record gains. These traders are highly secretive about their proprietary trading algorithms and often employ top PhDs in their research teams. Yet, it is possible to replicate their trading performance with relatively simplistic models. These traders are trend following cross asset futures managers, also known as CTAs. Many books are written about them but none explain their strategies in such detail as to enable the reader to emulate their success and create their own trend following trading business, until now.
Following the Trend explains why most hopefuls fail by focusing on the wrong things, such as buy and sell rules, and teaches the truly important parts of trend following. Trading everything from the Nasdaq index and T-bills to currency crosses, platinum and lean hogs, there are large gains to be made regardless of the state of the economy or stock markets. By analysing year by year trend following performance and attribution the reader will be able to build a deep understanding of what it is like to trade futures in large scale and where the real problems and opportunities lay.
Written by experienced hedge fund manager Andreas Clenow, this book provides a comprehensive insight into the strategies behind the booming trend following futures industry from the perspective of a market participant. The strategies behind the success of this industry are explained in great detail, including complete trading rules and instructions for how to replicate the performance of successful hedge funds. You are in for a potentially highly profitable roller coaster ride with this hard and honest look at the positive as well as the negative sides of trend following.
Additional Reading:
- Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up and Down Markets Michael Covel
- Trend Commandments: Trading for Exceptional Returns Michael Covel
- The Complete Turtle Trader: The Legend, the lessons, the Result Michael Covel
- Following the Trend: Diversified Managed Futures Trading Andreas Clenow
Full Title: Sentiment Indicators – Renko, Price Break, Kagi, Point and Figure: What They Are and How to Use Them to Trade
Author: Abe Cofnas
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $60 Hardcover / 275 pages
Cover Notes:
In Sentiment Indicators, noted trading expert Abe Cofnas draws on his own trading and training experience as he shares his knowledge about the latest techniques and strategies for using Renko, price break, Kagi, and point and figure tools to successfully analyze all markets.
Written with the serious trader in mind, Sentiment Indicators offers key information on these potential-filled tools and how to use each in shaping trading strategies. Along the way, it provides a practical overview of how to use these little-known indicators and how each can enhance your trading endeavors.
Chapter by chapter, this reliable guide:
- Focuses on measuring sentiment change to avoid counter trend trading
- Explains the comparative advantages of each tool and when to use one tool versus another
- Presents new sentiment research that analyzes word mining and what it means for markets
- Shows how the indicators work in different markets: futures, equities, forex, and others
- Provides a solid understanding of charting techniques and uses real-world examples to illustrate strategies and tactics
From historical context and Robot Trading alerts to the critical factors of a trading system, Sentiment Indicators presents a proven approach to trading that will help you identify conditions that have a high probability of profit. Read it today and discover the difference these techniques can make to your portfolio’s bottom line.
Full Title: The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators
Author: Robert Colby (Twitter @robertwcolby)
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2002)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 832 pages
Cover Notes:
Technical analysis has become an incredibly popular investors’ tool for gauging market strength and forecasting short-term direction for both markets and individual stocks. But as markets have changed dramatically, so too have technical indicators and elements. The Encyclopedia of Technical Market Indicators provides an alphabetical and up-to-date listing of hundreds of today’s most important indicators. It defines what each indicator is, explains the philosophy behind the indicator, and of the greatest importance provides easy-to-understand guidelines for using it in day-to-day trading.
Broad in both scope and appeal, this one-of-a-kind reference painstakingly updates information from the previous edition plus defines and discusses nearly 100 new indicators.The same technical market indicators used by top-performing traders and investors are available now. This book offers the necessary knowledge on how to formulate and test technical market indicators in an orderly, step-by-step fashion. Specific technical market indicator parameters shown in this book would have maximized reward/risk performance over actual market history.
Technical market indicators offer:
- Logical, practical, efficient, effective, systematic, and precisely quantified frameworks for organizing information about actual observed market behavior, providing a firm foundation for making speculative decisions, grounded on historical precedent
- Flexibility and adaptability to any time frame and any trading instrument
- Clear-cut, precise, and objective signals that allow us to confidently execute trades while eliminating uncertainty, guesswork, confusion, anxiety, and stress, and freeing us from forecasts, opinion, bias, ego, hope, greed, and fear
- A sensible and orderly procedure for selecting specific decision rules that would have maximized reward/risk performance over actual past market behavior
- Simple, intuitive, easy-to-understand, and precisely defined formulas based on a manageable number of variables, enabling us to execute decisions with the timely and disciplined consistency that is vital for success in the financial markets
- Accessibility, based on readily available technology and data
- Conservation of capital and precisely defined methods for risk control
- Risk reduction means greater consistency of profitable returns
This book shows you how to find a trading system that is right for you and how to apply it for best results, increased profit, decreased risk, and the self-confidence of gaining control over your investment decision making.
Related Books:
- The New Technical Trader by Tushar S. Chande
- Building Reliable Trading Systems by Keith Fitschen
- Technical Traders Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures Markets Hardcover by Charles Lebeau & David Lucas
- The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators, Second Edition Hardcover by Robert W. Colby
Full Title: The Complete Turtle Trader: The Legend, the lessons, the Results
Author: Michael Covel (Twitter @Covel)
Publisher/Date: Harper Business (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $26 Hardcover / 272 pages
Cover Notes:
What happens when ordinary people are taught a system to make extraordinary money? Richard Dennis made a fortune on Wall Street by investing according to a few simple rules. Convinced that great trading was a skill that could be taught to anyone, he made a bet with his partner and ran a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal looking for novices to train. His recruits, later known as the Turtles, had anything but traditional Wall Street backgrounds; they included a professional blackjack player, a pianist, and a fantasy game designer. For two weeks, Dennis taught them his investment rules and philosophy, and set them loose to start trading, each with a million dollars of his money. By the time the experiment ended, Dennis had made a hundred million dollars from his Turtles and created one killer Wall Street legend.
In The Complete TurtleTrader, Michael W. Covel, bestselling author of Trend Following and managing editor of TurtleTrader.com, the leading website on the Turtles, tells their riveting story with the first ever on the record interviews with individual Turtles. He describes how Dennis interviewed and selected his students, details their education and experiences while working for him, and breaks down the Turtle system and rules in full. He reveals how they made astounding fortunes, and follows their lives from the original experiment to the present day. Some have grown even wealthier than ever, and include some of today’s top hedge fund managers. Equally important are those who passed along their approach to a second generation of Turtles, proving that the Turtles’ system truly is reproducible, and that anyone with the discipline and the desire to succeed can do as well as—or even better than—Wall Street’s top hedge fund wizards.
In an era full of slapdash investing advice and promises of hot stock tips for “the next big thing,” as popularized by pundits like Jim Cramer of Mad Money, the easy-to-follow objective rules of the TurtleTrader stand out as a sound guide for truly making the most out of your money. These rules worked—and still work today—for the Turtles, and any other investor with the desire and commitment to learn from one of the greatest investing stories of all time.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Trend Commandments: Trading for Exceptional Returns
Author: Michael Covel (Twitter @Covel)
Publisher/Date: FT Press (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $26 / 288 pags
Cover Notes:
Do you ever think the stories you hear about great trading, and the gains produced, sound like luck? Do you ever wonder if there is a real method and philosophy behind the success stories? The concepts condensed into Trend Commandments: Trading for Exceptional Returns were gleaned from Michael Covel’s 15 years of pulling back the curtain on great trend following traders. It is a one of a kind money making experience that forever lays to rest the notion that successful trading is akin to winning the lottery. Winning has a formula, as does losing. Covel nails both head on. Getting rich is a fight; make no mistake about it, but at least now with Trend Commandments you have a primer that allows you to crack the code of the winners.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up and Down Markets
Author: Michael Covel (Twitter @Covel)
Publisher/Date: Financial Times Prentice Hall Books (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 420 pages
Cover Notes:
How did trader, John W. Henry, start out as a farmer and end up a billionaire and owner of, first the Florida Marlins and now, the Boston Red Sox? How do traders like Bill Dunn, Ed Seykota and Keith Campbell continually pull profits in the hundreds of millions from both bull and bear markets? The answer is that they are trend followers. Trend following is the only strategy to consistently make money in the markets. Leading expert Michael Covel reveals the underground network of these little-known traders and hedge fund managers who have practiced trend following for years. He pulls back the veil on their strategies by introducing the basic concepts/techniques of trend following such as why the market price contains all the information a trader needs. Covel rigorously reviews and analyzes years of detailed performance data to prove without question that trend following works. He breaks down trend following strategies including how to make volatility work; how to control risk; and how to make successful trading decisions “from the gut.”Covel shows why trend following is ideal for individual traders who self-manage their portfolios or for the individual investor searching for a new type of investment advisor. Along the way he debunks an immense amount of misinformation/failed advice from pros who ought to know better. This timely book capitalizes on today’s massive move back into the markets and investors’ renewed determination to find strategies that really work.
Additional Reading:
Full Title: Day Trading with Short Term Price Patters and Opening Range Breakout
Author: Toby Crable
Publisher/Date: Traders Press (1990)
List Cost/Pages: $105 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
Explains the importance of detailed studies on price patterns. Attempts to find forecastable events based on the relation between opening, closing, high and low prices. Includes computer-tested answers to many common short term trading questions. Consists of 5 sections: 1) opening range breakouts, 2) short-term price patterns, 3) patterns of expansion and contraction, 4) combination of price patterns with expansion and contraction patterns, and 5) openings and closings that occur in various segments of a price bar; includes the results of computer analysis for each topic. We highly recommend this book for the serious short-term trader.
Interesting Note:
Toby Crabel is a United States self-made millionaire futures trader. He is the fund manager of Crabel Capital Management which has 3.2 billion in funds. Day Trading With Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout was published in 1990. Soon after the book was published Toby Crabel had a change of heart about releasing the book. He ordered his publisher to remove all remaining copies of the book from bookshops which he then bought back because he believed he had given away too many of his trading ideas. The book became valuable because it’s content is highly prized and also it has become a collector’s item among traders. Book price is valued between $600 – $1200.
Full Title: The Art of Asset Allocation: Principals and Investments for Any Market
Author: David Darst
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 400 pages
Cover Notes:
A global leader and preeminent expert in asset allocation, David Darst delivers his masterwork on the topic. In a fully updated and expanded second edition of The Art of Asset Allocation, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Investment Strategist covers the historic market events, instruments, asset classes, and economic forces that investors need to be aware of as they create asset-building portfolios. He then explains how to use modern asset allocation concepts and tools to augment returns and control risks in a wide range of financial market environments. This completely revised edition shows how to achieve asset balance with the author’s proven methods, decades of expertise, relevant charts, practical tools, and astute analyses.
Known as the king of asset allocation, Darst brings his expertise to bear to provide complete asset class descriptions, identifying historical risk, return, and correlation characteristics for all major asset classes. Using actual data, he explains the differences between tactical and strategic asset allocation, outlines clear rebalancing guidelines, and includes an annotated guide to both traditional and Internet-based information sources.
Full Title: Markets in Motion: A Financial Market History 1900 – 2004
Author: Ned Davis
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $55 Spiral-bound Hardcover / 48 pages
Cover Notes:
Markets in Motion is a graphical overview of the economic conditions and events that have influenced the U.S. stock market since 1900. Decade by decade, you’ll examine how different economic and political environments can be directly correlated to stock market movements. Each decade features graphs displaying the performance of the Dow Jones Average, the Dow Jones price to dividend ratio, industrial production, money supply, consumer price index, T bill rate, and the Discount rate. Embedded on the graphs are short descriptions of important political, economic, and historical events. Use this information to reference similar environments today and gain an edge in determining the future direction of the market.
Full Title: The Triumph of Contrarian Investing: Crowds, Manias & Beating the Market by Going Against the Grain
Author: Ned Davis
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2003)
List Cost/Pages: $22 Hardcover / 188 pages
Cover Notes:
In The Triumph of Contrarian Investing, Ned Davis–one of today’s most respected and influential market analysts–delivers both qualitative and quantitative proof that, when emotion is at its highest, the investing herd is almost certain to be running in the wrong direction. He then provides indicators to help you determine when crowd psychology is at an extreme, and outlines a disciplined approach for remaining fully and profitably invested in strong market environments while foreseeing and avoiding major market disasters.
This first-of-its-kind contrarian investor’s rulebook will show you how to:
- Understand the powerful forces of crowd psychology and its historic and predictable impact on financial markets
- Quantify and analyze crowd sentiment to identify when that sentiment has gone too far–and is poised to reverse
- Ignore popular perceptions and your own emotions to sell during periods of extreme optimism and buy during extreme pessimism
Following the innovative and nontraditional approach that has always been a hallmark of Ned Davis Research, The Triumph of Contrarian Investing combines both qualitative and quantitative indicators into a successful contrarian strategy. Hundreds of charts and graphs reveal how and, more importantly, when contrarian investing principles have proven in past markets to be most successful. Only here will you learn:
- At what levels the market’s price/earnings ratio, long considered a measure of valuation, can actually be an uncanny yardstick of investor expectations
- At what precise point the percentage of household financial assets held in stocks has reliably signaled market peaks and troughs
- How the inflow of money into various financial instruments can be confidently used to indicate imminent market turnarounds
In terms of human nature, nothing is more difficult than going against the crowd. In terms of investment performance, on the other hand, nothing is more profitable. Let Ned Davis’s The Triumph of Contrarian Investing provide you with analysis and indicators proven to spotlight those points at which investor optimism or pessimism is at its strongest, then show you how to go against the grain–and profit–in virtually every instance.
Full Title: The New Science of Technical Analysis
Author: Tom DeMark
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1994)
List Cost/Pages: $80 Hardcover / 247 pages
Cover Notes:
DeMark has spent 23 years trading stocks and futures and studying markets and is considered a major innovator in the field of technical market analysis. An expert on market timing and chart and trend analysis, he definitively and clearly explains his own methods and the new market indicators he has created and uses. He discounts as being too subjective many of the popular trend analysis techniques and suggests that they only seem successful in retrospect and fail to generate buy and sell signals adequately. His system is purely analytical and mechanical, and DeMark himself admits that it is unconventional and unorthodox. He does suggest, though, that his ideas may be applied universally to any event of a cyclical nature.
Full Title: Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude
Author: Mark Douglas
Publisher/Date: Prentice Hall Press (2001)
List Cost/Pages: $50 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
Douglas uncovers the underlying reasons for lack of consistency and helps traders overcome the ingrained mental habits that cost them money. He takes on the myths of the market and exposes them one by one teaching traders to look beyond random outcomes, to understand the true realities of risk, and to be comfortable with the “probabilities” of market movement that governs all market speculation.
Full Title: Oil 101
Author: Morgan Downey
Publisher/Date: Wooden Table Press (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 452 pages
Cover Notes:
OIL 101 is a straightforward guide to oil and an essential read for anyone coming to grips with where oil prices, the economy and society are headed.
In OIL 101, Downey provides the facts one needs to understand oil, from its history and chemistry, to refining, finished products, storage, transportation, alternatives, and how prices are determined every day in global wholesale oil markets and how those markets are connected to prices at the pump.
Full Title: Trade Chart Patterns Like the Pros: Specific Trading Techniques
Author: Suri Duddella (Twitter @suriNotes)
Publisher/Date: Self/Suri Duddella / 2008
List Cost/Pages: $50 Paperback / 276 pages
Related Books:
- The New Technical Trader by Tushar S. Chande
- Building Reliable Trading Systems by Keith Fitschen
- Technical Traders Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures Markets Hardcover by Charles Lebeau & David Lucas
- The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators, Second Edition Hardcover by Robert W. Colby
Full Title: Probable Outcomes: Secular Stock Market Insights
Author: Ed Easterling
Publisher/Date: Cypress House (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 272 pages
Cover Notes:
Probable Outcomes continues the Crestmont Research tradition of full-color charts and graphs that enable investors and advisors to differentiate between irrational hope and a rational view of the stock market. The unique combination of investment science and investment art explores the market from several perspectives, and addresses the implications for a broad range of investors. Ed Easterling delivers an insightful analysis of the likely course for the stock market over the 2010 decade. Investors and advisors will benefit from this timely outlook and its message of reasonable expectations and value-added investing. This essential resource provides a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles that drive the stock market. Based on years of research, Probable Outcomes offers sensible conclusions that will empower you to take action, guide your investment choices during the current period of below-average returns, and allow you to invest with confidence, whatever your financial strategy.
Full Title: Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles
Author: Ed Easterling
Publisher/Date: Cypress House (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 296 pages
Cover Notes:
Before you read any how-to investment books or seek financial advice, read Unexpected Returns, the essential resource for investors and investment professionals who want to understand how and why the financial markets are not the same now as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to explaining the fundamentals, this book takes you on a graphic journey through the seasons of the market, tying together economics and finance to explain the stock market’s cycles. Using comprehensive full-color charts and graphs, it offers an in-depth exploration of what has changed over the past five years – and what you can do about it to avoid disappointment with your investments. This unique combination of investment science and investment art will enable you to differentiate between irrational hope and a rational view of the current financial markets. Based on years of meticulous research, it provides the sensible conclusions that will drive your future investment choices and give you the confidence to rely on your investment outlook, whatever your financial strategy.
Full Title: Trading for a Living: Psychology, Discipline, Trading Tools and Systems, Risk Control, Trade Management
Author: Alexander Elder
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2014)
List Cost/Pages: $80 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
The New Trading for a Living updates a modern classic, popular worldwide among both private and institutional traders. This revised and expanded book brings time-tested concepts in gear with today’s fast-moving markets, adding new studies and techniques for the modern trader.
This classic guide teaches a calm and disciplined approach to the markets. It emphasizes risk management along with self-management and provides clear rules for both. The New Trading for a Living includes templates for rating stock picks, creating trade plans, and evaluating your readiness to trade. It provides the knowledge, perspective, and tools for developing your own effective trading system.
All charts in this book are current, in full color, with clear comments on rules and techniques. The clarity of this book’s language, its practical illustrations, and generous sharing of the essential skills have made it a model for the industry – often imitated but never duplicated. Both new and experienced traders will appreciate its insights and the calm, systematic approach to modern markets.
The New Trading for a Living will become an even more valuable resource than the author’s previous books:
- Overcome barriers to success and develop stronger discipline
- Identify asymmetrical market zones, where rewards are higher and risks lower
- Master money management as you set entries, targets, and stops
- Use a record-keeping system that will make you into your own teacher
Successful trading is based on knowledge, focus, and discipline. The New Trading for a Living will lift your trading to a higher level by sharing classic wisdom along with modern market tools.
Full Title: When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change
Author: Mohamed El-Erian
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
When Markets Collide is a timely alert to the fundamental changes taking place in today’s global economic and financial systems–and a call to action for investors who may fall victim to misinterpreting important signals. While some have tended to view asset class mispricings as mere “noise,” this compelling book shows why they are important signals of opportunities and risks that will shape the market for years to come. One of today’s most respected names in finance, Mohamed El-Erian puts recent events in their proper context, giving you the tools that can help you interpret the markets, benefit from global economic change, and navigate the risks.
The world economy is in the midst of a series of hand-offs. Global growth is now being heavily influenced by nations that previously had little or no systemic influence. Former debtor nations are building unforeseen wealth and, thus, enjoying unprecedented influence and facing unusual challenges. And new derivative products have changed the behavior of many market segments and players. Yet, despite all these changes, the system’s infrastructure is yet to be upgraded to reflect the realities of today’s and tomorrow’s world. El-Erian investigates the underlying drivers of global change to shed light on how you should:
- Think about the new opportunities and risks
- Construct an appropriately diversified and internationalized portfolio
- Protect your portfolio against new sources of systemic risk
- Best think about the impact of central banks and financial policies around the world
Offering up predictions of future developments, El-Erian directs his focus to help you capitalize on the new financial landscape, while limiting exposure to new risk configurations.
When Markets Collide is a unique collection of books for investors and policy makers around the world. In addition to providing a thorough analysis and clear perspective of recent events, it lays down a detailed map for navigating your way through an otherwise perplexing new economic landscape.
Full Title: The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets by Mebane Faber & Eric Richardson
Authors: Mebane Faber & Eric Richardson
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $50 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
The Ivy Portfolio shows step-by-step how to track and mimic the investment strategies of the highly successful Harvard and Yale endowments. Using the endowment Policy Portfolios as a guide, the authors illustrate how an investor can develop a strategic asset allocation using an ETF-based investment approach.
The Ivy Portfolio also reveals a novel method for investors to reduce their risk through a tactical asset allocation strategy to protect them from bear markets. The book will also showcase a method to follow the smart money and piggyback the top hedge funds and their stock-picking abilities. With readable, straightforward advice, The Ivy Portfolio will show investors exactly how this can be accomplished—and allow them to achieve an unparalleled level of investment success in the process.
With all of the uncertainty in the markets today, The Ivy Portfolio helps the reader answer the most often asked question in investing today – “What do I do”?
Related Books:
Full Title: Way of the Turtle: Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders
Author: Curtis Faith
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
“We’re going to raise traders just like they raise turtles in Singapore.”
So trading guru Richard Dennis reportedly said to his long-time friend William Eckhardt nearly 25 years ago. What started as a bet about whether great traders were born or made became a legendary trading experiment that, until now, has never been told in its entirety.
Way of the Turtle reveals, for the first time, the reasons for the success of the secretive trading system used by the group known as the “Turtles.” Top-earning Turtle Curtis Faith lays bare the entire experiment, explaining how it was possible for Dennis and Eckhardt to recruit 23 ordinary people from all walks of life and train them to be extraordinary traders in just two weeks.
Only nineteen years old at the time-the youngest Turtle by far-Faith traded the largest account, making more than $30 million in just over four years. He takes you behind the scenes of the Turtle selection process and behind closed doors where the Turtles learned the lucrative trading strategies that enabled them to earn an average return of over 80 percent per year and profits of more than $100 million. You’ll discover
- How the Turtles made money-the principles that guided their trading and the step-by-step methods they followed
- Why, even though they used the same approach, some Turtles were more successful than others
- How to look beyond the rules as the Turtles implemented them to find core strategies that work for any tradable market
- How to apply the Turtle Way to your own trades-and in your own life
- Ways to diversify your trading and limit your exposure to risk
Offering his unique perspective on the experience, Faith explains why the Turtle Way works in modern markets, and shares hard-earned wisdom on taking risks, choosing your own path, and learning from your mistakes.
Full Title: All About Asset Allocation: The Easy Way to Get Started
Author: Richard Ferri
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $ Paperback / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
All About Asset Allocation goes beyond sound-bite financial columns and TV programs to explain asset allocation in terms that anyone can under- stand. Using a concise style, it features straight- forward explanations of asset allocation, a review of the asset allocation process, and guidelines for implementing strategies and programs.
Full Title: Building Reliable Trading Systems
Author: Keith Fitschen
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
A tradable strategy is one that fits your own risk-reward goals and trades as well in real time as it performs in a development backtest. While it’s not easy to create a tradable strategy, due to pitfalls ranging from excessive curve-fitting to greed, if done the right way, you can achieve a realistic level of success.
Nobody understands this better than author Keith Fitschen—a thought leader in trading system development whose most popular system, Aberration, has been named “One of the Top Ten Trading Systems of All Time” by Futures Truth. For more than twenty-five years, Fitschen has developed and actively traded his proven systems, and now he shares his extensive experience in this field with you.
Engaging and accessible, Building Reliable Trading Systems opens with a practical look at exactly what is achievable with a trading strategy. This includes documented performance from some of the best money managers in the world over the last five years, metrics that best characterize a trading strategy’s performance, and a set of questions to help you define what would constitute a “tradable strategy” according to your personal risk-taking tolerance. It also addresses one of the biggest problems in developing a strategy—curve-fitting—and presents a unique methodology known as “Build, Rebuild, and Compare,” or BRAC, that can be used to determine the degree of curve-fitting in your strategy development.
With this information in hand, Fitschen moves on to outline two tradable systems: one a short-term scalping system for stocks, and the other a mid-term trend-following strategy for commodities. Entries, exits, and trading filters are discussed as these systems are developed. By the end of the process, both are “tradable” as is, but in order to tailor them to a range of risk-reward profiles—from large stock and commodity accounts to small—you’ll be introduced to some essential money management techniques. Fitschen also develops a money management overlay to trade the stock and commodity strategies together, which can yield a trading solution that is better than either alone.
And for those who want even more detail about the strategies developed in this book, the trades for both systems can be found on www.keithstrading.com. At the website, you can input your user name and password to find the TradeStation Easy Language code and daily signals for them.
Written with the serious trader in mind, Building Reliable Trading Systems contains information that you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere—from BRAC to bar-scoring—and will put you in a better position to generate realistic trading returns over time.
Full Title: Stock Market Logic: A Sophisticated Approach to Profits on Wall Street
Author: Norman Fosback
Publisher/Date: Dearborn Financial (1993)
List Cost/Pages: $30 / 384 pages
Cover Notes:
This classic, first published in 1976, has gone through 18 printings and sold more than a half-million copies. It offers comprehensive coverage of the stock market for investors and professionals, and presents a coherent philosophy, showing how investors with reasonable objectives can use this approach to reap steady rewards. Includes discussions on market indicators, econometrics and the market and stock selection theories. It outlines a financial management system to measure the market and keep score, and explains how to use market logic and mutual funds to maximize profit and reduce risk.
Full Title: Commodities Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide
Author: Scott Frush (Twitter @ETFMarketWatch)
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Paperback / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
Oil, rice, corn, the Euro–commodities these days are hot, and they’re getting hotter. This engaging and thorough guide covers all the basics you’ll need to profit from today’s most active investment classes.
Commodities Demystified takes you straight to the heart of the subject, beginning with a discussion on the basic elements of the commodities market. It then introduces you to the various available commodities and investment options, including exchange-traded instruments, futures, and options, and explains the correlation between inflation and commodity prices. Finally, each chapter ends with a quick-review quiz enabling you to test your knowledge.
Designed to provide a thorough education without overwhelming you with complexities and mystifying jargon, this self-teaching guide is exactly what you need to successfully identify and trade commodities in today’s market.
This confusion-busting guide covers:
- The fundamentals of the commodities market
- Different commodity classes and subclasses
- Finding a reputable commodities broker
- How to make online trades
- Strategies for minimizing risk and maximizing profits
Full Title: Intermarket Analysis and Investing: Integrating Economic, Fundamental, and Technical Trends
Author: Michael Gayed
Publisher/Date: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (1990)
List Cost/Pages: $18 Paperback / 510 pages
Cover Notes:
Written in 1990 and re-released with a foreword by Michael A. Gayed in 2013, this eye-opening book brings together the most relied upon tools of market analysis.
Michael E.S. Gayed clearly explains how this powerful combination of major schools of thought of market analysis can help investors dramatically improve their judgment on likely market performance and spot important trends, thereby making successful investment decisions.
Intermarket Analysis and Investing begins with an overview of investment analysis that examines types of risk and portfolio structuring. Then it moves on to the three prominent schools of thought in market analysis with discussions of:
1) Economic analysis, which is primarily concerned with the state of business, and anticipates phases of economic expansion and contraction by focusing on economic indicators
2) Fundamental analysis, the most widely followed and practiced form of analysis, it looks at the accounting and financial position of companies in an attempt to evaluate intrinsic worth and true stock value
3) Technical analysis or the market-timing school, practiced by “believers in the supremacy of trend analysis,” and followers of the ticker tape, It is primarily concerned with the dynamics behind the fluctuation in the price of a stock
This book also examines the positive aspects and pitfalls to contrarian investing, top-down and bottom-up market approaches, comparative market analysis, and common-sense trend analysis.
By integrating economic, fundamental, and technical quantitative analysis into a sensible working framework, Intermarket Analysis and Investing exposes the inherent short-comings of relying too heavily or exclusively on any single approach. Each school of stock market analysis is thoroughly examined so that the reader can understand each approach and how it interacts with the others.
Part II stresses the economic by analyzing the most important aspects of the business cycle, the Fed’s role in managing the balance of inflation and unemployment, and factors investors should watch to tame market risk and minimize loss during downtrends.
It is here that the importance of economic indicators is emphasized, with an in-depth discussion of the 11 leading indicators that monitor the economy and help the investor anticipate long-term business trends, the four coincident indicators that help verify the predictability of the leading indicators, and the lagging indicators that help spot emerging structural trends.
Part III discusses the use of fundamental analysis, which compares the growth and finances of different securities and industry groups. It shows how earnings, sales, book value, P/E multiples, leverage, liquidity, and/or profitability of companies are used to reveal the worth of a security as an investment. The commodities market and the effect of globalization of securities markets are also examined.
Part IV shows how quantitative market analysis aids active investors in determining the short-or immediate-term direction of stocks. Intermarket Analysis and Investing shows how to improve investment decisions by integrating the best features of fundamental analysis and some well-known market timing techniques described and illustrated in this section.
The final section of the book provides insightful investment strategies that are based on the intermarket relationships previously discussed. By integrating the methods described in detail in this book, investors stand a much better chance of profiting from market opportunities and of achieving their objectives.
Full Title: Quantitative Trading & Money Management
Author: Fred Gehm
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (1995)
List Cost/Pages: $32 Hardcover / 340 pages
Cover Notes:
“Quantitative Trading & Money Management” provides all the tools a trader needs to best utilize his trading capital. The book explains how to use mathematical techniques to calculate risk/reward possibilities, optimal trading size, profit objectives and stop loss points, In short, Gehm expertly covers every issue involved in converting a market forecast into a trade. This completely revised edition sheds light on a number of recent developments in the markets such as managed future and the growth of financial derivatives. Specific topics include: recognizing avoiding catastrophic losses; the importance of diversification; avoiding catastrophic losses; calculating revenue/cost ratios in trading; and developing a sound trading plan.
Full Title: Asset Allocation: Balancing Financial Risk
Authors: Roger Gibson
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2000)
List Cost/Pages: $55 Hardcover / 317 pages
Cover Notes:
As financial commentators fill the airwaves with warnings and advice, and coworkers gather around computer screens to track hot stocks, investors find it increasingly difficult to stick with proven, orderly investment strategies. But in the updated third edition of his classic Asset Allocation, Roger Gibson reminds us that choosing a sensible, proven asset allocation strategy—concerned more with the optimal mix of investment classes than with today’s hot stock picks—is exactly what investors must do to remain sane and successful…And then he shows us how to do it.
Asset Allocation dispenses with luck, market timing, and other “Buy low, sell high” sleights of hand to outline sensible decisions that all investors can make on their own. Less concerned with how investments perform individually than how they perform as a group, it explains how to assemble a long-term portfolio that will actually outperform its parts—while minimizing overall risks—no matter what the market environment.
This all-in-one template for successful long-term investing includes: An easy-to-follow, risk-adjusted model for striking the best portfolio balance between equity and fixed-income securities Rewards of Multiple-Asset-Class Investing—a new chapter that proves why, over time, diversification is still the only sensible alternative Managing Client Expectations—Guidelines to help clients ignore short-term fears—and hold to long-term investment strategies Classic lessons of modern portfolio theory placed into the framework of today’s tumultuous marketplace Performance tables, charts, figures, and more—completely updated from the best-selling second edition.
Overriding principles of successful and low-pressure investing are relatively few, and easy to understand. What becomes difficult is to stick to these principles, remind oneself that both bull and bear markets are historically inevitable, and design a long-term portfolio strategy that—once the day traders and market timers have pulled out to tally their defeats—provides day-to-day peace of mind and lifetime financial security.
Asset Allocation learns from history instead of ignoring it. This updated third edition remains today’s most valuable resource for understanding and applying historically tested asset allocation principles, and designing an investment strategy that shifts the focus from short-term tips and blips to long-term needs and results.
Full Title: Currency Trading: How to Access and Trade the World’s Biggest Market
Author: Philip Gotthelf (Twitter @Commodex)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2002)
List Cost/Pages: $80 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
From strategies to trading forums, the foreign exchange (FOREX) market-where currency trading volume exceeds $1 trillion daily-is a moving target with massive profit possibilities. Even with relatively little starting capital, you can take advantage of the fluctuations within currency markets and reap enormous rewards, but first you have to learn how.
Expert trading veteran Philip Gotthelf understands that the dynamics and rules of currency trading are constantly changing. With this in mind, he has written Currency Trading: How to Access and Trade the World’s Biggest Market. Instead of repeating the outdated advice of “experts,” this comprehensive resource offers practical information which will allow you to cultivate your own views of currency trading, sharpen your skills, and ultimately, draw your own conclusions on where, when, and how to trade almost any currency.
A brief introduction to money, currency, and foreign exchange highlights the fundamental differences of these three concepts, and clarifies commonly held misconceptions. With the basics established, Currency Trading moves forward to provide you with an indispensable overview of how the foreign exchange market works and how you can profit within it.
Currency Trading is filled with in-depth insights and valuable advice that any level of currency trader can appreciate. Numerous real-world examples and case studies help drive each point home in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner. Topics discussed include:
- The principle of “parity” and how to master it
- How currency markets such as futures, options, Interbank, and forwards work
- Events that affect currency value-from inter- est rates to a country’s economic position
- Forecasting using fundamental and technical analysis
- Basic to advanced trading strategies for currency markets
- How to avoid scams and take advantage of legal manipulations within currency markets
For many investors, currency trading is a daunting task-there are dozens of ways to participate in several different forums, and currency markets have a language and style all their own-but the allure of extraordinary returns is so powerful and intoxicating that it is hard to resist. Whether you’re trading U.S. Dollars, Japanese Yen, or the Euro, Currency Trading contains the tips and tools you need to succeed.
Full Title: Commodity Trading Advisors: Risk, Performance Analysis and Selection
Author: Greg Gregoriou, Vassilios Karavas, François-Serge Lhabitant & Fabrice Rouah
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $95 Hardcover / 424 pages
Cover Notes:
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) use proprietary trading programs that buy and sell commodities and financial futures around the globe. Different than hedge fund and long-only portfolio managers, they don’t follow any stock or bond market trends, but rather, attempt to seize opportunities in a variety of commodity and financial futures markets. The investment potential of CTAs is undeniable, yet little has been done to study their performance in detail–until now.
In Commodity Trading Advisors: Risk, Performance Analysis, and Selection editors Greg Gregoriou, Vassilios Karavas, François-Serge Lhabitant, and Fabrice Rouah bring together the best minds in the business to analyze CTAs from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Divided into four comprehensive sections–Performance; Risk and Managed Futures Investing; Managed Futures Investing, Fees, and Regulation; and Program Evaluation, Selection, Diversification, and Returns–this unique resource contains articles that cover a wide range of CTA issues, including:
- The performance of CTAs in changing market conditions
- Simple and cross efficiency of CTAs using data envelopment analysis
- The effect of large hedge fund and CTA trading on futures market volatility
- Measuring the long volatility strategies of managed futures
- Managed futures funds and other fiduciary products
- Choosing the right CTA
- How to design a commodity trading futures program
Although much of the information related to CTAs can be technical in nature, Commodity Trading Advisors distills the knowledge of experts within this field in the most straightforward and accessible way possible. You’ll become familiar with many of the benefits and risks associated with CTAs as well as the risk/return characteristics of a number of different strategies implemented by them. You’ll also learn about important CTA selection and monitoring issues, such as evaluation, returns, and tracking.
Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Commodity Trading Advisors can help you–whether you’re an institutional investor, pension fund manager, endowment fund, or high-net-worth individual–understand the complexities of this alternative investment opportunity, and show you how to use CTAs as a portfolio diversification tool that can mitigate downside risk in any market.
Full Title: Trading Options: Using Technical Analysis to Design Winning Trades
Author: Greg Harmon
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2014)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
The key to success is being prepared and working hard, says authorGreg Harmon. Part of this preparation is using proven tools to makeimportant decisions about your money and your future. In TradingOptions: Using Technical Analysis to Design Winning Trades, the founder of Dragonfly Capital Management, LLC shares his unique process for trading stocks and options using technical analysis. Although not yet a widely accepted methodology, technical analysis is quickly becoming a popular mainstream technique for trading in a volatile market.
Harmon presents a series of four building blocks that move you from broad investment ideas to more specific trading strategies using technical tools. His techniques are based on traditional methods such as manual chart examination (as opposed to relying on scanning tools), which he then adapts for a modern era. The book is written to be both a learning tool and a reference guide about smart trading for stocks and options, presented in plain English, to help anyone be more prepared to find success with their investments.
Beginning with how to identify market trends and causes of change,Harmon dives deep into market influencers and inter-market relationships. He includes a discussion of the S&P 500, emerging markets, the US Treasury, and market indicators. Identifying trends, Harmon says, will allow you to predict which way 70% of the market will move over time. It is a simple concept that forms the basis of deeper trend analysis opportunities discussed in the latter part of the book, and can move you beyond the major Index ETFs and ahead of the majority of investors.
The advanced strategies within are presented in an easy-to-digest manner, with straightforward discussions and clear price chart examples that don’t require an advanced degree in Mathematics or Engineering. It is a book designed to be useful to everyone, event hose who only have a 401k. The basis of technical analysis is not a hard and fast set of rules, but rather a historical look at prices and at what could be in the future. Trading Options is your authoritative resource on using technical analysis to profit when trading indexes, sectors, stocks, or options.
Stendahl Comment:
“Looking for a comprehensive guide to options, look no further,Trading Options delivers a well-designed top-down approach perfect for any trader. The trading plan outlined will have you trading more effectively in no time. Read it, learn it, breathe it … Greg delivers the goods.”
— David Stendahl
Full Title: Short Term Trading with Price Patterns
Author: Michael Harris (Twitter @mikeharrisNY)
Publisher/Date: Traders Press (2000)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 210 pages
Cover Notes:
This book was written with two objectives in mind: to provide futures traders with specific trading systems, and to provide a methodology to employ these trading systems in systematic trading. Both of these elements working in synergy are required to win in futures trading. An effective trading system puts in place the prospect of profitable trading. In turn, a skilled trader uses a trading methodology to take advantage of this prospect in a way that is appropriate and is consistent with the requirements of the trading system in use. This harmonious cooperation of the trader/system combination will eventually lead to consistent long-term profits.
The global financial system, an important part of which is the futures markets, is a very complex, dynamic process. Advances in technology have facilitated the rapid flow of funds between investment vehicles that can be located on opposite sides of the globe. It seems difficult for even the most well-educated, well-trained human minds to predict the movement of capital in a way that will lead to systematic gains. Sudden reversals in the direction of market prices can make previous hard-earned gains disappear in a matter of hours, or even turn into devastating losses. Recouping the losses can be a difficult task.
The systems and methods shown in this book attempt to deal with the nature of the futures markets by adopting a short-term trading approach based on historical price patterns. These patterns can be easily programmed in the computer and monitored on a daily basis. Positions may be placed either at the close of the day that a pattern formation is completed or at the open of the next trading day. A profit target and a stop loss are placed immediately, as soon as the position is established. The average duration of a trade can vary from one to a few days, depending on the profit and loss objectives of the particular patterns employed in the trading system model.
The book is divided into three sections: 1) Backgrounds; 2) Trading with Short-Term Price Patterns; and 3) Library of Specific Price Patterns.
Full Title: Dynamic Trading Indicators: Winning with Value Charts and Price Action Profile
Authors: Mark Helweg and David Stendahl (Twitter @David_Stendahl)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2002)
List Cost/Pages: $70 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
In today’s volatile market, traditional price charts alone may not be able to provide the information you need to make optimal trading decisions. Financial experts Mark Helweg and David Stendahl recognize this problem and have developed two innovative market analysis tools-Value Charts and Price Action Profile-that will allow you to trade the stock, bond, currency, and futures markets with poise and confidence.
Dynamic Trading Indicators: Winning with Value Charts and Price Action Profile provides a comprehensive introduction to these two powerful and exciting new technical indicators and shows you how to develop systems and trading programs that implement them.
Through accessible language and real-world examples, this book will teach you how to read Value Charts and benefit from their quantifiable market insights. Your trading skills and profits will increase as you use Value Charts to measure the value of any given market and begin to buy into it at undervalued or oversold price levels. You’ll also learn how to use Value Charts in tandem with Price Action Profile to determine the degree to which a market is overvalued (overbought) or undervalued (oversold).
After explaining the basics of Value Charts and Price Action Profile, Dynamic Trading Indicators moves ahead and explores the everyday uses of these market analysis tools in regard to your own trading activities. Practical and informative chapters show you how to:
- Identify low-risk trading opportunities in numerous markets with Value Charts and Price Action Profile
- Improve your overall trading strategy by integrating Value Charts and Price Action Profile with other technical indicators
- Create trading systems by utilizing a whole new set of quantifiable values that stem from Value Charts and Price Action Profile
- Develop and improve pattern recognition trading strategies
- Track thousands of markets and identify good buying or selling opportunities
- Minimize market risk and systemic risk when accumulating stock
Not all charting techniques are created equal. Dynamic Trading Indicators proves this with the introduction of Value Charts and Price Action Profile. Take this opportunity to understand two of the most revolutionary trading indicators currently available and unlock the door to unlimited profits.
Related Books:
- The New Technical Trader by Tushar S. Chande
- Building Reliable Trading Systems by Keith Fitschen
- Technical Traders Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures Markets Hardcover by Charles Lebeau & David Lucas
- The Encyclopedia Of Technical Market Indicators, Second Edition Hardcover by Robert W. Colby
Full Title: The Almanac Investor: Profit from Market History and Seasonal Trends
Authors: Jeffrey Hirsch and J. Taylor Brown
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $46 Hardcover Binder / 525 pages
Cover Notes:
The key to successful financial research is the ability to access and manipulate accurate data. This book, and its cutting edge, completely Internet-based trading system – that can organise and evaluate any market data, with all parameters set by the researcher – introduces a new way of doing just that. The Hirsch name is known for time tested and successful research and analysis, and “The Almanac Investor” will share valuable Hirsch theories and strategies with investors. It includes trusted advice and techniques that can improve any reader’s overall trading efficiency. It contains data, indicators, and patterns needed to understand how and why the stock market fluctuates. A companion Web site will host a revolutionary Web-based system to evaluate and improve trading practices. It includes a step-by-step tutorial, which supplements every study in the book.
Full Title: Commodity Trader’s Almanac: For Active Traders of Futures, Forex, Stocks and ETFs
Author: Jeffrey Hirsch (Twitter @AlmanacTrader) & John Person (Twitter @candlesandpivot)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (Yearly)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Spiral/Hardcover / 192 pages
Cover Notes:
An indispensable resource for today’s active commodity, currency, futures, and ETF trader
In the yearly Edition of the Commodity Trader’s Almanac, Jeffrey Hirsch once again teams up with veteran trader John Person to create an essential tool for both professional traders and those just getting started, to help them understand the complex and exciting world of alternatives. Created in a similar fashion to the Stock Trader’s Almanac—trusted for over 40 years—the Commodity Trader’s Almanac is a comprehensive guide featuring monthly strategies, patterns, trends, and trading techniques geared towards the major commodities and currencies, as well as ETFs, futures, and options.
It also contains in-depth insights on various topics of interest to the active trader and investing public; as well as market highlights that cover key supply, demand, and seasonal tendencies on markets including crude oil, ethanol, and precious metals; critical agricultural products such as corn, wheat, and cattle; and foreign currencies like the British pound and the Euro. The Commodity Trader’s Almanac also describes how investors can utilize futures, options, and ETFs in their endeavors.
- Helps you understand how commodity pricing works and offers great insight into investing in them
- Alerts you to little-known market patterns and tendencies to help forecast commodity market trends with accuracy and confidence
- Contains expanded coverage on timing tools with tips on utilizing candlesticks and pivot points to better time seasonal trades, and more
- Includes business cycle analysis and trading tips for the current climate
Intended for active traders and investors interested in making the most out of today’s commodity, ETF, futures, options, and currencies markets, this guide will make you a better trade in the search for greater profits.
Full Title: The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles
Author: Jeffrey Hirsch (Twitter @AlmanacTrader)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $23 Hardcover / 215 pages
Cover Notes:
While predicting the direction of the stock market at any given point is difficult, it’s a fact that the market exhibits well-defined and sometimes predictable patterns. While cycles do not repeat exactly all of the time, statistical evidence suggests that cyclical tendencies are very strong and should not be ignored by investors. The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles will show you how to profit from these recurring stock market patterns and cycles.
Written by Jeffrey Hirsch, President of the Hirsch Organization and Editor-in-Chief of the Stock Trader’s Almanac, this reliable resource explains why these cycles occur, provides the historical evidence behind them, and shows you how to capture consistent profits from them moving forward. In addition to describing his most widely followed cycles and patters, Hirsch also discusses both longer term boom-bust economic cycles and shorter term tendencies involving the best days, weeks, and months of the year to trade the market.
- The methods found here follow everything from presidential election cycles to the “Santa Claus” effect
- Written by Jeffrey Hirsch, the pre-eminent authority on market cycles and seasonal patterns
- The strategies explored are easy-to-implement, and based on research that has proven profitable over the course of time
For investors looking to beat the buy-and-hold philosophy, The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles will provide simple, actionable ideas that have stood the test of time and consistently outperformed the market.
Full Title: Super Boom: Why the Dow Jones Will Hit 38,820 and How You Can Profit From It
Author: Jeffrey Hirsch (Twitter @AlmanacTrader)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Hardcover / 183 pages
Cover Notes:
In 1976, Yale Hirsch predicted a fifteen-year super boom—a move in the stock market of 500% or more. His forecast proved accurate as the market rose and continued upward, eventually posting growth over 1,000% just before the tech crash in 2000.
History has a way of repeating itself, especially in the financial markets. The American economy, and subsequently the world economy, has always existed in a cycle of boom and bust: gold, grain, oil, technology, and most recently, real estate, have all bubbled and popped. The key to investing profitably is spotting macroeconomic historical trends and positioning to reap the benefits.
In Super Boom, Jeffrey Hirsch, President of the Hirsch Organization and Editor in Chief of the Stock Trader’s Almanac, unveils the next market expansion. Building on his father’s research from 1976, Hirsch has discovered that meteoric rises in stock indices are due to specific catalysts predominantly outside of the financial markets. Step-by-step, Hirsch puts together the pieces of this puzzle by revealing the central drivers of a super boom, namely:
- Inflation—while it may be at bay for the time being, the massive injection of money by the government, in response to the global financial crisis and the Great Recession, as well as wartime spending, will eventually create an inflationary environment
- Peace between major wars—despite continuing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. troop withdrawals remain on schedule, and military presence in these countries will be winding down over the next several years
- New enabling technologies—while no one can say for sure where the next cultural paradigm-shifting technologies will come from, energy technology and/or biotechnology could lead the way
As markets and economies struggle over the next several years, remember to keep your eye on the future and get ready for the coming super boom and the next 500% move in the market. With this book as your guide, you’ll benefit from the insights that only Jeffrey Hirsch can provide and be in the best position possible to prosper from the profitable opportunities that lie ahead.
Full Title: Expected Returns: An Investor’s Guide to Harvesting Market Rewards
Author: Antti Ilmanen
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $84 Hardcover / 592 pages
Cover Notes:
For any investor, understanding the expected rewards that markets offer is central to long-term investment success. The traditional paradigm for assessing expected returns has focussed on historical performance and asset class management. However, Antti Ilmanen contends that this approach to investment decision-making is too narrow in its asset class focus and in the inputs used for assessing expected returns. He challenges investors to broaden their perspectives in two ways:
- Excess returns should be harvested from diverse sources. Strategy styles and risk factors, as well as asset classes, are sources of return, thus warranting three-dimensional analysis of investments.
- Any investment’s return prospects should be judged in a way that incorporates all knowledge, including historical experience, financial and behavioral theories, and current market conditions, without being overly dependent on any one of these.
Beginning with comprehensive introduction and overview, Expected Returns goes on to analyze the historical record, give a roadmap of terminology, explore rational and behavioral theories, and look at alternative interpretations for return predictability. A series of case studies provide detailed analysis of assets (equity, bond and credit risk premia, as well as alternative asset classes), dynamic strategy styles (value, carry, momentum, volatility) and underlying risk factors (growth, inflation, liquidity and tail risks), before moving back to broader themes, including time-varying expected returns, and seasonal, cyclical and secular return patterns.
Concluding with a series of investment lessons, Expected Returns is the complete guide for the long-term investor, providing wide-ranging empirical evidence, and a platform for forecasting the expected returns of an investment portfolio for asset allocation and portfolio balancing purposes
Full Title: The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World
Author: Greg Ip (Twitter @greg_ip)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
One positive side-effect of the recent financial market meltdown that toppled giant, century-old institutions and cost millions their jobs is that it created a strong desire among many Americans to better understand how the U.S. economy functions. In The Little Book of Economics, Greg, Ip, one of the country’s most recognized and respected economics journalists, walks readers through how the economy really works.
Written for the inquisitive layman who doesn’t want to plow through academic jargon and Greek letters or pore over charts and tables, The Little Book of Economics offers indispensable insight into how the American economy works – or, doesn’t. With engaging and accessible prose, the book
- Provides a comprehensive understanding of each aspect of our economy from inflation and unemployment to international trade and finance
- Serves as an insider’s guide to the people and institutions that control America’s economy such as the Federal Reserve and the federal budget
- Explains the roots of America’s current economic crisis and the risks the country faces in its aftermath, such as stratospheric government debt, while offering advice on overcoming these threats
- Walks readers through the basic concepts and terminology they need to understand economic news
- Punctures myths and political spin from both the left and the right with candid and often surprising insight
A must read for anyone who wants a better grasp of the economy without taking a course in economics , The Little Book of Economics is a unique and engaging look at how the economy works in all its wonderful and treacherous ways.
Full Title: The Little Book of Sideways Markets: How to Make Money in Markets that Go Nowhere
Author: Vitaliy Katsenelson (Twitter @vitaliyk)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Hardcover / 226 pages
Cover Notes:
With the stock market turning into a roller-coaster ride of all-time highs and stomach-churning lows, where does that leave your portfolio? Pretty much back where you started in 2000. Which may be fine for visitors to Six Flags, but for your retirement, savings, and investments, you’d like to actually get somewhere.
In The Little Book of Sideways Markets, respected value investor and author Vitaliy Katsenelson shows you how to survive a stagnant market that’s neither bull nor bear but instead what he calls a cowardly lion—it displays occasional bursts of bravado but is ultimately overcome by fear.
Katsenelson, known for the commonsense principles he has written frequently about in the Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and elsewhere, decodes the theories and cuts to the chase with practical and timely strategies for how you can survive and thrive during a sideways market—a state of affairs, by the way, we should expect for the next decade. He’ll show you:
- Why your investments will stall in neutral and what to do about it
- Why, despite its place as the Rodney Dangerfield of investing, you should treat mean reversion with respect
- Why Tevye was a rich man—and what you can learn from his purchase of Golde, the cow
- How the dire state of economic affairs in China and Japan will impact your investments, and what to do about it
- The three crucial concepts of value investing—Quality, Growth, and Valuation
- How focus on process, boring as it may sound, leads to success
- Why you should become a born-again value investor
- How to break bad habits and find, buy and sell stocks in a sideways market
Making progress in a sideways market is difficult, but the lively and entertaining Little Book of Sideways Markets will help you triumph even when the market is stalled.
Full Title: The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies
Author: Jeffrey Owen Katz & Donna McCormick
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2000)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 376 pages
Cover Notes:
The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies is for traders who want to take the next step to consistently profitable trading. The authors–themselves seasoned veterans of the futures trading arena–pinpoint the trading methods and strategies that have been shown to produce market-beating returns. Their rigorous and systematic backtesting of each method, using the same sets of markets and analytic techniques, provides a scientific, system-based approach to system development…to help you assemble the trading system that will put you on the road to becoming a more consistently profitable trader.
Full Title: Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises
Author: Charles Kindleberger
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2000)
List Cost/Pages: $ Paperback / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
The best known and most highly regarded book on market crisis, Manias, Panics, and Crashes is thoroughly engaging. Since its introduction in 1978, it has charted a new landscape in the volatile world of financial markets. Charles Kindleberger’s brilliant, panoramic history reveals how financial crises follow a nature-like rhythm: they peak and purge, swell and storm. Now in a newly revised and expanded fourth edition, Manias, Panics, and Crashes probes the most recent natural disasters of the markets–from Black Monday to the Japanese boom and bust, from the sterling crisis and peso devaluation to the explosion in today’s technology stocks.
Captivating and colorful, Kindleberger’s writing leads the reader through a myriad of financial free falls. From the currency devaluation in the Holy Roman Empire in 1618, through the California gold rush of the 1840s and ’50s to the crash of 1987, all the way up to the present day, his sharply drawn history confronts a host of key questions: In the ups and downs of market behavior, where is the line between rational and irrational? Are the markets a fool’s paradise in an explosive world? When the storm expands to dangerous proportions, who will calm the panic? Should a “lender of last resort” intervene to repair the wreckage?
Along with scores of casualties and criminals, a revealing common thread emerges from this rich history of manias, panics, and crashes: market crises are associated with greed. Just as money evolved from coins to include bank notes, bills of exchange, bank deposits, and checks, greed likewise took on many different forms. Lightning will strike an economic environment in strife, and Kindleberger explores what happens to the markets when conflicting interests arise.
Manias, Panics, and Crashes can be regarded as a warning or a proposition, reminding readers, in many ways, that what goes around comes around. Like all true classics, Kindleberger’s book remains timely–for better or for worse. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Full Title: TThe CME Group Risk Management Handbook: Products and Applications
Author: John Labuszewski, John Nyhoff, Richard Co & Paul Peterson
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $95 Hardcover / 624 pages
Cover Notes:
Invaluable insights on trading today’s futures market The CME Risk Management Handbook provides an accessible overview of the futures market in today’s electronic world of trading. Page by page, it outlines the various CME products currently available and explains how those products can be used to manage risk. Financial professionals around the world will find this book to be a comprehensive reference to the most widely used risk management, trading, and hedging strategies. Editors John Labuszewski and John Nyhoff-two of the most highly-regarded names in futures and options research and risk management-put this discipline in perspective and offer readers invaluable insights into successfully operating within this environment. Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. is an international marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX(r) around-the-clock electronic trading platform. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures, primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange, and commodities. John W. Labuszewski, MBA, is Managing Director of Research & Product Development at CME. John Nyhoff, MBA, is a Director of Financial Research and Development at CME.
Full Title: Currency Trading and Intermarket Analysis: How to Profit from the Shifting Currents in Global Markets
Author: Ashraf Laidi (Twitter @alaidi)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $75 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
Currencies are becoming an integral part of many investors’ portfolios and have grown to be a distinct asset class in banks’ investment products. While the mechanics of the forex market and the theories underpinning it have been widely explored, there has been little discussion regarding the practical intermarket relationships shaping currencies via interest rates, equities, and commodities.
Nobody is more familiar with this situation than author Ashraf Laïdi. As head FX strategist at CMC Markets—one of the world’s leading forex/commodity brokers—he understands the forces shaping today’s currency market and their interplay with interest rates, equities, and commodities. And now, with Currency Trading and Intermarket Analysis, he shares his extensive experiences in this field with you.
Following an innovative approach based on what still works and what doesn’t in currency market analysis; applying charts and case studies to intermarket analysis in unprecedented ways; and weighing both old theories and newly emerging phenomena in this arena, Currency Trading and Intermarket Analysis will put you in a better position to assess shifts in economic and market dynamics and make more profitable trading decisions in the process.
Some of the essential issues addressed include:
- The latest commodity boom with a breakdown by individual commodity group and its implication for currencies
- The relationship between short- and long-term interest rates and how it can be applied to anticipate vital shifts in central bank decisions and turning points in economic growth
- The drivers of risk appetite in the market and their effect on foreign exchange
- Central bank currency reserves in regions such as the oil-producing nations, and the evolution of power between the Dollar and the Euro
- A gold-based approach to valuing the major currencies and determining their secular strengths and weaknesses over the past decades
Currency trading has increased in size and speed, and so has its impact on the global financial scene. Having a solid grasp of these markets is no longer limited to figuring out interest rate and growth differentials. Currency Trading and Intermarket Analysis outlines the tools needed to understand the macroeconomic and financial nuances of this dynamic field and provides you with insights that are essential to making the most of your time within it.
Full Title: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Author: Edwin Lefevre
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $23 Paperback / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
First published in 1923, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the most widely read, highly recommended investment book ever. Generations of readers have found that it has more to teach them about markets and people than years of experience. This is a timeless tale that will enrich your life—and your portfolio.
Full Title: The Little Book of Currency Trading: How to Make Big Profits in the World of Forex
Author: Kathy Lien (Twitter @kathylienfx)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Hardcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
An accessible guide to trading the fast-moving foreign exchange market
The foreign exchange market, or forex, was once dominated by global banks, hedge funds, and multinational corporations, but that has all changed with Internet technology and the advent of online forex brokers. Now, hundreds of thousands of traders and investors around the world can participate in this profitable field.
Written by forex expert Kathy Lien, The Little Book of Currency Trading will show you how to effectively invest and trade in today’s biggest market. Page by page, she describes the multitude of opportunities possible in the forex market, from short-term price swings to long-term trends, and details practical products that can help you achieve success, such as currency-based ETFs.
- Explains the forces that drive currencies and provides strategies to profit from them
- Reveals how you can use various currencies to reduce risk and take advantage of global trends
- Examines financial vehicles that can help you make money without having to monitor the market every day
The Little Book of Currency Trading opens the world of currency trading and investing to anyone interested in entering this dynamic arena.
Full Title: Getting Started in Futures
Author: Todd Lofton
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $29 Paperback / 289 pages
Cover Notes:
Getting Started in Futures explains in simple, easy-to-understand terms everything you need to know to start trading futures successfully. You’ll learn how to forecast prices, how hedging works, and how to take advantage of new electronic trading opportunities. The updated Fifth Edition includes discussions on the increasingly important role of futures markets in foreign currencies, equity indexes, interest rates, and proper money management.
Full Title: When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
Author: Roger Lowenstein
Publisher/Date: Random House (2001)
List Cost/Pages: $16 Paperback / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
In late September 1998, the New York Federal Reserve Bank invited a number of major Wall Street investment banks to enter a consortium to fund the multibillion-dollar bailout of a troubled hedge fund. No sooner was the $3.6-billion plan announced than questions arose about why usually independent banks would band together to save a single privately held fund. The short answer is that the banks feared that the fund’s collapse could destabilize the entire stock market. The long answer, which Lowenstein (Buffett) provides in undigested detail, may panic those who shudder at the thought of bouncing a $200 check. Long-Term Capital Management opened for business in February 1994 with $1.25 billion in funds. Armed with the cachet of its founders’ stellar credentials (Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, 1997 Nobel Prize laureates in economics, were among the partners), it quickly parlayed expertise at reading computer models of financial markets and seemingly limitless access to financing into stunning results. By the end of 1995, it had tripled its equity capital and total assets had grown to $102 billion. Lowenstein argues that this kind of success served to enhance the fund’s golden legend and sent the partners’ self-confidence off the charts. As he itemizes the complex mix of investments and heavy borrowing that made 1994-1997 profitable years, Lowenstein also charts the subtle drift toward riskier (and ultimately disastrous) ventures as the fund’s traditional profit centers dried up. What should have been a gripping story, however, has been poorly handled by Lowenstein, who obscures his narrative with masses of data and overwritten prose.
Full Title: Chart Reading for Professional Traders
Authors: Michael Jenkins
Publisher/Date: Wasendorf & Associates (1996)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 140 pages
Cover Notes:
This book is a complete, comprehensive study on reading charts, forecasting the market, time cycles, and trading strategies. It explains reversal of trends, when to expect them and how to know the trend has changed. Shows you how to forecast with great reliability how long the new trend will last and its price target. As does his first book, Geometry of Stock Market Profits, this book discusses in-depth the Gann techniques of time and price. There is a progression to the very advanced concepts of day trading off of circular arc segments and calculating final high and low price targets. Each principle is demonstrated with numerous chart illustrations and real world applications. The information found in this book is unique with many of the techniques discovered personally by Mr. Jenkins and are found nowhere else!
Full Title: The Geometry of Stock Market Profits
Author: Michael Jenkins
Publisher/Date: Wasendorf & Associates (1996)
List Cost/Pages: $80 Hardcover / 176 pages
Cover Notes:
This book is about Jenkins’ proprietary techniques, with major emphasis on cycle analysis, how he views and uses the methods of W. D. Gann, and the geomery of time and price. Among the many topics, you will learn:
- Which angles are important and how to draw them correctly.
- How professional traders think and the types of strategies they use day to day.
- How to place stops correctly.
- How to construct and use Gann Squares for analysis and forecasting of individual stocks and commodities.
- How long the basic trend can be expected to last.
- When and where to buy and well
- How to utilize Gann angles and methods that predict exact turning points with high probability.
- The numerological interrelationships of price and time forecasting.
- Ten trading tips to make you rich.
Full Title: CandlePower: Advanced Candlestick Pattern Recognition and Filtering Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures
Author: Greg Morris
Publisher/Date: Probus (1992)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 275 pages
Cover Notes:
Full Title: Seasonal Stock Market Trends: The Definitive Guide to Calendar-Based Stock Market Trading
Author: Jay Kaeppel (Twitter @jaykaeppel)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $60 / 298 pages
Cover Notes:
In many aspects of life, things occur in a repetitive pattern. And while things do in fact change over time, the basic underlying idea of seasons and seasonality is that even though things do change, they often return to a particular state over and over again—often in a very predictable way.
Over the course of the past twenty-five years, author Jay Kaeppel—one of the most experienced profes-sionals in the areas of seasonality and stock, options, and futures trading—has examined a wide range of seasonal and cyclical trends as they relate to the stock market over the past century. Now, with Seasonal Stock Market Trends, he shares his extensive insights with you.
Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this book will show you how following the calendar—and taking advantage of consistently strong seasonal trends—can help you to achieve long-term stock market success. Kaeppel introduces you to a wide array of seasonal stock market trends—most based on 70 to 100 plus years of actual market data—and identifies objective “rules” for utilizing each one. Along the way, he also presents a process that allows you to track the performance of a given strategy, so that you can gauge its overall effectiveness.
Just a few of the trends touched upon include:
- Holiday Seasonal Trends, which looks at the trading days surrounding market holidays to reveal some surprising results
- Monthly Seasonal Trends, which focuses on a variety of intramonth market trends and breaks the month down into clearly defined favorable and unfavorable trading days
- Repetitive Time Cycles of Note deals with the performance of the stock market in relation to three specific, and repetitive, time cycles—the 212-week cycle, the 40-week cycle, and the 53-day cycle
- Sell in May and Go Away thoroughly analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of breaking the year into two six-month periods for investment purposes
Rounding out this detailed discussion is a chapter devoted to using a variety of seasonal trends to build three separate investment models—the Long-Only Method, the Long-Only Plus Leverage (LOPL) Method; and “Jay’s Ultimate Seasonal Barometer” (or JUSB). These detailed models are designed to generate specific buy and sell signals, and require no interpretation on your part.
Seasonal Stock Market Trends will help you incorporate seasonal trends into your current investment or trading endeavors and put you in a far better position to generate consistent profits over time. Free of complicated trading systems and so-called surefire secrets, this book will set you on a solid path to finding opportunities in the markets based on recurring seasonal patterns.
Stendahl Comments:
I’ve personally been fascinated with calendar-based trading for a number of years. Most books I’ve read on the subject have never gone into enough detail providing factual historical results. Seasonal Stock Market Trends covers the subject well … focusing on all aspect of calendar-based trading in great detail. It’s an easy read, full of step-by-step analysis. Chapters include analysis of the January effect, holiday seasonal trends, yearly seasonal trends, repetitive cycles and election cycles. This is in fact a definitive guide to calendar-based trading. I give it my highest rating 5 out of 5.
Full Title: Intermarket Trading Strategies
Author: Markos Katsanos
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $105 Hardcover / 430 pages
Cover Notes:
Intermarket Trading Strategies explains how markets interact and influence each other and how intermarket analysis can be used to forecast future equity and index price movements by introducing custom indicators and intermarket trading systems.
Single market technical analysis indicators were designed in the 80s for national markets, and are no longer sufficient for analyzing the global market dynamics. This book reveals how you can combine intermarket with classic technical techniques to develop profitable hybrid systems or improve on existing ones.
Divided into two parts, part one begins with a discussion of the basic principles of Intermarket analysis and the benefits of portfolio diversification by including uncorrelated assets such as commodities and foreign currencies. It goes on to explain the concept of correlation and the basic assumptions used before demonstrating the linear regression method used for predicting one security based on its correlation with related markets. A variety of custom intermarket indicators are presented and explanations are given as to how each one can be used within the framework of a trading system, including eight new custom Intermarket indicators published for the first time in this book.
Part two uses the concepts presented in part one to develop intermarket trading systems to trade popular markets like US and European stock Index futures, FOREX and Commodities. Techniques for developing a trading system and evaluating the test results are presented along with suggested methods of avoiding curve fitting and the illusion of excellence created by optimization. Stop-loss and other money management techniques are also discussed. Finally a brief introduction to neural network systems explains the basic principles of this alternative approach for designing trading systems.
A total of twenty nine conventional and five neural network trading systems, appropriate for long and short term and even day trading, are provided to trade Gold, the S&P ETF (SPY), S&P e-mini futures, DAX and FTSE futures, Gold and Oil stocks, Commodities, Sector and International ETF, the Yen and the Euro. Finally a dynamic asset allocation timing strategy which would systematically keep the portfolio moving into the strongest asset classes or sectors, enhancing the return characteristics while decreasing the overall volatility, is also included. The metastock code for all systems is provided in order to test and paper trade the system on more recent data before you move from the computer to the trading desk.
Full Title: Smarter Trading: Improving Performance in Changing Markets
Author: Perry Kaufman
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (1995)
List Cost/Pages: $30 / 252 pages
Cover Notes:
As a direct result of economic globalization and computerized trading, today’s professional stock, bond, and futures traders face a career-making – or breaking – challenge: to track and immediately comprehend the bewildering place of market, volume, and price changes, then some how profit from this unexpected volatility. In “Smarter Trading” distinguished author and trader Perry Kaufman helps harried financial pros cope with financial market uncertainty by creating a “robust” trading model that adapts quickly to market changes and yields stronger, more predictable results. And he shows them how to make sense of the current barrage of sophisticated, hi-tech trading technologies – neural networks, fuzzy logic, expert systems, chaos, and fractals, to name a few – and align these weapons with their own trading strategies.
Full Title: Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians
Author: Charles Kirkpatrick and Julie Dahlquist
Publisher/Date: FT Press (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $90 Hardcover / 704 pages
Cover Notes:
Already the field’s most comprehensive, reliable, and objective guidebook, Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians, Second Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the field’s latest advances. Selected by the Market Technicians Association as the official companion to its prestigious Chartered Market Technician (CMT) program, this book systematically explains the theory of technical analysis, presenting academic evidence both for and against it. Using hundreds of fully updated illustrations, the authors explain the analysis of both markets and individual issues, and present complete investment systems and portfolio management plans. They present authoritative, up-to-date coverage of tested sentiment, momentum indicators, seasonal affects, flow of funds, testing systems, risk mitigation strategies, and many other topics. This edition thoroughly covers the latest advances in pattern recognition, market analysis, and systems management. The authors introduce new confidence tests; cover increasingly popular methods such as Kagi, Renko, Kase, Ichimoku, Clouds, and DeMark indicators; present innovations in exit stops, portfolio selection, and testing; and discuss the implications of behavioral bias for technical analysis. They also reassess old formulas and methods, such as intermarket relationships, identifying pitfalls that emerged during the recent market decline. For traders, researchers, and serious investors alike, this is the definitive book on technical analysis.
Note: Take a look at the index and you will see a mention of RINA Systems a company I co-founded.
Full Title: Far from Random: Using Investor Behavior and Trend Analysis to Forecast Market Movement
Author: Richard Lehman
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
Since Burton Malkiel’s seminal work A Random Walk Down Wall Street was published, the financial world has swallowed whole the idea that market movement is chaotic and random.
In Far from Random, Richard Lehman uses behavior-based trend analysis to debunk Malkiel’s random walk theory. Lehman demonstrates that the market has discernible trends that are foreseeable. By learning to spot these trends, investors and traders can predict market movement to boost returns in anything from equities to 401(k) accounts.
Richard Lehman has been a financial professional for more than thirty years. He studied the first iterations of behavioral finance back in the 1970s as a financial marketer and has since worked in various facets of the financial industry. His early introduction to behavioral finance and the more recent introduction to trend analysis led him to this important discovery.
Full Title: The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World’s Most Astonishing Number
Author: Mario Livio
Publisher/Date: Broadway Books (2003)
List Cost/Pages: $16 Paperback / 294 pages
Cover Notes:
Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887…This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as “The Golden Ratio,” was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali’s The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market!
The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.
Full Title: The Evolution of Technical Analysis: Financial Prediction from Babylonian Tablets to Bloomberg Terminals
Author: Andrew Lo & Jasmina Hasanhodzic
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 212 pages
Cover Notes:
A comprehensive history of the evolution of technical analysis from ancient times to the Internet age
Whether driven by mass psychology, fear or greed of investors, the forces of supply and demand, or a combination, technical analysis has flourished for thousands of years on the outskirts of the financial establishment. In The Evolution of Technical Analysis: Financial Prediction from Babylonian Tablets to Bloomberg Terminals, MIT’s Andrew W. Lo details how the charting of past stock prices for the purpose of identifying trends, patterns, strength, and cycles within market data has allowed traders to make informed investment decisions based in logic, rather than on luck. The book
- Reveals the origins of technical analysis
- Compares and contrasts the Eastern practices of China and Japan to Western methods
- Details the contributions of pioneers such as Charles Dow, Munehisa Homma, Humphrey B. Neill, and William D. Gann
The Evolution of Technical Analysis explores the fascinating history of technical analysis, tracing where technical analysts failed, how they succeeded, and what it all means for today’s traders and investors.
Full Title: The Magic of Moving Averages
Author: Scot Lowry
Publisher/Date: Wasendorf & Associates (1998)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Paperback / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
Scot Lowry spent years of researching and testing various methods and systems for futures trading. The moving average system, which is described in detail in this new book, is an eminently practical and logical approach to successful trading. It is the result of Lowry’s painstaking research, easily understood and fully explicit. It is geared toward the novice as well as the professional trader.
The reason for writing this book is twofold: first, after years of studying charts, he was able to identify an occurrence in market trading that can almost ensure high returns with minimal risk. This approach to trading is very clear and easy to understand. It leads to the second reason for writing this book. For a long time, he felt this system was too simple to warrant a book, but over time, he became increasingly convinced that the system you are about to learn has been overlooked by the vast majority of people. Why haven’t more people seen this? More often than not, people do not see the forest for the trees. In other words, the trading plan you are about to see is so simple that it defies logic. It is not complicated, it is not time consuming and it has no difficult formulas to try and understand. It is an easy, layman’s approach to profitable trading in the futures markets.
Full Title: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and Confusin de Confusiones
Authors: Charles Mackay / Joseph de la Vega / Martin Fridson
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1995)
List Cost/Pages: $37 Softcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
“The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These two venerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuable books on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherish them.” -From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson Managing Director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of Investment Illusions
Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusin de Confusiones take us from Tulipmania in 1634-when tulips actually traded at a higher price than gold-to the South Sea “bubble” of 1720, and beyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you on a quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back through time.
Related Books:
Full Title: The (Mis)behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
Author: Benoit Mandelbrot
Publisher/Date: Basic Books (2004)
List Cost/Pages: Paperback $19 / 352 pages
Cover Notes:
Benoit B. Mandelbrot, one of the century’s most influential mathematicians, is world-famous for making mathematical sense of a fact everybody knows but that geometers from Euclid on down had never assimilated: Clouds are not round, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not smooth. To these classic lines we can now add another example: Markets are not the safe bet your broker may claim. In his first book for a general audience, Mandelbrot, with co-author Richard L. Hudson, shows how the dominant way of thinking about the behavior of markets-a set of mathematical assumptions a century old and still learned by every MBA and financier in the world-simply does not work. As he did for the physical world in his classic The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Mandelbrot here uses fractal geometry to propose a new, more accurate way of describing market behavior. The complex gyrations of IBM’s stock price and the dollar-euro exchange rate can now be reduced to straightforward formulae that yield a far better model of how risky they are. With his fractal tools, Mandelbrot has gotten to the bottom of how financial markets really work, and in doing so, he describes the volatile, dangerous (and strangely beautiful) properties that financial experts have never before accounted for. The result is no less than the foundation for a new science of finance.
Full Title: The Inner Voice of Trading: Eliminate the Noise, and Profit from the Strategies That Are Right for You
Author: Michael Martin
Publisher/Date: FT Press (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $27 Paperback / 192 pages
Cover Notes:
Want to be a successful trader? It’s not enough to master generic trading strategies: you must first know yourself. You must understand your own emotional predilections and psychological tendencies. You must learn how to match your strategies to your own personality. You must choose strategies that are sustainable over the long haul, that you can tolerate–and execute.
Michael Martin’s The Inner Voice of Trading explains why deep self-knowledge is so crucial to successful trading, helps you gain that self-knowledge, and guides you in applying it. Drawing on interviews and discussions with great traders like Michael Marcus and Ed Seykota, he shows how to quiet your mind, develop an “inner voice” you can rely on, and make it your most important trading ally.
Full Title: Bull’s Eye Investing: Targeting Real Real Returns in a Smoke and Mirrors Market
Author: John Mauldin (Twitter @JohnFMauldin)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 433 pages
Cover Notes:
The key to successful investing today is knowing where the markets and economy are going, not where they have been, and focusing on absolute returns––real profits in your pocket. You, the contemporary investor, instinctively know that the markets of today––and the forces that drive them––are quite different than those of past decades. Your intuition tells you that if you are to be successful in the future, you must adjust your investment strategy to reflect the new economic realities. But what strategies? What adjustments? Where can you turn for reality-based answers?
In the positive and forward-thinking Bull’s Eye Investing: Targeting Real Returns in a Smoke and Mirrors Market, financial expert John Mauldin makes a powerful case regarding the future direction of the markets and what you must do to be successful in them. Mauldin lays a solid foundation for his argument by examining six major (and very different) ways to look at the stock market as well as the numerous ways Wall Street tries to entice unknowing investors to keep buying overvalued products. Marshalling a huge array of facts and sources, Mauldin looks at these and other issues, including the effects of value, risk, market psychology, and demographics on your potential investments. He details a new approach to investing that will allow you to successfully adjust to the new reality of investing.
In a straightforward and easy-to-understand style, Mauldin helps you understand why traditional stock portfolios shouldn’t be your primary investment vehicle in the coming years, and how absolute return vehicles, such as hedge funds (Chapters 20—22), specific types of bonds, and certain types of value-oriented stocks (Chapters 16—18), and investments can help you control risk, while carefully and methodically growing your investments over the next decade.
Helping you think outside of the Wall Street box, Bull’s Eye Investing focuses on finding value and controlling risk, while working with trends (which Mauldin forecasts for you) rather than against them. It will show you why investors must focus on absolute returns instead of relative returns, as well as how research and homework will be rewarded––rather than blind trust in an ever-spiraling market.
Good markets are followed by bad markets, which are again followed by good markets. While no one can predict exactly when these markets will begin or end, there’s a pretty good chance that this cycle will continue to repeat itself. As an investor, success hinges on your understanding of these ever-changing economic and investment cycles––and your response to them. Bull’s Eye Investing can help you make the most of these trends, by showing you how to target your investments toward where the markets will be, not where they have been.
Full Title: Endgame: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everything
Authors: John Mauldin & Jonathan Tepper
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2011)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
Greece isn’t the only country drowning in debt. The Debt Supercycle—when the easily managed, decades-long growth of debt results in a massive sovereign debt and credit crisis—is affecting developed countries around the world, including the United States. For these countries, there are only two options, and neither is good—restructure the debt or reduce it through austerity measures. Endgame details the Debt Supercycle and the sovereign debt crisis, and shows that, while there are no good choices, the worst choice would be to ignore the deleveraging resulting from the credit crisis. The book:
- Reveals why the world economy is in for an extended period of sluggish growth, high unemployment, and volatile markets punctuated by persistent recessions
- Reviews global markets, trends in population, government policies, and currencies
Around the world, countries are faced with difficult choices. Endgame provides a framework for making those choices.
Full Title: Just One Thing: Twelve of the World’s Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can’t Overlook
Editor: John Mauldin (Twitter @JohnFMauldin)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $25 Hardcover / 272 pages
Cover Notes:
In “Just One Thing”, author John Mauldin offers an incomparable shortcut to prosperity: the personal guidance of an outstanding group of recognized financial experts, each offering the single most useful piece of advice garnered from years of investing. Conversational rather than technical in tone, each contributor’s personal principle for success is illustrated with entertaining and illuminating real-life stories.
Full Title: A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers
Author: Lawrence G. McDonald (Twitter @Convertbond)
Publisher/Date: Crown Business (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 368 pages
Cover Notes:
One of the biggest questions of the financial crisis has not been answered until now. What happened at Lehman Brothers and why was it allowed to fail, with aftershocks that rocked the global economy? In this news-making, often astonishing book, a former Lehman Brothers Vice President gives us the straight answers—right from the belly of the beast.
In A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, Larry McDonald, a Wall Street insider, reveals, the culture and unspoken rules of the game like no book has ever done. The book is couched in the very human story of Larry McDonald’s Horatio Alger-like rise from a Massachusetts “gateway to nowhere” housing project to the New York headquarters of Lehman Brothers, home of one of the world’s toughest trading floors.
We get a close-up view of the participants in the Lehman collapse, especially those who saw it coming with a helpless, angry certainty. We meet the Brahmins at the top, whose reckless, pedal-to-the-floor addiction to growth finally demolished the nation’s oldest investment bank. The Wall Street we encounter here is a ruthless place, where brilliance, arrogance, ambition, greed, capacity for relentless toil, and other human traits combine in a potent mix that sometimes fuels prosperity but occasionally destroys it.
The full significance of the dissolution of Lehman Brothers remains to be measured. But this much is certain: it was a devastating blow to America’s—and the world’s—financial system. And it need not have happened. This is the story of why it did.
Full Title: Tail Risk Killers: How Math, Indeterminacy, and Hubris Distort Markets
Author: Jeff McGinn
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 384 pages
Cover Notes:
The world does not unfold according to a fixed set of rules. It is a dynamical system whose evolution looks like a bell curve with fat “tails.” The same is true of financial markets. However, every day we rely on the certainty and precision of mathematical strategies that assume the contrary to control and grow wealth in markets.
Tail Risk Killers shows you how the rigidity of model-based thinking has led to the fragility of today’s global financial marketplace, and it explains how to use adaptive trading strategies to mitigate risk in impending market conditions.
Risk management veteran Jeff McGinn pokes holes in prevalent assumptions about how financial markets act that tend to underestimate the likelihood of occurrence of extreme events. Through clear, conversational writing, real-world anecdotes, and easy-to follow formulas, he provides a glimpse into the way tomorrow’s successful traders are viewing financial markets—with an eye for probability distributions. While illustrating how to protect your assets from tail risk, he shows you how to:
- Implement the six axioms for risk management
- Prepare for the unintended consequences of central banks suppressing tail risk
- Identify and avoid the dark risks hidden in today’s derivative-laden financial system
- Anticipate the fate of credit default swaps that may not face extinction
McGinn argues that the intervention of central banks has robbed global markets of their opportunities to adapt, but this highly relevant book shows you that it is not too late to adapt your portfolio to survive the extreme events that happen more often than popular financial models suggest.
Tail Risk Killers helps you discover useful information and processes beyond the focus of industry standards, helps you connect the dots of evolving trading strategies and time your next trade for maximum profitability.
Full Title: High-Performance Managed Futures: The New Way to Diversify Your Portfolio
Author: Mark Melin (Twitter @MarkMelin)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 320 pages
Cover Notes:
What is your financial adviser not recommending and why not? Managed futures. And, probably because he or she either lacks an understanding of the asset class or because managed futures offer true diversification—and a truly diversified portfolio can be time-consuming—it means much more work for them. It’s easier to sell clients on “stocks and bonds” and “buy and hold.” Well, here’s something you should know:
- Managed futures grew 514 percent from 1999 to 2009
- Managed futures performed positively in nine of the past ten stock market declines
- Managed futures significantly outperformed both stocks and bonds over the past three decades
And, as you’ll come to discover in High-Performance Managed Futures: The New Way to Diversify Your Portfolio, what makes the asset class truly unique is its relative non-correlation to the stock market and the economy, which is especially important in today’s world in which global markets are more tightly correlated than at any other time in history.
Managed futures has been described as “mutual fund”-like programs investing around the world in commodities—oil, gold, corn, or wheat—and financial futures—interest rates, foreign currency, or stock indexes. Investments can even take place in pollution and weather futures. The asset class has no geographic or time-based investment limitation, and, unlike stock mutual funds, strategies can be long, short, or market-neutral. And, unlike hedge funds, managed futures can be transparent, liquid, and tightly regulated—investor protections that should be used as a national template.
What your financial adviser doesn’t know—or isn’t telling you—can hurt your portfolio. With government debt at an all-time high and the U.S. dollar’s dominant status in question, there’s never been a better time to seek a sophisticated modern portfolio that has the potential to profit in both bull and bear markets. Managed futures can do that. High-Performance Managed Futures shows you how.
Full Title: Efficient Asset Management: A Practical Guide to Stock Portfolio Optimization and Asset Allocation
Authors: Richard Michaud (Twitter @richardomichaud) & Robert Michaud
Publisher/Date: Oxford University Press (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $58 Hardcover / 144 pages
Cover Notes:
In spite of theoretical benefits, Markowitz mean-variance (MV) optimized portfolios often fail to meet practical investment goals of marketability, usability, and performance, prompting many investors to seek simpler alternatives. Financial experts Richard and Robert Michaud demonstrate that the limitations of MV optimization are not the result of conceptual flaws in Markowitz theory but unrealistic representation of investment information. What is missing is a realistic treatment of estimation error in the optimization and rebalancing process.
The text provides a non-technical review of classical Markowitz optimization and traditional objections. The authors demonstrate that in practice the single most important limitation of MV optimization is oversensitivity to estimation error. Portfolio optimization requires a modern statistical perspective. Efficient Asset Management, Second Edition uses Monte Carlo resampling to address information uncertainty and define Resampled Efficiency (RE) technology. RE optimized portfolios represent a new definition of portfolio optimality that is more investment intuitive, robust, and provably investment effective. RE rebalancing provides the first rigorous portfolio trading, monitoring, and asset importance rules, avoiding widespread ad hoc methods in current practice.
The Second Edition resolves several open issues and misunderstandings that have emerged since the original edition. The new edition includes new proofs of effectiveness, substantial revisions of statistical estimation, extensive discussion of long-short optimization, and new tools for dealing with estimation error in applications and enhancing computational efficiency. RE optimization is shown to be a Bayesian-based generalization and enhancement of Markowitz’s solution. RE technology corrects many current practices that may adversely impact the investment value of trillions of dollars under current asset management. RE optimization technology may also be useful in other financial optimizations and more generally in multivariate estimation contexts of information uncertainty with Bayesian linear constraints.
Michaud and Michaud’s new book includes numerous additional proposals to enhance investment value including Stein and Bayesian methods for improved input estimation, the use of portfolio priors, and an economic perspective for asset-liability optimization. Applications include investment policy, asset allocation, and equity portfolio optimization. A simple global asset allocation problem illustrates portfolio optimization techniques. A final chapter includes practical advice for avoiding simple portfolio design errors.
With its important implications for investment practice, Efficient Asset Management ‘s highly intuitive yet rigorous approach to defining optimal portfolios will appeal to investment management executives, consultants, brokers, and anyone seeking to stay abreast of current investment technology. Through practical examples and illustrations, Michaud and Michaud update the practice of optimization for modern investment management.
Full Title: Channels and Cycles: A Tribute to J. M. Hurst
Author: Crian Millard
Publisher/Date: Wasendorf & Associates (1999)
List Cost/Pages: Hardcover $45 / 255 pages
Cover Notes:
For many years I have heard how valuable the work of J.M. Hurst has proven to those interested in the use of cycles in the pursuit of market profits. Many Traders Press customers have advised me how valuable any material would prove to them that would shed any additional light on the work of Hurst. It is with great pride that we present the work of Brian Millard, Channels and Cycles, which clarifies the original work of Hurst as well as updating it and bringing it forward to the present time. Millard, like other market technicians such as Jim Tillman and Peter Eliades, found the work of Hurst of such seminal importance in influencing his approach to market analysis that it became the cornerstone of his methodology. It is hoped that this work will prove valuable to the members of the investment community who are interested in the application of cycles and the work of Hurst.
Full Title: High Probability Trading Strategies: Entry to Exit Tactics for the Forex, Futures, and Stock Markets
Author: Robert Miner
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $70 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
Trading today’s markets—including stocks, futures, or Forex—can be a challenging and difficult endeavor. But it is possible to achieve consistent success in this field, if you’re prepared to learn a complete trading plan from entry to exit.
In High Probability Trading Strategies, author and well-known trading educator Robert Miner skillfully outlines every aspect of a practical trading plan—from entry to exit—that he has developed over the course of his distinguished twenty-plus-year career. The result is a complete approach to trading that will allow you to trade confidently in a variety of markets and time frames.
With this book as your guide, you’ll quickly learn how to recognize high-probability trading opportunities, pinpoint exact entry and stop prices, and manage a trade until it’s completely closed out. You’ll discover how the four key factors of dual-time-frame-momentum, pattern, price, and time can guide you down the path to trading profits. As you become familiar with the proven strategies and techniques taught in High Probability Trading Strategies, you’ll also come to understand the type of market information you can use to make specific trade decisions and how to execute those decisions from start to finish.
Miner teaches in a practical, step-by-step manner until a complete trading plan is developed. While the ideas found here are essential to trading success, the best way to learn is by example. That’s why Miner has devoted an entire chapter—called “Real Traders, Real Time”—to trade examples submitted by his past students. In it, you’ll see how they apply the strategies taught throughout the book to markets around the world.
A companion website completes this comprehensive learning package. It’s not a word-for-word review of the material in the book, but rather an additional tool to illustrate more examples. With it, you’ll learn how to put high-probability trading strategies into practice, day by day and bar by bar, for many different markets and time frames.
Written with the serious trader in mind, High Probability Trading Strategies details a practical approach to analyzing market behavior, identify-ing profitable trade setups, and executing and managing trades—from entry to exit—that will allow you to both preserve and grow your capital. If you’re looking to make the most of your time in today’s markets, look no further than High Probability Trading Strategies.
Full Title: Candlestick Charting Explained: Timeless Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures
Author: Gregory Morris
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $50 / 550 pages
Cover Notes:
Japanese candlestick charts dramatically improve your understanding of short-term (less than a week) market sentiment, making you a much more informed and focused trader of stocks, futures, and indices. The bestselling Candlestick Charting Explained focuses on the patterns themselves and highlights the key facts you need to know to apply each pattern to your trading. For each of 89 distinctive candle patterns, its standardized format provides you with:
- Commentary–Description of pattern and significance of its name, insights into unique features, and other concise explanation
- Rules of Recognition–Simple rules for quick, accurate identification along with precise, day-by-day descriptions of pattern development
- Scenarios and Psychology Behind the Pattern–Trading scenarios that could have led to the pattern’s development, with general discussion of the psychology of each day’s action
- Pattern Flexibility–Situations that change the pattern’s effectiveness with explanations of allowable deviations from the classic pattern
- Pattern Breakdown–Instructions for reducing the pattern to a single candle line and whether or not outside confirmation is suggested or unnecessary
- Related Patterns–Patterns that have similar formations, could be considered variations, or are a part of this pattern
- Example–A graphic example of the pattern to both aid in recognition and eliminate costly confusion in pattern identification
Additional information and insights present different interpretations of candlesticks based on intraday instead of end-of-day events and action, improving signal reliability. The author’s unique candle pattern filtering concept, instrumental in answering the “how” question, is updated to utilize today’s larger universe of stock data. An all-new chapter provides practical application and perspective traders need to view candles in the context of today’s computer-driven marketplace.
For millions of traders, candlesticks have become a key tool in creating and verifying trading signals. Candlestick Charting Explained is the only book you need to start integrating their proven versatility and effectiveness into your technical trading program.
Full Title: Market Breadth Indicators: How to Analyze and Evaluate Market Direction and Strength
Author: Gregory Morris
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $55 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
Market breadth indicators, i.e. advance/decline, new high/new low, or up/down volume, allow technical analysts and traders to look beneath the surface of a market to quantify the underlying strength or direction associated with a market move. Increasingly popular in all types of markets, they give traders the ability to accurately forecast a number of possible outcomes and the likelihood of each.
Bottom line? For gauging the near-term direction and strength of a market, breadth indicators are among the single most valuable tools a trader can use.
The Complete Guide to Market Breadth Indicators is the most comprehensive and vivid collection available of market breadth indicator information and features ideas and insights from market veterans including John Murphy, Don Beasley, Jim Miekka, Tom and Sherman McClellan, and numerous others. Chapters are first categorized based upon the mathematical relationship between the breadth pairs. Each indicator is then analyzed to provide information including:
- Also known as–other names by which the indicator is recognized
- Author/creator–when available
- Data components required–components of breadth data required to calculate the indicator
- Description–brief description of the indicator
- Interpretation–generally accepted industry interpretation of the indicator, with techniques of different analysts also discussed
- Chart–Chart or charts that best display the indicator
- Author comments–Greg Morris’s personal interpretation, opinion, and use of the indicator, along with suggested modifications, complementary indicators, and more
- Formula–An algebraic formula for the indicator or, for formulae that are too complex for this section, a descriptive narrative on the formula
- References–An indicator-specific bibliography for additional information on the indicator or its creator, with notes about a particular book or magazine article
Breadth analysis is one of the purest measures of market liquidity. Applicable to virtually any exchange or index of securities for which breadth data is available, it represents the best available footprint of the health and near-term direction of the overall market examined. The Complete Guide to Market Breadth Indicators is the first book to delve into the use, mathematics, and interpretation of the most popular and proven of these tools, and is an invaluable reference for technical traders and investors of all types, and in every market.
Full Title: Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships
Author: John Murphy
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2004)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 288 pages
Cover Notes:
Intermarket analysis has come a long way in the ten years since John Murphy wrote his groundbreaking Intermarket Technical Analysis: Trading Strategies for the Global Stock, Bond, Commodity, and Currency Markets. Although the idea that global markets were linked to each other was once viewed with skepticism, intermarket analysis is now considered among today’s most important technical disciplines. Today, market observers look to history for parallels that may predict future market performance.
In Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships, Murphy incorporates and reflects on the most recent world market data to show how seemingly disparate world markets interact and ultimately influence each other. Beginning with a brief overview of the intermarket changes that launched the bull market of the 1980s, Intermarket Analysis next revisits the stock market crash of 1987 and its importance to the development of intermarket theory. The author then discusses the 1990 bear market with emphasis on its relevance to later global events. Finally, the text offers in-depth coverage and analysis of the deflation trend that resulted in the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000 followed by three years of stock market decline.
Citing recent world events that have had a profound impact on even longstanding economic relationships, Murphy shows us what earlier intermarket models are still working and, more importantly, what has changed. Based on the premise that intermarket analysis is not a “static” model, he examines the overall economic impact of such events as escalating tensions and wars in the Middle East, the decade-long downward spiral of the Japanese economy, and global over-investment in technology stocks.
Drawing on his vast experience as both an educator and an expert trader, the author lays out his key tools to understanding global markets and illustrates how these tools can help today’s serious investors profit in any economic climate. Armed with the knowledge of how economic forces impact the various markets and sectors, investors and traders can profit by exploiting opportunities in markets about to rise and avoiding those poised for a fall.
Full Title: Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications
Author: John Murphy
Publisher/Date: New York Institute of Finance (1999)
List Cost/Pages: $100 Hardcover / 576 pages
Cover Notes:
This outstanding reference has already taught thousands of traders the concepts of technical analysis and their application in the futures and stock markets. Covering the latest developments in computer technology, technical tools, and indicators, the second edition features new material on candlestick charting, intermarket relationships, stocks and stock rotation, plus state-of-the-art examples and figures. From how to read charts to understanding indicators and the crucial role technical analysis plays in investing, readers gain a thorough and accessible overview of the field of technical analysis, with a special emphasis on futures markets. Revised and expanded for the demands of today’s financial world, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in tracking and analyzing market behavior.
Full Title: Inside the Black Box: A Simple Guide to Quantitative and High Frequency Trading
Author: Rishi Narang (Twitter @rishiknarang)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $50 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
Whether you call it quant, algo, or black box trading, it all adds up to the same thing: systematic trading performed by computers.
While some decry it as dangerously detached from human control, and a driver of excessive volatility in the markets, others see quantitative trading as a welcome departure from the unruly passions and cognitive biases that inform human investment decision making.
Say what you will about quant trading, the fact is, overall, quant funds consistently outperform the markets—which may be why so many smart investors are keen to avail themselves of that black box magic.
Unfortunately, much remains obscure about quantitative trading, thanks in great part to the extreme guardedness of quants when it comes to the details of how their systems work. But, as quant-trader and master explainer Rishi Narang deftly shows in this updated edition of his bestselling guide, quantitative trading is much easier to understand and take advantage of than you think.
Designed to make quantitative trading comprehensible to even the most math- or technophobic investor, this book takes you on a guided tour inside the black box. In plain English, Mr. Narang turns the lights up on what the quants are up to, once and for all lifting the veil of mystery surrounding quantitative trading and quantitative trading strategies.
Following a concise introduction to quantitative trading principles and general practices, Mr. Narang cuts to the chase with a detailed inventory of the contents of a typical black box system, explaining, in non-technical terms, what each one is and how it fits together with the others.
Then, with the help of numerous real-world examples and lively anecdotes, he clearly explains:
- The most common quant system structures
- How quants capture alpha
- The level of discretion in quant trading
- High-frequency trading and the infrastructure that supports it
- Execution algorithms and how they work
- How quants model risk and how to know if a particular model really works
- The important difference between theory-driven systems vs. data-mining strategies
- How to evaluate quant managers and their strategies
- How quant strategies can fit into an overall portfolio strategy—and why they’re so important
- Current and future trends in quant trading and the role it will play in the years ahead
A book that lifts the lid on black box trading, making it transparent, intuitively sensible, and readily understandable, Inside the Black Box is a must-read for institutional investors, asset managers, investment advisors, pension fund managers, and all savvy investors looking to gain an edge in today’s turbulent financial markets.
Full Title: Anatomy of the Bear: Lessons from Wall Street Four Bear Bottoms
Author: Russell Napier
Publisher/Date: Harriman House (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 330 pages
Cover Notes:
How does one spot the bottom of a bear market? What brings a bear to its end? There are few more important questions to be answered in modern finance. Financial market history is a guide to understanding the future. Looking at the four occasions when US equities were particularly cheap – 1921, 1932, 1949 and 1982 – Russell Napier sets out to answer these questions by analyzing every article in the “Wall Street Journal” from either side of the market bottom. In the 70,000 articles he examines, one begins to understand the features which indicate that a great buying opportunity is emerging. By looking at how markets really did work in these bear-market bottoms, rather than theorizing how they should work, Napier offers investors a financial field guide to making the best financial provisions for the future.
Full Title: Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques: A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Investment Techniques of the Far East
Author: Steve Nison (Twitter @stevenison)
Publisher/Date: New York Institute of Finance (1991)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
Traditional Western methods for chart analysis (the basis of all technical analyses) use bar or points and figure charts. Yet over 100 years before these methods originated, the Japanese were using their own style of technical analysis for use in the rice futures market. This technique – known as the Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques because of its close resemblance to candlesticks – has recently been attracting attention because it provides unique insights into the market. This work features over 300 charts that use candlesticks alone and in conjunction with Western charting techniques, and explains their use.
Full Title: Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange
Author: Erika Olson (Twitter @ZSGame)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
In 2007, a stranger-than-fiction multibillion-dollar bidding war for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) erupted between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Atlanta’s IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange takes readers behind the scenes of this battle to tell the gripping—and often comical—story of how the historic merger between CME and CBOT almost didn’t happen.
Author Erika S. Olson, a managing director at CBOT during the bidding war, delivers a blow-by-blow account of the fight for the world’s oldest futures exchange, taking you inside CBOT’s landmark Chicago Loop headquarters, onto the high-octane trading floor, and into executives’ offices.
Through the lens of the CME/CBOT deal, Zero-Sum Game:
- Introduces the colorful and outspoken personalities who call the shots in this close-knit and frequently misunderstood industry
- Details the reasons behind the recent, spectacular growth of a market that’s existed for over 160 years
- Explains how derivatives affect the lives of average consumers worldwide by influencing everything from interest rates on credit cards to the cost of a cheeseburger to the price of a gallon of gas
- Reveals the inner workings of futures exchanges, and differentiates the various types of derivatives that are routinely lumped together and vilified by the media
Full Title: Mapping the Markets: A Guide to Stock Market Analysis
Author: Deborah Owen & Robin Griffiths
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 134 pages
Cover Notes:
The global financial markets turn over billions of dollars daily. An array of different instruments is available to trade in these markets, ranging from simple stocks and shares to exotic creatures such as butterfly spreads. Participation at any level involves taking a view as to which way the market in question will move. There are essentially only two methods for analysing the future direction of the markets in equities, currencies, interest rates or commodities: one involves fundamental analysis, the other technical analysis. The two camps of investment analysts are separated by a wide gulf of distrust and suspicion. This book seeks to bridge the gap between the two disciplines and show how you can benefit from both, highlighting:
- The tools you can use for mapping the markets—to understand what causes shifts in the trend and underlying forces that affect the economy and therefore the financial markets
- The long-term cyclical drivers—how economic change is triggered by technological change, and the technological changes that will drive the markets in the future
- Downward phases of the cycle—and the factors that cause them
- The markets and sectors that will prosper in the future.
As the world of investment gets ever more complicated and faster, Mapping the Markets will provide an invaluable route to improving your chances of investment success and avoiding investment distress, whether you are a long-term investor or a short-term trader.
Full Title: Extreme Weather and Financial Market: Opportunities in Commodities and Futures
Author: Lawrence Oxley
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $60 Hardcover / 210 pages
Cover Notes:
Record-setting snowfall, cyclones in Australia, chronic drought in Russia, and other dramatic weather events are getting front page attention around the world, while politicians and scientists bicker over the causes and effects. But what about the impact of extreme weather on investing opportunities? Extreme Weather and Financial Markets presents a fascinating look at the ways in which opportunities in the stock, bond, and futures markets are changing with the weather.
Extreme weather has had—and will continue to have—a deep and lasting impact on a wide range of industries, regardless of whether it gets worse or the seemingly freak events of the last few years become the new norm. Looking at these conditions in detail, the book shows which investment opportunities will be the winners and losers of extreme weather events. Addressing specific global climate shocks—excess snow and ice; flooding mines; farmland droughts, floods, and frost; hurricanes and tornados; and timberland fires—this book presents a compelling, easy-to-understand overview of investment opportunities affected by dramatic weather.
Extreme Weather and Financial Markets outlines three fundamental tools essential for becoming a savvy extreme weather-based investor—a discussion of the financial markets and investment opportunities available, 17 key rules for extreme weather-based investing, and detailed action plan tables that provide information on practically every commodity in every location during any extreme weather event. In addition, a handy index that lets you quickly locate exactly the action plan you need in any given circumstance makes this book essential reading for any investor who wants to understand the real “financial climate.”
With its wide-reaching geographic and geologic coverage, this remarkable volume offers a novel new resource for investors. As devastating as climate change has shown itself to be, its potential for new investing opportunities must not be underestimated. Unbiased in its coverage, the book doesn’t seek to provide an explanation for climate change, just an understanding that to the extent the global climate condition worsens, the more lucrative certain investment opportunities will become.
Full Title: Design, Testing and Optimization of Trading Systems
Author: Robert Pardo
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1992)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 176 pages
Cover Notes:
A practical, hands-on guide to setting up, adjusting, and trading mechanical systems that requires no computer or programming skills! Here’s everything you’ll need to develop and verify each stage of a profitable trading strategy, from formulation through testing to real-time trading. Armed with the author’s battery of easily accomplished testing and optimization techniques — many never before published — you’ll design a workable trading strategy, reliably measure its profit potential and risk, and then test it to see if it works in real-time trading. No matter what your level of trading expertise, now you can swiftly isolate and eliminate the causes of trading failure and make the decisions essential to profitable computerized trading. You’ll discover:
- The seven major components of mechanical trading strategies and their uses
- When and how to use fast, accurate, and realistic computer simulations to evaluate a strategy’s trading performance without risking precious capital
- The best ways to tailor a trading strategy to fit the unique personalities of widely different markets
- What to expect from a trading model in real-time trading
- How to judge trading performance with respect to historical testing performance
Design, Testing, and Optimization of Trading Systems helps you develop, evaluate, and apply a winning computer trading system that suits your specific needs.
Full Title: Trading with Ichimoku Clouds: The Essential Guide to Ichimoku Kinko Hyo Technical Analysis
Author: Manesh Patel (Twitter @ichimokutrading)
Publisher/Date: Wiley / 2010
List Cost/Pages: $70 Hardcover / 210 pages
Cover Notes:
Ichimoku Kinko Hyo is a technical system that illustrates support and resistance values in a simplified form and is considered an extension of the very popular candlestick charting system. In fact, the system was built on the idea that at “one glance” you should be able to determine whether an instrument is in equilibrium (consolidation) or out of equilibrium (trending).
Written by Manesh Patel—one of the pioneering U.S. practitioners of Ichimoku trading and administration of Kumotrader.com—Trading with Ichimoku Clouds offers a detailed look at this proven approach as well as its technical strategies. Chapter by chapter, it shows you how to create and implement a trading plan based on this discipline that can easily be tailored to your trading style.
Along the way, it also takes you step by step through the entire decision-making process, from entries and exits to triggers, in order to test the trading plan created and ensure you’ve developed a successful system that fits your personality and circumstances.
Other topics touched upon throughout this accessible trading guide include:
- Why this approach works with all time frames and all tradable instruments
- The five essential indicators associated with Ichimoku Kinko Hyo
- Which strategies can easily be adopted for stocks, futures, bonds, and other vehicles
- How Ichimoku Clouds work in both bull and bear markets
- How trading psychology influences trading
- How to perform post-analysis of a trading system and then optimize the system with this information
Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Trading with Ichimoku Clouds will help you implement a proven strategy designed to capture trends that maximize profits and minimize losses. If you’re looking to become a better trader, following some of the characteristics within this system is a step in the right direction.
Related Books:
Full Title: Trade What You See: How to Profit from Pattern Recognition
Author: Larry Pesavento & Leslie Jouflas (Twitter @TLOLive)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $60 Hardcover / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
Trading the financial markets is extremely difficult, but with the right approach, traders can achieve success. Nobody knows this better than authors Larry Pesavento and Leslie Jouflas, both traders and educators of traders, who have consistently used pattern recognition to capture profits from the markets. In Trade What You See, Pesavento and Jouflas show traders how to identify patterns as they are developing and exactly where to place entry and exit orders. While some patterns derive from the techniques of Wall Street’s earliest traders and other patterns reflect Pesavento’s emphasis on the geometry of market movements and Fibonacci numbers. Filled with hard-won knowledge gained through years of market experience, Trade What You Seeoutlines both a practical and sophisticated approach to trading that will be of interest to both novice and seasoned traders alike.
Full Title: Fractal Market Analysis: Applying Chaos Theory to Investment and Economics
Author: Edgar Peters
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1994)
List Cost/Pages: $105 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
A leading pioneer in the field offers practical applications of this innovative science. Peters describes complex concepts in an easy-to-follow manner for the non-mathematician. He uses fractals, rescaled range analysis and nonlinear dynamical models to explain behavior and understand price movements. These are specific tools employed by chaos scientists to map and measure physical and now, economic phenomena.
Full Title: Forecasting Financial Markets: The Psychology of Successful Investing
Author: Tony Plummer
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 259 pages
Cover Notes:
Forecasting Financial Markets provides a compelling insight into the psychology of trading behavior and shows how “following the herd” can have disastrous results. It demonstrates how one’s ability to make money in the world’s financial markets depends critically on an ability to make decisions independently of the crowd.
Tony Plummer details the three dimensions essential to achieve successful trading, including an ability to understand the forces at work in logical terms, recognize (and neutralize) any emotional responses to market fluctuations, and design an investment process or trading system that generates objective “buy” or “sell” signals.
Taking the author’s latest research into account, this book provides an in-depth assessment of the phenomenon of cycles, patterns of economic and financial activity, and how to use cycles as a forecasting tool. It includes Plummer’s forecasts for when the global economy will emerge from its current downturn.
Full Title: The Law of Vibration: The Revelation of William D Gann
Author: Tony Plummer
Publisher/Date: Harriman House (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Paperback / 208 pages
Cover Notes:
In ‘The Law of Vibration’ Tony Plummer presents a new theory which he argues is revealing of a fundamental truth about the deep-structure of the universe. The Law is embodied in a very specific pattern of oscillation that accompanies change and evolution. It can be found in fluctuations in stock markets and in economic activity. The research here suggests that the pattern was known about in antiquity because it was buried in a short passage in St Matthew’s Gospel in the Bible. It also suggests that it was known about in the early part of the 20th century because it was concealed in the structure of books written by the renowned stock market trader, William D. Gann, and by the mindfulness exponent, George Gurdjieff. Both men chose to preserve their knowledge of the pattern in a hidden form for some unknown future purpose. Now, after 20 years of investigation, Tony Plummer tells the story of how the pattern was originally hidden. Drawing on painstaking research on gematria, the enneagram and financial market analysis, Plummer reveals the existence of a behavioural pattern that may have profound implications for the way that we view the world. Plummer’s work is elegantly structured and illustrated throughout. It is an exciting and thought-provoking study for Gann enthusiasts, and also for investors, economists and scientists who have an interest in the laws that underpin systemic coherence and produce collective order.
Full Title: Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression
Author: Robert Prechter
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 482 pages
Cover Notes:
Today’s financial and economic tribulations were a long time in the making. Many people ask, “Why didn’t someone see it coming?” A New York Times bestselling book did see it coming. Over 100,000 people read it in time to protect their wealth. The book foresaw and explained the collapse in home prices, plunge in stocks, subprime debacle, liquidity crisis, the demise of Fannie and Freddie, the Federal Reserve’s failure to turn the trend, and lots more. The book was Robert Prechter?s Conquer the Crash, published in early 2002, when the Dow was above 10,000 and the financial world was partying around-the-clock.
Fast forward to today: the average U.S. homeowner has suffered a decline of 30% to 40% in property value. Stocks and commodities had their biggest fall since 1929-1932. Fannie Mae is a zombie corporation under the government?s protection. The Fed has pushed every button at its disposal (and then some), to no avail. If Prechter thought a whole new book would help, he’d have written one. But Conquer the Crash is a book-length forecast that’s still coming true — only some of the future has caught up with the specific predictions he published back then. There is much more to come. That means more danger, but also great opportunity. Conquer the Crash, 2nd edition offers you 188 new pages of vital information (480 pages total) plus all the original forecasts and recommendations that make the book more compelling and relevant than the day it published.
In every disaster, only a very few people prepare themselves beforehand. Think about investor enthusiasm in 2005-2008, and you’ll realize it’s true. Even fewer people will be ready for the soon-approaching, next leg down of the unfolding depression. In this 2nd edition, Prechter gives a warning he’s never had to include in 30 years of publishing — namely, that the doors to financial safety are closing all over the world. In other words, prudent people need to act while they can. Conquer the Crash, 2nd Edition readers will receive exclusive online access to the Conquer the Crash Readers Page, where Prechter continually updates the book’s recommended services and institutions.
Full Title: Elliott Wave Principles
Author: Robert Prechter
Publisher/Date: New Classics Library (1985)
List Cost/Pages: $65 Hardcover / 190 pages
Cover Notes:
A Great Classic for Three Decades: Now In Its 10th Edition, Consider What This “Definitive Text” Offers You Take a moment to look over your books about investing. Have any of them given you a successful method for making profits and reducing risks? Is there even one such book that has proven reliable over the years? Alas, most investors would say “no.” That’s because so few investment books are “classic” in the true sense: For years investors keep buying the book, and they keep using the method to make the most of their opportunities. Three decades years ago — 1978 — is one of the last times an investment book was written that is worthy of being called “classic.” One of the two men who authored that book was a 26 year-old market analyst working at Merrill Lynch’s headquarters on Wall Street. The young man had earned a lot of attention in a short time by using a forecasting tool that almost no one had heard of. Yet his market forecasts were startlingly accurate: Robert Prechter was the young man’s name, and he used a method called the “Elliott Wave Principle.” A. J. Frost was one of the few other financial professionals who used the Wave Principle. In a distinguished 20-year career, Frost had likewise made many astonishingly accurate forecasts. His colleagues regarded him as the consummate technical analyst. Frost and Prechter met in May of 1977 and became fast friends. Eighteen months later, they published Elliott Wave Principle – Key to Market Behavior. The Dow Industrials stood at 790. But the brash forecast in this new book called for a Great Bull Market. It became a runaway best seller. Three decades is enough time for investors to deem a book about an investment method as “classic,” and surely the jury is in on this one: Elliott Wave Principle is now published in seven languages, and continues to sell thousands of copies every year. In Europe, Asia and the Americas, literally millions of investors worldwide use or recognize the Elliott Wave method for profitable investing. Elliott Wave International is proud to present the 10th edition of this investment classic. It’s designed to help the Elliott Wave novice and the veteran practitioner. It’s time to consider what this definitive text offers you. Here’s a sample of what you’ll learn: The basic tenets of Wave Theory: You’ll read simple explanations of the terms, and how to identify all 13 waves that can occur in the movement of stock market averages. The rules and guidelines of Wave analysis: You’ll learn the basics of counting waves, how to recognize the “right look” of a wave, plus lots of simple steps for applying the rules. The scientific background of the Wave Principle: How you can see it in nature and the universe, in art and mathematics, even in the shape of the human body. Long-term waves: You’ll see how the Wave Principle gives history greater meaning, from the fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages into the financial upheavals of the 20th Century. Understanding these monumental trends will help you position yourself for long-term profit and protection. Stocks, commodities and gold: The Wave Principle is your guide to the movements of any financial market. Few pleasures can match the exhilaration you’ll feel when a Wave Principle forecast has you in the market when it moves up, or takes you out just before it moves down. Obviously, Elliott Wave Principle – Key to Market Behavior is the perfect companion to Bob Prechter’s Elliott Wave Theorist publication. The book is essential reading for you to receive the most from what the Theorist says every month — in fact, all of EWI’s publications continually reference this book.
Full Title: Martin Pring on Market Momentum
Author: Martin Pring
Publisher/Date: Probus Professional (1993)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 368 pages
Cover Notes:
Become an “instant expert” in the use of popular technical studies and indicators which are on technical analysis software, such as McClellan Oscillator, Stochastics, MACD, RSI, Parabolics, CCI, and many others. This is the first comprehensive book on momentum destined to become the definitive guide to effective and proper use of Momentum destined to become the definitive guide to effective and proper use of Momentum studies and indicators. Examines the principles underlying Market Momentum and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of oscillators, how they are computed, and offers much insight into their proper and effective usage. “This Book Will Teach You, In Easily Understood, And Easily Utilized Terms”: Characteristics of overbought and oversold markets — Trend analysis using momentum indicators — How to become an “instant expert” in the use and interpretation of Stochastics, RSI, MACD, and many other indicators — Pros and Cons of all major oscillators. How to use technical studies and indicators effectively in your trading.
Full Title: Technical Analysis Explained: The Successful Investor’s Guide to Spotting Investment Trends and Turning Points
Author: Martin Pring
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (1985)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover /410 pgs
Cover Notes:
Recommended for professional certification by the Market Technician’s Association, this is the Original – and Still Number One – Technical Analysis Answer Book. “Technical Analysis Explained, 4th Edition”, is today’s best resource for making smarter, more informed investment decisions. This straight-talking guidebook details how individual investors can forecast price movements with the same accuracy as Wall Street’s most highly paid professionals, and provides all the information you will need to both understand and implement the time-honored, profit-driven tools of technical analysis.Completely revised and updated for the technologies and trading styles of 21st century markets, it features: technical indicators to predict and profit from regularly occurring market turning points; psychological strategies for intuitively knowing where investors will seek profits – and arriving there first!; and, methods to increase your forecasting accuracy, using today’s most advanced trading techniques.
Full Title: Building Winning Trading Systems with TradeStation
Authors: George Pruitt and John Hill
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $90 Hardcover / 395 pages
Cover Notes:
The updated edition of the guide to building trading systems that can keep pace with the market The stock market is constantly evolving, and coupled with the new global economic landscape, traders need to radically rethink the way they do business at home and abroad. Enter Building Winning Trading Systems, Second Edition , the all-new incarnation of the established text on getting the most out of the trading world. With technology now a pervasive element of every aspect of trading, the issue has become how to create a new system that meets the demands of the altered financial climate, and how to make it work. Giving voice to the question on every trader and investor’s lips, the book asks, “How can we build a trading system that will be paramount for our increasingly stressed markets?” The answer? Establish mechanical trading systems that remove human emotion from the equation and form the cornerstone of a complete trading plan and with greater agility, characteristics that are more important than ever given the kinetic pace of the markets. Presents an all-new strategy for trading systems that will show traders how to create systems that will work in the twenty first century Expert advice from highly respected trading authority, George Pruitt Includes a new website featuring updated TradeStation code and shows how to use the world’s best investment software platform to develop and utilize trading systems that really work Once again paving the way for traders who want to adapt to their environment, Building Winning Trading Systems, Second Edition combines expertise in indicator design and system building in one indispensable volume.
Stendahl Comment:
Systematic trader would do well to get Building Winning Trading Systems. It literally contains a wealth of information for any system designer to droll over. For an experienced TradeStation Easy Language programmer you will find nuggets of info that will help you code a little more efficiently. Personally I use it as a reference guide to help me resolve programming issues when they arise.
Related Books:
Full Title: The Complete Guide to Futures Trading: What You Need to Know about the Risks and Rewards
Author: Lind-Waldock
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Paperback / 224 pages
Cover Notes:
Full Title: Hot Commodities: How Anyone can Invest Profitably in the World’s Best Market
Author: Jim Rogers
Publisher/Date: Random House (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $26 Hardcover / 272 pages
Cover Notes:
In Hot Commodities, Rogers offers the lowdown on the most lucrative markets for today and tomorrow. In 1998, gliding under the radar, a bull market in commodities began. Rogers thinks it’s going to continue for at least fifteen years–and he’s put his money where his mouth is: In 1998, he started his own commodities index fund. It’s up 165% since then, with more than $200 million invested, and it’s the single-best performing index fund in the world in any asset class. Less risky than stocks and less sluggish than bonds,, commodities are where the money is–and will be in the years ahead. Rogers’s strategies are simple and straightforward. You can start small–a few thousand dollars will suffice. It’s all about putting your money into stuff you understand, the basic materials of everyday life, like coal, sugar, cotton, corn, or crude oil. Once you recognize the cyclical and historical trading patterns outlined here, you’ll be on your way.
In language that is both colorful and accessible, but Rogers explains why the world of commodity investing can be one of the simplest of all–and how commodities are the bases by which investors can value companies, markets, and whole economies. To be a truly great investor is to know something about commodities.
For small investors and high rollers alike, Hot Commodities is as good as gold . . . or lead, or aluminum, which are some of the commodities Rogers says could be as rewarding for investors.
Full Title: The Elements of Successful Trading: Developing Your Comprehensive Strategy Through Psychology, Money Management, and Trading Methods
Author: Robert Rotella
Publisher/Date: New York Institute of Finance (1992)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 688 pages
Cover Notes:
After the turbulence on Wall Street in the 1980s, it is more important than ever for a trader to have a clearly defined strategy that incorporates the technical financial aspects of trading as well as the less easily defined “mind set” of success. This ground-breaking work charts the way to creating such a trading strategy, teaching readers how to combine money-management analysis techniques, established trading techniques, and the realities of trading on the floor. This will be welcomed by the legion of traders eager to learn how applied psychology can benefit them professionally.
Full Title: The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down
Author: Peter D. Schiff
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
Written by seasoned Wall Street prognosticator Peter Schiff-author of the bestselling book Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse -The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets reveals how you should protect your assets and invest your money when the American economy is experiencing perilous economic downturns and wealth building is happening elsewhere. Filled with insightful commentary, inventive metaphors, and prescriptive advice, this book shows you how to make money under adverse market conditions by using a conservative, nontraditional investment strategy.
Full Title: The New Science of Asset Allocation
Author: Thomas Schneeweis, Garry Crowder & Hossein Kazemi
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $80 Hardcover / 294 pages
Cover Notes:
While in most instances asset allocation failed to protect investors from devastating losses in 2007 and 2008, it remains an essential element of the investment decision. Asset allocation is not solely about maximizing expected return. Much of asset allocation is based on the tradeoffs between the costs and returns that are consistent with an investor’s risk tolerance or investment goals. Today the challenge is greater than ever, not only because we are working in a more dynamic market but because the number of investment vehicles available to investors has increased as well. The New Science of Asset Allocation provides expert guidance with a fresh approach designed to meet this challenge.
The authors, each a prominent industry leader, first focus on risk, examining the principal tools associated with quantitative and qualitative analysis in determining fundamental asset and portfolio risk, as well as the ability of money managers to create value. While pointing out the importance of manager discretion in the asset allocation process, they also present solutions, which emphasize systematic approaches to capturing expected returns while limiting downside risk. They provide illustrative examples of an investor’s decision-making process in moving between and among core and satellite portfolios and offer an overview of sample allocations and expected risk/return scenarios.
While most books on asset allocation continue to emphasize the return and risk characteristics of traditional stock and bond investments, The New Science of Asset Allocation details major forms of alternative investments—their source of returns, their inherent risks, and their recent performance—including hedge funds, managed futures, private equity, real estate, and commodities. The book focuses on several practical techniques that can be used to measure, monitor, and manage the risk of a portfolio, stressing throughout that the road to a balanced portfolio through time comes from actively monitoring and managing risk. In addition, the expert authors identify investment myths that have become working beliefs in asset allocation—such as that diversification across equity issues or countries is sufficient, or that superior managers do not exist—and debunk each one with solid research.
Asset allocation remains a cornerstone of prudent investment management, and through the new approach presented in The New Science of Asset Allocation, you’ll discover how to make it work.
Full Title: Hedge Fund Market Wizards: How Winning Traders Win
Author: Jack Schwager (Twitter @jackschwager)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 544 pages
Cover Notes:
Fascinating insights into the hedge fund traders who consistently outperform the markets, in their own words
From bestselling author, investment expert, and Wall Street theoretician Jack Schwager comes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of hedge funds, from fifteen traders who’ve consistently beaten the markets. Exploring what makes a great trader a great trader, Hedge Fund Market Wizards breaks new ground, giving readers rare insight into the trading philosophy and successful methods employed by some of the most profitable individuals in the hedge fund business.
- Presents exclusive interviews with fifteen of the most successful hedge fund traders and what they’ve learned over the course of their careers
- Includes interviews with Jamie Mai, Joel Greenblatt, Michael Platt, Ray Dalio, Colm O’Shea, Ed Thorp, and many more
- Explains forty key lessons for traders
- Joins Stock Market Wizards, New Market Wizards, and Market Wizards as the fourth installment of investment guru Jack Schwager’s acclaimed bestselling series of interviews with stock market experts
A candid assessment of each trader’s successes and failures, in their own words, the book shows readers what they can learn from each, and also outlines forty essential lessons—from finding a trading method that fits an investor’s personality to learning to appreciate the value of diversification—that investment professionals everywhere can apply in their own careers.
Bringing together the wisdom of the true masters of the markets, Hedge Fund Market Wizards is a collection of timeless insights into what it takes to trade in the hedge fund world.
Full Title: Managed Trading: Myths & Truths
Author: Jack Schwager (Twitter @jackschwager)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1996)
List Cost/Pages: $55 Hardcover / 318 pages
Cover Notes:
With Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards, two of the bestselling finance titles of all time, Jack Schwager is one of the most important and visible figures in the futures industry today. Now, in Managed Trading, the latest volume in the Schwager on Futures series, he takes an in-depth look at the increasingly prominent new asset class: managed futures, professionally managed investments in commodity and financial futures markets. Due to their potentially high returns and their diversification and inflation hedging potential, managed futures have grown rapidly in popularity and acceptance in the past decade. Today, there are over $25 million in managed futures accounts. Schwager’s full-scale examination covers all aspects of this investment sector, encompassing performance evaluation, manager selection, investment timing, and portfolio considerations. In the process, he explodes many commonly held investment myths. Managed Trading is the most substantive book on the subject, and an indispensable Schwager title no investor should be without.
The following are some of the many topics covered:
- Why “actual” trading results are sometimes a misnomer
- Why many investors in managed futures lose money even when they select a winning manager
- Why shifting assets from “winners” to “losers” is often an excellent strategy
- Why it is usually better to invest in managers when they are experiencing drawdowns as opposed to when they are on winning streaks
- Why the actual performance of funds and pools routinely deteriorates dramatically from the prospectus results
- Is past performance predictive of future performance?
- Is the addition of managed futures to conventional portfolios beneficial or detrimental to performance?
- Is diversification beneficial?
- Performance measures: conventional and new
- Why all conventional CTA indexes are misleading
With numerous charts, tables, and examples illustrating key points throughout, Managed Trading is written in the informative, insightful, and nontechnical style that is Schwager’s hallmark. An important addition to this landmark series by one of the world’s premier authorities.
Full Title: Market Sense and Nonsense: How the Markets Really Work (and How They Don’t)
Author: Jack Schwager (Twitter @jackschwager)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 368 pages
Cover Notes:
Bestselling author, Jack Schwager, challenges the assumptions at the core of investment theory and practice and exposes common investor mistakes, missteps, myths, and misreads When it comes to investment models and theories of how markets work, convenience usually trumps reality. The simple fact is that many revered investment theories and market models are flatly wrong–that is, if we insist that they work in the real world. Unfounded assumptions, erroneous theories, unrealistic models, cognitive biases, emotional foibles, and unsubstantiated beliefs all combine to lead investors astray–professionals as well as novices. In this engaging new book, Jack Schwager, bestselling author of Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards , takes aim at the most perniciously pervasive academic precepts, money management canards, market myths and investor errors. Like so many ducks in a shooting gallery, Schwager picks them off, one at a time, revealing the truth about many of the fallacious assumptions, theories, and beliefs at the core of investment theory and practice. A compilation of the most insidious, fundamental investment errors the author has observed over his long and distinguished career in the markets Brings to light the fallacies underlying many widely held academic precepts, professional money management methodologies, and investment behaviors A sobering dose of real-world insight for investment professionals and a highly readable source of information and guidance for general readers interested in investment, trading, and finance Spans both traditional and alternative investment classes, covering both basic and advanced topics As in his best-selling Market Wizard series, Schwager manages the trick of covering material that is pertinent to professionals, yet writing in a style that is clear and accessible to the layman
Full Title: The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America’s Top Traders
Author: Jack Schwager (Twitter: @jackschwager)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 614 pages
Cover Notes:
Taps into the minds of today’s trading superstars to reveal the secrets of their astonishing success …
In these absorbing interviews with star performers in the financial markets, Schwager humanizes the mechanics and psychology behind the trading world in such sophisticated instruments as currencies, stock options, commodity futures, and mutual-fund accounts by individuals, investment firms and group-trading computerized “money machines.” One trader focuses on market response to news events, another calculates mathematical probabilities–one even cocks an ear to the noise level on the exchange floor. All rank assiduous research, self-confidence, a specific plan and the courage to cut losses among essentials to success. Few consider their work gambling, but Schwager entertainingly argues that a successful trader needs many of the qualities of a good poker player. Though the subject matter is esoteric, there is much here to attract the general reader, and Schwager appends a “primer” of technical basics.
You may not know their names, but they are the trading elite—a select group of super-money makers whose trading prowess has become the stuff of legend. They are speculators in everything from stocks and bonds to options and commodity futures who make millions—often in a matter of hours—and leave their peers in the dust. In this enthralling sequel to his international bestseller, Market Wizards, Jack Schwager interviews these stars, asking the questions that everyone with an interest in the financial markets would love know the answers to and receiving the kind of frank, occasionally bewildering answers that make this book as much a page-turner as its predecessor.
- Interviews with spectacular winners across the full spectrum of financial markets, revealing how they do it and what, personally, separates them from the herd
- Superstar traders describe the financial strategies behind their phenomenal successes, as well as the painfully instructive lessons learned from their worst losses
- Reveals that, despite their various quirks and differences, all the biggest winners rank diligent research, self-confidence, a specific plan and the courage to cut losses as the keys to winning big
- Throughout, Schwager provides valuable insight and analysis to help put interviewees responses into perspective, and he provides a technical basics primer at the end of the book
Full Title: The Indomitable Investor: Why a Few Succeed in the Stock Market When Everyone Else Fails
Author: Steven M. Sears (Twitter @sm_sears)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2014)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
A new approach to investing based on how Wall Street insiders approach the market
The Indomitable Investor deconstructs the stock market as the public has come to know it and reconstitutes it from the inside out from the perspective of the fortunate few who dominate Wall Street. By revealing how top investors and traders think and act Steven Sears shows the stock market to be an undulating ocean of money, with seasoned investors reading the waves others cannot.
Teaching readers to think about the market in radically different ways, The Indomitable Investor shows how to improve returns—and, just as importantly, avoid losses—with disciplines deployed by people who almost always do exactly the opposite of what Wall Street says to do.
Laying bare great fallacies, the book explains that non-professional investors wrongly think the stock market is a place to make money, which is what Wall Street wants them to try to do. The Indomitable Investor says otherwise and shows how Wall Street’s best investors have a completely different focus.
- Explains the critical ideas and insights of top traders and investors in language anyone can understand and implement
- Packed with material rarely shared off Wall Street that is used every day by professional investors
- Introduces the 17 most important words on Wall Street
- Teaches critical skills, including: How to increase returns by focusing on risk, not potential profits; how to use the stock market’s historical patterns to optimize investment decisions; understanding key relationships between stocks and the economy that predict what will happen to stocks and the broader market; how to increase mutual fund returns with an easy adjustment that redirects the bulk of profits to you—not mutual fund companies, and how to analyze information like seasoned investors to move beyond “statement of the obvious” news reports that turn ordinary investors into Dumb Money
Accessible to readers of all backgrounds, including those with a limited understanding of investing, The Indomitable Investor will change how investors view the stock market, Wall Street, and themselves.
Full Title: Irrational Exuberance
Author: Robert Shiller
Publisher/Date: Princeton University Press (2005)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 336 pages
Cover Notes:
This first edition of this book was a broad study, drawing on a wide range of published research and historical evidence, of the enormous stock market boom that started around 1982 and picked up incredible speed after 1995. Although it took as its specific starting point this ongoing boom, it placed it in the context of stock market booms generally, and it also made concrete suggestions regarding policy changes that should be initiated in response to this and other such booms. The book argued that the boom represents a speculative bubble, not grounded in sensible economic fundamentals. Part one of the book considered structural factors behind the boom. A list of twelve precipitating factors that appear to be its ultimate causes was given. Amplification mechanisms, naturally-occurring Ponzi processes, that enlarge the effects of these precipitating factors, were described. Part Two discussed cultural factors, the effects of the news media, and of “new era” economic thinking. Part Three discussed psychological factors, psychological anchors for the market and herd behavior. Part Four discussed attempts to rationalize exuberance: efficient markets theory and theories that investors are learning. Part Five presented policy options and actions that should be taken.
The second edition, 2005, added an analysis of the real estate bubble as similar to the stock market bubble that preceded it, and warned that “Significant further rises in these markets could lead, eventually, to even more significant declines. The bad outcome could be that eventual declines would result in a substantial increase in the rate of personal bankruptcies, which could lead to a secondary string of bankruptcies of financial institutions as well. Another long-run consequence could be a decline in consumer and business confidence, and another, possibly worldwide, recession.” Thus, the second edition of this book was among the first to warn of the global financial crisis that began with the subprime mortgage debacle in 2007.
Full Title: Market Indicators: The Best-Kept Secret to More Effective Trading & Investing
Author: Richard Sipley
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2009)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
A smart trader needs to know what other traders are thinking and doing. Professional traders and investors use a wide range of indicators—some well-known, some not so well-known—to gauge the state of the market.
Market Indicators introduces the many key indicators used by professional traders and investors every day. Having stood the test of time, these indicators will alert the trader to market situations that offer the best chance to trade profitably.
Full Title: Seasonal Charts for Futures Trader: A Source Book
Author: Courtney Smith
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1987)
List Cost/Pages: $ Hardcover / 357 pages
Cover Notes:
This Sourcebood is an easy-to-use guide to seasonal price movements for commodity futures, providing the statistics necessary to time entry and exit points, set stop-loss orders, and establish realistic goals. Provides details of dozens of seasonal price trends in the futures markets with over 80% reliability. These extremely useful charts and tables offer traders and hedgers insight into the profit potential and risk involved at any given time of the year, enabling readers to avoid trading against the seasonals. Includes charts and tables for T-bonds, T-bills, soft commodities, metals, etc. The layout of the book enables readers to see the historical trends in both tabular and graphic detail, making this a very easy reference to use.
Full Title: The Art of Short Selling
Author: Kathryn Staley
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1996)
List Cost/Pages: $74 Hardcover / 304 pages
Cover Notes:
On the investment playing field, there is perhaps no game more exciting than short selling. With the right moves, it can yield high returns; one misstep, however, can have disastrous consequences. Despite the risk, a growing number of players are anteing up, sparked in part by success stories such as that of George Soros and the billions he netted by short selling the British pound. In The Art of Short Selling, Kathryn Staley, an expert in the field, examines the essentials of this important investment vehicle, providing a comprehensive game plan with which you can effectively play–and win–the short selling game.
Whether used as a means of hedging bets, decreasing the volatility of total returns, or improving returns, short selling must be handled with care–and with the right know-how. As Staley points out, “Short selling is not for the faint of heart. If a stock moves against the position holder, the effect on a portfolio and net worth can be devastating. Investors need to understand the impact on their accounts as well as the consequences of getting bought in before they indulge in short selling.” The Art of Short Selling guides you–clearly and concisely–through the ins and outs of this high-risk, high-stakes game.
The first–and most important–move in selling short is to identify flaws in a business before its share prices drop. To help you tackle this key step, Staley shows you how to evaluate company financial statements and balance sheets, make sense of return ratios, detect inconsistencies in inventory, and analyze the statement of cash flows. Through real-world examples that illustrate the shorting of bubble, high multiple growth, and theme stocks, you’ll proceed step by step through the complete process and learn to carry out all the essentials for a successful short sell, including quantifying the risk factor and orchestrating correct timing, as well as implementing advanced valuation techniques to execute the sell/buy.
Packed with landmark, cutting-edge examples, up-to-the-minute guidelines, and pertinent regulations, The Art of Short Selling is a timely and comprehensive reference that arms you with the necessary tools to make a prepared and confident entrance onto the short selling playing field.
Full Title: Profit Strategies: Unlocking Trading Performance with Money Management
Author: David Stendahl
Publisher/Date: Marketplace Books (1999)
List Cost/Pages: $15 Paperback / 85 pages
Cover Notes:
Drawing on years of experience, Stendahl highlights the key elements for reducing risk and maximizing profits through portfolio management techniques. More than Just a guide to what size your next position should be, this booklet features …- 3 simple evaluation methods to ensure consistent system performance – Using your portfolio to remove fear and greed from your system – Techniques to analyze risk/reward calculations – and improve your system – Combining systems to meet your trading objectives – Tips for matching your system to your level of capitalization – And many more methods for analyzing and improving your trading performance. Plus, examples, tables, charts, and a full resource guide to help you understand all the profit-packed concepts presented.
Related Books:
Full Title: The Little Book of Commodity Investing
Author: John Stephenson (Twitter @StephensonFiles)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2010)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Hardcover / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
The world has changed and so too has investing. The market is shell shocked and yesterday’s momentum stocks are today’s slow-motion stocks. But in the new reality of low-growth investing, commodities are hot and getting hotter. A rapidly industrializing and urbanizing Asia will be demanding lots more copper, zinc, iron ore, coal, fertilizers, gold and oil to transform their societies. Commodities are it and that’s great news for investors who want to profit from the next great bull market in commodities. In fact, commodities may be about the only asset class that is likely to outperform the broad market in the future. Although they are without a doubt important to the global economy, commodities are among the most misunderstood of all asset classes. Stocks, bonds and real estate all have legions of followers and plenty of experts agree on their importance within an investment portfolio, but venture into the world of commodities and you are into an area that’s intimidating to the average investor, where suspicions run deep and understanding is limited. As a result, commodities get short-shrift in most investment accounts and investors miss out on some important opportunities. The Little Book of Commodity Investing is an indispensible guide to learning the ins and outs of commodity investing. It’s about identifying opportunities to profit from the coming bull market in commodities. It explains the benefits of commodities as part of a well diversified investment portfolio; covers all of the major commodities markets; what makes commodities and the companies that produce them tick; why commodities sometimes zig and then zag; what to buy and when to buy it; and why commodities are the next big thing. Today’s world is a very different world-a world where an understanding of commodities is a prerequisite for investment success. And The Little Book of Commodity Investing is the roadmap you need to discover where the opportunities of the future lie, and what to do about it.
Full Title: Trading Systems That Work: Building and Evaluating Effective Trading Systems
Author: Thomas Stridsman
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2000)
List Cost/Pages: $58 Hardcover / 358 pages
Cover Notes:
Successful trading is more than just a series of single, isolated activities, each fighting its own battles in a dog-eat-dog marketplace. It is instead a system, in which all components work together to ensure that each trade is well protected, easy to implement, and capable of generating a steady stream of low-risk trading returns.
Trading Systems That Work shows you how to combine today’s best available information and techniques into a simple system that works for youacross all markets and market conditions. Look to this clear, step-by-step book for:
Guidelines for implementing a consistent money management program
Portfolio composition techniques to ensure maximum profit potential while minimizing exposure to unnecessary risk
Strategies to exercise proper risk management through stop losses, profit objectives, and more
Whether you are a multimillion-dollar institutional investor or an independent trader with a $10,000 account, your trading systemand your comfort with that system will spell the difference between long-term success and failure. Let Trading Systems That Work help you design a strategic, well-thought-out trading system, one that puts you in complete charge of your trading fortunes.
When it comes to designing a trading system, serious traders don’t have time to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they generally incorporate the proven, time-tested systems and techniques of others into their owna personalized system that takes into account their trading budget, risk tolerance, action requirements, time horizon, and abilities to accept market- and system-specific anomalies. Trading Systems That Work is the first book to evaluate many of today’s most influential techniques and, emphasizing trading software programs TradeStation and Excel, cover all aspects of researching, building, understanding, and evaluating your own trading system.
After covering the logic and reasoning that underpin a successful system, international trading consultant and writer Thomas Stridsman uses a set of proven system-building tools, plus his own highly innovative analysis techniques and findings, to provide:
- Step-by-step techniques for researching and building a mechanical (100% rule-based) trading strategy
- Clear step-by-step techniques to evaluate the true performance of any system
- Methods to measure drawdown, both within individual trades and for entire strategies
- All computer coding, along with spreadsheet formulas and equations
- Optimal exit techniques regardless of the market or current market conditions
Trading Systems That Work is the book for traders who have taken a few gut-punches, realize the game is not as easy as it seems, and want to pinpoint exactly what it is they need to solve the puzzle. More than just another cookie-cutter book extolling ready-made technical analysis indicators or a foolproof trading system, it instead examines the entire trading process, the importance of fully understanding that process, and the necessity of employing sound, sensible, fixed-fractional money management strategies to consistently profit from that process.
Manageable system building protocols, money management and portfolio composition guidelines, basic entry and exit techniques Trading Systems That Work shows you how to tie the many different stages and strategic decisions of trading into a unified, profitable system. Whether you are looking to design and use a fast, intraday, market-specific trading system or one that is steady, long-term, and universal, its many valuable insights and innovations will once and for all put you on the right track to an understandable, profitable methodology.
Stendahl Comment:
Full Title: The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You’ll Ever Need: The Good, the Flawed, the Bad, and the Ugly
Authors: Larry Swedroe (Twitter @larryswedroe) and Jared Kizer
Publisher/Date: Bloomberg Press (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 289 pages
Cover Notes:
The rewards of carefully chosen alternative investments can be great. But many investors don’t know enough about unfamiliar investments to make wise choices. For that reason, financial advisers Larry Swedroe and Jared Kizer designed this book to bring investors up to speed on the twenty most popular alternative investments:
Real estate, Inflation-protected securities, Commodities, International equities, Fixed annuities, Stable-value funds, High-yield (junk) bonds, Private equity (venture capital), Covered calls, Socially responsible mutual funds, Precious metals equities, Preferred stocks, Convertible bonds, Emerging market bonds, Hedge funds, Leveraged buyouts, Variable annuities, Equity-indexed annuities, Structured investment products, Leveraged funds
The authors describe how the investments work, the pros and cons of each, which to consider, which to avoid, and how to get started. Swedroe and Kizer evaluate each investment in terms of:
- Expected returns
- Volatility
- Distribution of returns
- Diversification potential
- Fees
- Trading and operating expenses
- Liquidity
- Tax efficiency
- Account location
- Role in an asset-allocation program
Any investor who is considering or just curious about investment opportunities outside the traditional world of stocks, bonds, and bank certificates of deposit would be well-advised to read this book.
Full Title: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Author: Nassim Taleb
Publisher/Date: Random House (2007)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 366 pages
Cover Notes:
A black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet we-especially the experts-are blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.
Full Title: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Author: Nassim Taleb
Publisher/Date: Random House (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 368 pages
Cover Notes:
This book is about luck–or more precisely, about how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill–the world of trading–Fooled by Randomness provides captivating insight into one of the least understood factors in all our lives. Writing in an entertaining narrative style, the author tackles major intellectual issues related to the underestimation of the influence of happenstance on our lives.
The book is populated with an array of characters, some of whom have grasped, in their own way, the significance of chance: the baseball legend Yogi Berra; the philosopher of knowledge Karl Popper; the ancient world’s wisest man, Solon; the modern financier George Soros; and the Greek voyager Odysseus. We also meet the fictional Nero, who seems to understand the role of randomness in his professional life but falls victim to his own superstitious foolishness.
However, the most recognizable character of all remains unnamed–the lucky fool who happens to be in the right place at the right time–he embodies the “survival of the least fit.” Such individuals attract devoted followers who believe in their guru’s insights and methods. But no one can replicate what is obtained by chance.
Are we capable of distinguishing the fortunate charlatan from the genuine visionary? Must we always try to uncover nonexistent messages in random events? It may be impossible to guard ourselves against the vagaries of the goddess Fortuna, but after reading Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared.
Full Title: The Futures Game: Who wins, Who Loses and Why
Authors: Richard Teweles and Frank Jones
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (1998)
List Cost/Pages: $65 Hardcover / 676 pages
Cover Notes:
Full Title: Winning with Futures: The Smart Way to Recognize Opportunities, Calculate Risk and Maximize Profits
Author: Michael Thomsett
Publisher/Date: AMACOM (2008)
List Cost/Pages: $20 Papaerback / 256 pages
Cover Notes:
Whether dealing in coffee, wheat, pork bellies, silver or gold, any buyer investing in commodities is trading in the futures market. For the investor, the goal is to make money when that commodity either gains or loses in value. Winning with Futures demystifies the market, with all of its risks and opportunities, and enables readers to make the most informed decisions when betting on the outcome of a product. With easy-to-follow, practical advice, Michael C. Thomsett teaches novice investors to select the best commodities—from energy and imports to financial futures; manage risks effectively while diversifying their portfolios; and avoid selling at the wrong time.
Complete with a history of the futures market as well as an evaluation of the risks involved for all types of futures, this book will help every investor make far better predictions and much bigger profits.
Related Books:
Full Title: Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere
Author: Tadas Viskanta (Twitter @abnormalreturns)
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2012)
List Cost/Pages: $30 Hardcover / 240 pages
Cover Notes:
Tadas Viskanta is a true expert. An experienced investor and creator of the popular blog Abnormal Returns, he understands the value of humility when it comes to investing in today’s turbulent global markets. But he also knows that just because you can’t control the markets doesn’t mean you can’t control your own actions—and in Abnormal Returns, he provides a solid foundation in the basic principles for taking a slow, steady, and savvy approach to your financial future.
Viskanta helps you navigate your way through the post-crisis markets by developing a solid investing strategy. His simple truths are timely but have been proven effective through recent history. Sophisticated but simple to understand, Abnormal Returns helps you:
- Master the fundamentals of risk and return
- Become an expert on the main asset classes—equities and fi xed income
- Diversify and allocate your assets to build a solid portfolio
- Understand how ETFs, alternative assets, and globalization affect how we invest
- Combat your personal behavioral patterns that lead to poor investing
- Separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the financial media
While the world of investing has become more complex, there has never been a better time to be an individual investor. It is now easier—and cheaper—to invest than ever before. This back-to-basics approach provides the tools you need for ultimate success.
Abnormal Returns doesn’t give you the latest investing trends, “fail-safe” market predictions, or hot new tips for hitting the jackpot right now. What you do get is a fresh perspective on how markets work—and expert insight into how to make them work for you.
Full Title: Trading Applications of Japanese Candlestick Charting
Author: Gary Wagner and Bradley Matheny
Publisher/Date: Wiley (1993)
List Cost/Pages: $100 Hardcover / 320 pages
Cover Notes:
Combines the expertise of a registered commodity broker and a systems analyst to bring readers up to date on candlestick charting methods. Goes a step beyond existing literature to discuss practical applications of this technique and recommended strategies. Integrates candlestick charts with Western technical indicators and trading methods such as stochastics, Elliott Wave, moving averages and oscillators. Features significant treatment of computer analysis of candlesticks.
Full Title: New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems
Author: Welles Wilder
Publisher/Date: Trend Research (1978)
List Cost/Pages: $65 Hardcover / 141 pages
Cover Notes:
Full Title: Secrets for profiting in Bull and Bear Markets
Author: Stan Weinstein
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (1988)
List Cost/Pages: $24 Hardcover / 348 pages
Cover Notes:
Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets reveals his successful methods for timing investments to produce consistently profitable results.
Topics include:
Stan Weinstein’s personal philosophy on investing
The ideal time to buy
Refining the buying process
Knowing when to sell
Selling Short
Using the best long-term indicators to spot Bull and Bear markets
Personal Comment:
I received this book on my 24th birthday … it changed the way I looked at trading. I had no mentor so this book served me well as I knew then that I was on the correct track to trading the markets.
Full Title: Trading as a Business
Author: Charlie Wright
Publisher/Date:
List Cost/Pages:
Cover Notes:
Full Title: Trading Beyond the Matrix: The Red Pill for Traders and Investors
Author: Van Tharp (Twitter @vantharp)
Publisher/Date: Wiley (2013)
List Cost/Pages: $40 Hardcover / 432 pages
Cover Notes:
In the sci-fi movie classic The Matrix, the hero, Neo, was given a choice: take the red pill and see the world as it truly is, or take the blue pill and wake up in his bed believing whatever he wants to believe. Of course, Neo takes the red pill, and the adventure begins. Now, what if there were a real Matrix and a real red pill?
A trading and investing guide unlike any other, Trading Beyond the Matrix is your red pill. It invites you to see a new world if you have the courage to free yourself from a lifetime of programmed thinking about what’s possible and what’s not, including what you deserve out of life. Discover new ways to dramatically improve your trading results and your overall financial well-being by looking within yourself and shining a light on the engrained ideas, beliefs, and perceptions that influence every one of your trading decisions and that may keep you from the success you deserve.
Written by the legendary Dr. Van K. Tharp, Trading Beyond the Matrix is the culmination of his thirty years spent helping traders become the very best they can be. He has observed traders progress through a journey of three stages, the first of which is “Tharp Think.” At this initial stage, you will learn a set of powerful rules that Dr. Tharp developed during his financial modeling work with numerous Super Traders. Time and again, these rules have been proven to deliver big returns for traders who understand how to apply them.
On the next leg of your journey, you will take your first giant step on the road to transforming yourself as a trader. You’ll learn to take a hard look at your fixed beliefs about trading and the markets, where they come from, and you’ll begin to understand that, in Dr. Tharp’s words, “You don’t trade the markets, you trade your beliefs about the markets.” You also will learn to identify which beliefs are healthy, productive ones and which aren’t and begin to release yourself from their hold. And that’s just the beginning of your transformational journey taking the red pill.
In the final stage of your journey, you will begin to awaken to life beyond the Matrix. Like Neo, you will learn to transcend your programming and discover the true power lying dormant within you. Here Dr. Tharp arms you with the tools you need to take an evolutionary leap forward as a trader—and as a person.
More than just another collection of “surefire” trading strategies and techniques, Trading Beyond the Matrix takes you on a journey of self-discovery, during which you will come to understand who you really are, how your personal psychology affects your every decision, and what, with Dr. Tharp’s guidance, you can become: whatever you desire . . . even a Super Trader.
Full Title: Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom
Author: Van Tharp (Twitter @vantharp) 482 pgs
Publisher/Date: McGraw-Hill (2006)
List Cost/Pages: $35 Hardcover / 482 pages
Cover Notes:
This trading masterpiece has been fully updated to address all the concerns of today’s market environment. With substantial new material, this second edition features Tharp’s new 17-step trading model. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom also addresses reward to risk multiples, as well as insightful new interviews with top traders, and features updated examples and charts.
Full Title: Winning on Wall Street
Author: Martin Zweig
Publisher/Date: Warner Books (1986)
List Cost/Pages: $28 Hardcover / 293 pages
Cover Notes:
Financial adviser and Wall Street Week TV panelist Zweig has been fascinated by the stock market since childhood, he tells us not industry or commerce as such, but the buying and selling of stocks to make money. He has evidently made a lot of it, and has won the confidence of readers of his financial newsletter. Zweig is more enthusiastic about the intricacies of his “technical” stock market approach than he can expect the average investor-reader to be. Nevertheless, he has produced here a clear and detailed analysis of market trends, interest rates, Federal Reserve policy, debt volume, market “momentum,” etc., that seems to carry the technical side of stock-market theory as far as it can go. The result is a sure-fire system for beating the market provided you make no mistakes.