Trading Books

This book is great for a novice. He outlines techniques in technical analysis and even a little fundamental analysis. From there, the reader can choose which method to expand on through further reading.

Great combination of broad overview, and specific analytical techniques. I powered through this book in a few days...partly to quench my newfound thirst for daytrading education, and partly because it is so well written and easy to read.
It wasn't dumbed down and it wasn't too technical. Good for beginner to intermediate trader. This is NOT a complete trading guide by any means, but it is a wonderful overview. If you want a lot of theory, this is not the book. The author recommends books on certain topics if you want to expand your knowledge (apparently there is an entire book devoted to candlestick charts).

This book is a great introduction to trading and technical analysis. The author explains the technical analysis patterns, and more importantly, the financial psychology behind those patterns. He explains how supply and demand, and the human behavior of greed and fear create those patterns.

The only shortcoming is that there isn't much material on the other important aspects of trading like money management, position sizing, risk management, system testing / validation. For that, you would still need a book like Van K. Tharp's "Trade your Way to Financial Freedom" or Marcel Link's "High Probability Trading". I would have rated this 4 and 1/2 stars if there was such a rating. Worth more than 4 stars, but not quite 5 stars.

Overall, this book is a great primer, and would still be a very good value at twice the price.

Few books give insight into the global markets like Tom has done in this book. Our society is constantly becoming more global, and understanding the global market is a key to being a successful investor. I will definitely recommend it to other people.

I have read quite a few global investing books and few have come close to being as insightful as The Markets Never Sleep. This book, just like his last one, offers an education that can only come from a lifetime of making a living from the markets.

The author makes some valid points about the globalisation and interdependence of markets. But there is a lot of repetition and the treatment is fairly elementary. Could be useful for beginners.

While a large percentage of individuals do not achieve financial success in the futures markets, traders who do succeed possess a solid understanding of risk and exercise a disciplined program of loss containment and money management. Nazer J. Balsara's Money Management Strategies For Futures Traders provides a wealth of materials for futures and stocks traders alike. The book is a must-read and a relatively easy-read for those who wish to enhance their risk management sophistication with complex tools and who believe that the best way to survive and prosper in the markets it to contain your losses, play defensively and let profits ride.

All trading opportunities are not created equally and part of a trader's job is ferreting out the best markets to trade. The chapter on commodity selection presents four approaches to market selection, based largely on the work of J. Welles Wilder, the father of ADX (Average Directional Index Indicator) and RSI (Relative Strength Index). Here, the book is a good review of Wilder's ADX but focuses on the less-known aspect of his work: the commodity selection index. Wilder's approach uses ADX to identify futures yielding the greatest dollar-value price-moves for a given margin investment, in short, getting you in on the most appealing trades. Balsara also shows the utility of Wilder's price movement index when it is it is not possible to determine or estimate reward, thereby enhancing the analysis and return in mechanical trading systems. Sharpe ratios are also considered as a way of measuring risk-adjusted returns.

The text gives useful approaches to managing risk through stop-loss orders by laying out the usage of time stops, dollar-value stops and volatility stops. There is also a presentation on how to survive locked-limit markets by creating synthetic options positions, spreads or offsetting positions in the cash markets.

A studied read of this finance professor's work will help traders develop both the skill and the art of disciplined risk-taking.

This book was released in 1992 -- and is still as essential today to traders as it was 16 years ago. It seems like it is a secret gem of a book since there are only 2 Amazon.com reviews posted (both of which are five and four stars) in all these years.

Maybe it's time for this classic to be re-discovered by a new generation of traders and investors. Surprising to me that the book "The Trading Game - Playing by the Numbers to Make Millions" sells so many books. The gimmick title "...Make Millions..." should make you wonder if it is authentic -- get Professor Balsara's book instead and learn the true principles of managing and understanding your risk.

There is a reason Balsara's book is cited by 34 other books (most of which are written by the master traders of our time) and it is because this is the textbook that the master traders refer to to create their money management strategies. This book has the formulas and the theory you need to manate your risk and avoid the risk-of-ruin.

I found out about Balsara's book from Bennett McDowell, he recommends Balsara's book in his book "A Trader's Money Management System" and encourages his students to use Balsara's risk-of-ruin tables when designing their own personal money management system. It improves your bottom line when you calculate your current payoff ratio and win ratio and accurately determine the risk you should be taking on each trade by referring to the risk-of-ruin tables.

For some traders they should risk 2% of their trading capital on each trade. For other more experienced traders they can benefit by risking 10%. The key is to do the calculations and know where you stand at any given moment.

Do yourself a favor, buy this book or McDowell's book instead of "The Trading Game".

I only wish I had utilized the statistical tools the author provides earlier in my trading career. However, I did find the book in time. Don't let the reference to statistics scare you. The author uses basic alegebra to aid you in trade selection and risk control.

This book may not guarantee you success in trading, but I do believe that if one does not apply the basic money management principles presented by Prof. Balsara, sooner or later, failure in the futures market is almost certain.

If you can't name the 5 basic steps of money management, I suggest you stop trading immediately, get this book with a couple of ticks worth of money you'll not be losing while your not trading. Read it a few times, set up your money management spreadsheet and may you trade with clarity previously unknown in your endeavors in the futures market.

Very well researched and well written. It lacks only one thing. It needs a glossary for those of us unfamiliar with all of the terms specific to the financial industry. Like any technical book, if it is to garner a wider readership it must have a glossary. I had to read it with a dictionary at my side.

JHCARLISLE

This is a FASCINATING book about a business, institution, and people who have been a driving force in the commodities business. It is very well written, capturing the trust and intelligence of those who have contributed to this unique market.

Arlene Bronstein's brilliant descriptions of the Chicago Board of Trade is insightful. The research of over 20 members and information that went into the book is intelligent and is an accurate account about what took place inside the board of trade.

It also gave me the opportunity to discover all the different experiences that real members had and the thought process behind the hallmarks of the exchange.

This is my favorite book of 2008 and a must read for someone that likes to hear about brilliant people's real decisions and thoughts as it relates to business, finance and relationships.

This is an invaluable reference. I've been searching for weeks for materials related to noise control in a residential setting. I've found only one "expert" in the yellow pages and he charges hundreds for his advice. This book provides all of the information he provided and more. Although, the editing isn't great and there are typos and other errors, the content is first-rate. For once, this book was exactly what I expected.

This is an invaluable reference. I've been searching for weeks for materials related to noise control in a residential setting. I've found only one "expert" in the yellow pages and he charges hundreds for his advice. This book provides all of the information he provided and more. Although, the editing isn't great and there are typos and other errors, the content is first-rate. For once, this book was exactly what I expected.

El Libro del Sr. Harris ha sido de gran ayuda en mi trabajo como Ingeniero Acústico. Sin lugar a dudas es un texto que debe estar en la biblioteca de toda persona ligada a la arquitectura, construcción y control de ruido. Un Gran Libro.

This book offers an excellent introduction to the mechanics of online investing. Don't look for the secret to successful investment results. But if you already have the basics of asset allocation and markets, it is a well written how-to guide to assist you in dramatically lowering your transaction costs. But hurry...this information will become stale at lightning speed.

This book is an entertaining, written in easy non-technical language, but VERY basic text about what types of investing and trading exist, how they work (i.e., what and where is traded), and where to look for further information about these issues on the internet. The book does a good job discussing what sources of information can be trusted on the web, and which not, and gives an useful list of URLs on every investing-related topic you can think of. The comparative analysis of online brokerages and their services and fees is quite good. Stocks, IPOs, mutual funds, bonds, futures, and options are explained on a very simple level, which will help those who never heard these words to understand what they mean. I liked that the book is unbiased: unlike most other guides on online investing it does not promote a specific web page or a specific online brokerage. This book is fun to read, and it would be a good starting point for people who decided to go into online investing (but never did it before) and have little or no internet experience. However, my opinion is that it does not woth purchasing if you already have investing experience or read a few other books about investing because the book is just too simple and not as much about investing strategies as about the web resources, discussion boards, and investor stories. The authors' analysis of what drives the discussion boards is probably the only part which I have not seen anywhere else; this part may be useful for investors on all levels. Therefore, my rating is 5 stars for the novices, 3 for everyone else, which makes it 4 stars in average. By the way, most of this book is available online on wall street journal web page, so check it out before you buy.

The Wall Street Journal has come out with a series of clear and concise investing guides in the past. This one, from the editors of the interactive site, is a little bit more involved than the other ones, but just as helpful. Unlike some other online investing guides I've read, this book doesn't advocate risky trading, and leans in the direction of more conservative advice. Still, it covers a wide variety of trading strategies for the more adventurous. It's a good introduction for beginners, but it also is helpful to an experienced investor who hopes to become a more well-rounded investor. I highly recommend it.

I have taken hours of classes on how to trade options. I have read lots of books on how options work and how to trade them. I have traveled hundreds of miles and spent thousands of dollars to learn how to become a better options trader. This book is sooooo... good if I had read this book first I would have made more money, loss less money, and I could have gained 100% more value from all the other options training I have done. If you are looking at trading options this is your starting point! If you already trade options then use this book as a review, becasue it has some very lucid explinations e.g.Chapter 29 - IV (implied volatiltiy) and the Black Scholes model. Now this will not be the only options book that you will get, and it does not go into super detail depth like a Sheldon Natenberg, but it is easy to read, it gets directly to the point and it's relatively small compared to other options books. The chapters are written independently of one another, so you can skip through the book and read exactly what you want. So if you just want to know how a double diagonal works then you read that chapter and your done. Thank You Professor Olmstead!They need to rename you Uncle Option :)

This book has excellent examples to supplement the excellent details about how to use Stock Options. Well written and easy to understand.

Trading in options by regular folks looking for big returns has been catching on and I am not sure why. Are they really trying to use options to alter the risk of their retirement portfolios - either lowering the risk to ensure the preservation of capital or to add volatility with the design of increasing returns? Probably not. The average person is probably acting as a speculator and placing bets. For the market, this kind of behavior is a good thing because it adds noise that allows the professionals greater opportunities to profit. Now, think about what that means. You know the old saying about sitting down and a poker table and if you can't spot the patsy that it's you? Remember, options are an area of the market where there are only winners and losers. These are instruments where one side wins and the other side loses. However, in the right hands they are very important and useful financial instruments.

This book is not a textbook on option theory, pricing, or how to use them in the context of lowering or increasing risk in a portfolio. It is a basic how to text for buying and selling options as speculative investments. The author, W. Edward Olmstead, is a math professor at Northwestern University and teaches a course in options. His experience with the topic shows because the text is clear, easy to read and to grasp. That is a fine accomplishment because learning how options work can be a mind bending experience for the first timer. Admittedly, he doesn't take the reader into pricing. Here, as an investor, you basically take the price given and make a decision. Of course, developing a position about what the price "should be" is what professional options investors do and if you are just licking your finger and sticking it into what you believe to be the financial breeze, well, just remember I warned you.

Olmstead organizes the book into three parts. The first explains the basic concepts of what options are and some ideas about buying and selling them. His notions of when to buy and sell and how to use the way options change their value throughout their "life" are quite interesting. It would be fascinating to find out how well they work in real life and if they did, why these abilities to gain aren't simply priced away by people trading against them.

Anyway, the second part goes into trading strategies and describes various kinds of spreads, collars, and so forth. Of course, these positions are geared towards fashioning risk for certain kinds of outcomes. They are not magic in themselves and are just as likely to end up worthless as any other set of options, but the downside and upside will be more specifically defined.

The third part contains special topics (including DAY TRADING with options - oh boy, talk about walking into a financial mind field wearing lead boots), he touches on pricing and volatility and delta neutral trading.

An interesting book that can help the beginner get some idea about options and can help those itching to trade in them begin to do so. Just remember the old childhood saying that knowledge is when you know the stove is hot. Wisdom is what you have on your fingertips after you touch the hot stove.

I like this book becase the end is good and begining.I am going to read more books of the baley scoole kids.

There are some weird grownups in Bailey City. But could the boat instructor at Camp lone Wolf really be a pirate searching for money and treasures? The Bailey School Kids Are Going To Find Out!

If vampires don't wear polka-dots, and genies don't ride bicycles, then a pirate certainly wouldn't be caught wearing pink sunglasses, would he??

Welcome to book #9 in the Bailey School Kid's series (which I affectionately call the "...Don't..." series for it's wonderful titles of mythical/magical creatures who don't do something or other). This time the kids are off (again!) to camp Lone Wolf (originally visited in book #2, Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp). Every year they take place in a rowing competition, and every year they are trounced. That is, maybe until THIS year when Captain Read shows up!

And what a character the Captain is! He sports a striped shirt and dewrag like a real pirate, and even has an obnoxious parrot that spouts bits of wisdom and seems to be spying on the gang. Read seems to know a great deal about an ancient buried treasure that a mad female pirate had buried around Bailey City somewhere. Some kids even begin to think he IS a pirate. But, if he WAS, he wouldn't be wearing those giant pink sunglasses, would he...?? WOULD he...??

I've reviewed the other books leading up to this one, and again I must say that the "...Don't..." series is a fine choice for beginning/intermediate readers. The pace of the text is quick, easy to read (I can polish off one of these books in about 20 minutes) and fun. While not spooky like some others in this series, "Pirates Don't..." is a lot of fun. One can just hear Captain Read growling in a guttural Irish/sea shanty sort of voice as he calls out "ahoy!" and all that piratical stuff (this would make a good selection for reading aloud simply for the chance to make fun voices).

As per usual in the series, Eddie doesn't believe Captain Read is a pirate or is in search of buried treasure, and children could easily copy him and make a game out of arguing if or if not the Captain really IS a pirate. This is a good deal of the series' appeal, I think: the small group of students who seem to be the only ones who notice anything weird going on and their investigations into whether or not these strange folk are what they might be (a vampire, werewolf, ghost, pirate, etc...).

Although the series is in numerical order (as of this writing, it goes up to at least 40), and though some characters make reappearances, it isn't necessary to begin reading at any given point to enjoy the series. Grab one or two (including "Pirates Don't...") and see if YOU too, aren't hooked!!

The Pokemon Trading Card Game is a great way to be able to play the game without having to waste all the time by shuffling the deck and taking the cards. It is a fast, fun and effective way to play the game.

Prima's guide for Pokemon is pretty darn good. The layout is done nicely and explantions of the different parts of the game are done well. Maps and key figures are identified and the screen captures are nice and clear.

Out of the 226 cards that can be collected in this game, Prima does an excellent job in cataloging each one by power and energy type. They also give very helpful pro's and con's on each card and tell you which ones are worth having, and a few that you probably don't want to use in your deck.. An intersting side note: Prima also gives the origin on many of the card, that is, if they debuted in Japan or America first and when. Also, unique to the Gameboy are special cards only obtained in the Gameboy version.

There are some strategies on how to build certains decks that will aid you in defeating some of the club masters, and a nice feature is Prima identifies the club master and other boss decks so you can build a great deck before you encounter them.

The one drawback I see with this guide is the lack of card combinations descriptions. Though there are some, there are a lot more to be discovered that could have been written about. Also, if they can break down the decks of the club masters and bosses, they could have also done the same for other NPC's within the game, but give very vague guidelines/hints on most of the NPC's

Overall, a good buy for the price.

A book worth having handy while playing the game, this guide to the long awaited 'Pokémon TCG for the GameBoy' has information on almost every card with even the tiniest details. With 226 cards to collect,8 gyms and 4 finalists to beat,people to find,people to beat and stratagies to plan this amazing book will help you all the way through your journey starting at Dr.Masons Lab (where you get your first deck(and finishing at the PokéDome (where you try and beat the final four). Also don't forget you'll still have to collect the 226 cards availible to you throughout the game, cards ranging from the rare Mew to the shocking Pikachu to the fire-blasting Charizard. These cards aren't easy to find though you'll only be able to get them by beating other trainers you meet along the way. Don't forget to look out for the 4 legendary cards only availible in the PokéDome after beating the Elite Four !

This work by Paul Mladjenovic is an excellent contribution to the Dummies series. Rather than trying to entertain the reader which some Dummies authors try to do, the author writes in a serious yet comprehensible style. True to the title, the author gives dozens and dozens of websites helpful in educating oneself and in determining where to invest. The twenty-four chapters, Diversifying with Metals, The Beauty and Benefits of Metals, Discovering the Secret of Silver, Buying Metals Direct, etc. all add another dimension to the world of investing by oneself in precious metals. The work is slow-reading due to all the details but never boring or cumbersome.

This is one of the best and most complete books on precious metals investing that I've read. It is great for the new investor with little or no knowledge on the subject or the more seasoned investor who has at least some limited experience. It's certainly not for the very experienced investor in precious metals. It's not that advanced. As it says, it's "A reference for the rest of us."

The book covers all sorts of PM investing, including mutual funds, ETFs, options, futures and physical holding. It gives the advantages and disadvantages of each and makes suggestions for several types of investors.

It also talks about the reporting of each type of bullion and touches on the IRS rulings and your responsibility when selling. It talks about the privacy issue and what type of bullion to buy to provide you with the greatest privacy.

There are also a number of wonderful resources listed in several chapters. I found a number of these resources extremely useful.

The author is a professional. He has no vested interest in selling gold or silver or other metals. It also talks to you about selling --- something many books fail to do. The author also discusses technical analysis and other ways to analyze a PM investment.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in investing in precious metals at any level. It talks about all forms of metals, not just gold.

-Susanna K. Hutcheson

What I was really hoping for was more detailed than this book could deliver. However, as far as the history of mineral commodities and an overview, this is a great place to start. I strongly recommend this book for its basic historical perspective. So, what is missing? How about a forecast of things to come?

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