Trading Books

I CANT REMEMBER ALL THE DETAILS OF THIS BOOK, BUT IT WAS AN OKAY READ.

I had not had a chance to read La Jill Hunt before, but a friend recommended this as a good place to start. Like one of the other reviewers, I read this in about four hours. The LL song is one of my favorites and the author gets this image of 'around the way girls' perfectly.

The stories are so realistic you feel like La Jill knows the life of these women based on her real life experience. You know how some *bougie* type writers try too damn hard to write about the love, disappointment, and the real day-to-day life of black women in the city? But they just don't get it, it comes off as fake sounding.

As a white male, living in Detroit, before that Brooklyn, I am probably not the typical reader of contemporary fiction by black urban females. What can I say? I loved reading this book. I love Nikki Turner, Deja King and even some Zane novels. I can relate to this book because it could be about some friends or acquaintances of mine--it's just so realistic in that way. I like that in this book the story by La Jill portrays proud, dynamic, smart African American women, who are out there, trying to make it on the grind.

And I *especially* appreciate that her characters are NOT so-called 'hoes' or other words I won't repeat here. She does not degrade black females, making them into just another racist stereotype. Can't wait for more of La Jill's books!! Anyone know if she has more books coming out?

I'm not going to lie my personal favorite is southern comfort. the first story okay but at a certain point it started dragging.

I suggest you borrow this book from a friend than going to actually buy one.

I thought this book was OK. It could have been alot better. I didn't think the stories were all that interesting. I only finished it because I don't like starting a book and not finishing it. The last story was the best to me. The other two just seemed rushed and unrealistic. They also stated that these chicks lived in Crown Heights. I'm from the Heights born and raised and nothing was mentioned (street or land mark, nothing even a Chicken spot would have been a little more realistic) and these girls didn't speak like chicks from around the way "eee, cack off" anyone from around the way can interpret that, 1.

Back in 1990 rapper LL Cool J dedicated a rhyme to the "around the way girl." You remember her, the one at the bus stop sucking on a lollipop. Now, more than ten years later we're learning more about the "cuties from the neighborhood" in the fiction release titled Around the Way Girls. This compilation of three short stories takes readers on a journey through the mean streets of Brooklyn and into the lives of three around the way girls.

First, in "Busted and Disgusted" author Angel Hunter introduces readers to Cream, who has had to grow up fast after her mother's death. Cream is a stripper who would love to trade in her stiletto heels and skimpy outfits for a more respectable lifestyle, but it just doesn't seem possible. Plus, she just can't shake a particular bad habit-- her son's father Wise, a known drug dealer. Her friend Amber comes up with a brilliant plan that could mean thousands of dollars and a way for their dreams to come true. But when the plan snags, life rapidly changes leaving Cream busted, disgusted and betrayed.

While this story is touching, it has been done before. The ending seemed almost abrupt. But if you love urban fiction, you'll love this story regardless.

"Southern Comfort" by La Jill Hunt is by far the most interesting. After unwillingly moving to Brooklyn with her mother, brother and sister, Sydni has been missing Atlanta ever since and vows to return. She's a southern girl at heart, but she's confident and doesn't take any mess from anyone, especially Darrius, her brother Aaron's new best friend. When Aaron is killed, her world turns upside down. Her sister becomes more promiscuous than ever before. Her mom's boyfriend can't be trusted and a white guy who's strictly a friend suddenly professes his undying love.

The plot in this story is intriguing. The author added a suspenseful twist and a dramatic ending, which make for a great read.

Rounding out the three stories is Dwayne Joseph's "Played." Angel Santiago, is a Puerto Rican party girl who thinks she knows it all and has total control of her life. Any given night of the week you can find her at a night club getting drunk with her friends Shanice, Ray and Stevie. A night of partying leaves her intoxicated and feeling the music and the next thing she knows she's in bed with two other women. She suspects she's been drugged by Frido, the drug kingpin that had been eyeing her at the club. Although she has vowed never to date a drug dealer, something about Frido draws her to him like a magnet. Hopefully, she won't get played.

With believable characters, a splash of erotica and hints of violence, Played is definitely entertaining. If you love short stories and you're looking for a fast-paced read, pick up Around the Way Girls.

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

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

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

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

"Bollinger on Bollinger Bands" is a through explanation of the theory behind the analysis tool, and means for increasing its value. Examples are given in both independent use of the tool and for its use in concert with other measures. Codependent variables are discussed and reasonable cautions are stated. Multiple trading systems are discussed as well.

However, I was sorely disappointed that the book made reference to "free" tools on the internet. Most of these were available only for a 30-day trial pre-purchase, and without stating the purchase price--before signing up for the trial. It was not possible to evaluate the value of the proposed trading methodologies by using what was stated to be "free" access. I felt mis-lead, at best.

This is not a book for a beginner in stock technical analysis. It pre-supposed knowledge of several acronyms, which are sometimes explained later in the text (to be fair). It would have made a better read had all acronymns been defined and explained on their first occurence.

I still found this to be a valuable text on the derivation and logic behind Bollinger Bands, and for that reason alone have gien it a relatively high rating. But don't expect to buy the book and directly apply it to trading without purchasing or developing some additional software, or in the alternative, doing a lot of pencil and paper work.

I found this book to be a great introductory book into the world of Daytrading. And that is probably all you will ever get out of any book on Daytrading, just a few bits and pieces of useful information that you can use. Unfortunately for us, like most trading books, especially Daytrading books, it is overpriced.

I will begin by saying that just a few days ago, I was sitting here reading these book reviews just like you. This book is hyped everywhere so I decided to buy it. Unfortunately, I thought that if it sells for $60+, there must be some kind of demand for it. Well I received the book today and I already finished reading the whole thing! The book is EXTREMELY short (the print is large too) and each chapter is about 3 pages long. I don't want to bash this book, because it is a good overview for an absolute beginner. However, if you're already a fairly experienced daytrader looking to learn more, this book is not for you. The book isn't even really for daytraders.. it is just a basic overview of trading stocks in general. If you just opened up a trading account yesterday, you might find the book useful, but I'm returning it.

I found this book to be extremely light on useful information. 230 very small pages with big margins, and very few pages per chapter to use up even more space. The author, many times, will start to talk about something that makes you think, "Now this should be interesting", only to change the subject just at the point where the information could get useful. Very frustrating. Before buying any book I would seek an independent review, where you can at least be sure that the reviewer is not the writer himself.

IN MY OPINION, WHICH IS WORTH LITTLE MORE THAN THE SERVER THAT THIS MUMBO-JUMBO IS SAVED ON, THIS IS A FANTASTIC BOOK FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATE TRADERS, AND A WASTE OF TIME FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO DECIDED TO TAKE THE EASY ROUTE TO TRADING SUCCESS (WHICH IS TAKING A BASEBALL BAT UPSIDE THE HEAD ABOUT FIFTY TIMES BEFORE I FIGURED WHAT I WAS DOING RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE MARKETS.

I HAVE BEEN TRADING FOR A WHILE, AND FOUND THAT MUCH OF THE INFO IN THIS BOOK I HAD ALREADY LEARNED BY LOSING MY *SS IN THE MARKET (OOPS)...BUT HEY, WHAT'S AN EXTRA SIXTY BUCKS FOR A BOOK AT THIS STAGE :-)

IF I HAD READ THIS BOOK A YEAR AGO, I WOULD HAVE SAVED MYSELF A NEW BMW (AND UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A 318I, BUT RATHER THE BIG BOAT 735...YEAH, YOU KNOW THE ONE!)

ANYHOW, I DIGRESS. THE POINT IS THAT THIS IS A VERY GOOD FIRST YEAR BOOK ON INVESTING AND ACTIVE TRADING, AND OF LITTLE USE FOR THE WAR-BATTERED TRADER.

IF YOU NOT YET A SEASONED VETERAN, BUY THE BOOK AND READ IT TEN TIMES. IF YOU ARE ON YOUR SECOND TOUR, SKIP THIS ONE AND READ BOTH OF JACK SCHWAGER'S BOOKS.

HOPE THESE WORDS FROM A SARCASTIC OLD PISSER LIKE ME HELPS.

DFD

PS- I'M UP FOR THE YEAR, SO DON'T THINK THAT THIS OLD CODGER DOESN'T KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE GAME!

This is a five star must read for people who have been actively trading for less than a year. It is a real blueprint for learning the dos and don'ts of this profession.

There are other excellent books on the subject, but this one is the easiest to understand and absorb.

I could not put this down. It is unnerving the twists and turns of this real case in Indiana and on some level, it looks like the suspect/husband (of course) has an almost perfect alibis. But who else could have done it? Who else would have wanted to do it?

What this case really shows is how much depends on the justice system. I mean, how much depends on who the prosecutors were, how well they handled the case which was tricky to begin with. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but the case is still (2008) in appeal mode primarily on procedural issues.

To me, a very interesting question is to what degree should the husband be considered the suspect when there just are not any reasons for anyone else to have committed the crime. Obviously, that's not the whole issue in this very complex case which seems so unlikely that you think it's a script for a movie.

A great page turner and you will probably find yourself taking sides as the story progresses. One of the things that we've seen in Chicago, which I think casts a lot of light on this Indiana case, is how much evidence or things that would cause problems for the husband/defendant can get completely swept under the rug when the suspect is himself a longtime cop. Things are not what they seem...especially when a man in blue is accused of murdering his wife. Very troubling as well as intriguing.

John Glatt is already writing about the McGuire Case in New Jersey. I read a previous book of his entitled Cries in the Desert. This book portrays David Camm, who was a policeman or state trooper in Indiana in a negative light. Camm had affairs with women that he pulled off the road, he stalked a few, and had blatant affairs unknown to his faithful, devoted wife, Kim, and the mother of his two children, Bradley and Jill. One Deadly Night, Camm is alleged to have killed his wife and two kids in the garage with a shotgun. The portrait painted here of Camm and his family life was not all roses. He is a self-centered, egotistical, self-obsessed human being. I would not be surprised that he is guilty of the crimes so that he would avoid a disastrous divorce with Kim and the kids and the allegations of child sexual abuse against Jill. It's a family tragedy only duplicated by the fact that it was not a stranger but a father and husband who made matters worse. I would find it hard to believe he didn't do it.

This is a great true crime book. John Glatt is an excellent author. He did a lot of research to make such a great read!

The auther of the book failed to do one important thing, talk to and get to know David Camm. I am not a family member or long time friend. I became friends with Dave after his conviction because I am from this community and know that justice was not served. Authers of these "true crime" books should label there work fiction.

This is the first John Glatt book I read. I could get into the book and it was hard to put down at times, however, his style isn't what I am used too. Since I have always read Ann Rule I was just slightly disappointed with John's writing technique. The book was so straight forward that I think he missed the important crime investigation and court room information. It seemed to me that he doesn't get a whole lot of feedback from family, friends and investigators, as most crime authors do.
The book is good and I've read one other John Glatt book, I just think he misses crucial information towards the stories when he writes these books. It makes the reader want to ask questions.

worth reading and keeping, alot of good advice, not alot of noise.

john clark

Consistently making money as a day trader is exceedingly difficult. I can verify that fact, as a former day trader, and as the author of a comprehensive book on day trading. Every trader would like to become a millionaire trading the markets a few hours a day. Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream for the vast majority of traders. Most traders are neither well disciplined nor have a rule-based buy and sell strategy. Moreover, they are usually too emotional, and they don't properly manage risk to protect their capital. The end result is usually a change in profession.

Busby's begins his 13-chapter book with a retrospective on how he got started in trading. Early in his career, he was as a broker at Merrill Lynch while earning his law degree. He then migrated to trading S&P 500 futures in 1982 when they first became available. Busby enjoyed had much success until devastating losses on Black Monday, a day that impacted him for many years to come. After taking a big hit on October 19, 1987, due to an unhedged futures position, Busby spent years trying to regain his self-confidence. His trading results tended to be mediocre. He was searching for his future direction.

After coming to grips with this situation, Busby decided to look forward instead of backward. He embarked on a path to develop a systematic approach to trading futures that offered consistent profits and minimal risk. After developing and successfully trading his methodology, he decided to found the Day Trading Institute in 1996 to teach new and experienced traders his approach. In 2001, I attended Busby's two-day seminar on futures trading. The book's contents closely parallel the seminar. As I read the book, I remembered many of the key points taught by Busby and his associate Geoff Smith.

Busby certainly has the experience and expertise to educate potential and existing traders with over 25 years of trading futures and teaching about futures in his firm's workshops since 1996. For those individuals looking for a time-tested approach method to trading the S&P 500 futures, he provides a realistic, informative, highly-structured and workable approach that will put the odds of success in your favor, as long as you do your homework, apply yourself, learn from your mistakes every day, and always use protective stop loss orders.

Throughout the book, Busby continually hammers home the point of using protective stops on all trades to limit risk. He believes that trading without stops can potentially lead to big losses that will prematurely end your trading career. This protective stop insurance policy certainly paid off on September 11, 2001 when the market fell precipitously. Busby and his clients were automatically taken out of the market by their stops, before the big drop accelerated which, Busby's career had some bumps along the way.

The futures trading methodology that Busby developed and espoused in his book consists of adhering to three main elements:
· Key Numbers
· Time of Day
· Road Map

Key numbers represent critical support and resistance levels that are often tested, as well as the opening price for the day, and week, month and year for the S&P 500 futures contract, for example. Busby believes that there are three trading times during the day that offer better odds of making money. These include one morning and two afternoon sessions of 30 minute to 75 minute each. Lastly, he reviews a few key market indicators that he calls his "Road Map" to assess the market's condition that include the S&P and Nasdaq futures, NYSE and NASDAQ TICK and TRIN, foreign futures, and two proprietary indicators. Busby uses his electronic real-time "Road Map" as those before him used the ticker tape to read the market's pulse. Knowing the direction of the various market components and whether or not they are synchronized provides critical information as to whether a trade will be entered, and whether it will be a long or short.

In one chapter, Busby recaps the key points that have him years to learn and put in practice. At the end of the book, Busby writes, "The markets will crash again. Be prepared." That's what trading is all about, being prepared. Busby provides a sound approach to a challenging and rewarding profession. A more precise title for this book would have been Winning the Futures Day Trading Game because the contents are almost exclusively focused on futures trading. However, the basic trading advice that he provides is well suited for day traders of other investment vehicles. Although some readers may not feel that his trading approach fully fits their needs or personality, there are numerous insights that will shorten their learning curve and reduce their losses. Education is the key to successful trading. Busby certainly provides a realistic educational experience that readers will benefit from and hopefully become better traders.

Nice read and good tips as well. But a few charts. A good begining. I'm satisfied with the book. I Recommend.

Not a book I would recommend to either a beginner or a more advanced student of trading. The author preaches some obvious truths which you can get way better explained in dozens of other books, and he shares some nuggets of his trading methodology. Some of my favorites were the key numbers you need to watch while trading the S&P futures contract (28 numbers from the range of 0 to 99 - what a treat indeed, as much as 72% of the numbers are not "key" - obviously not a word on why these numbers are the "key numbers"), and a three Ts methodology of trading, whereas the author enters the market with large position and then liquidates 1/3 at a nominal profit, another 1/3 at another very small profit, and lets the profit on the balance of 1/3 of the position run. By doing so, he apparently has a sure way of minimizing risk since he immediately locks in the profit on 2/3 of his position. Quite impressive but somehow he forgets to explain how he makes sure that his position is always on the right side of the market and he never ends up with an immediate loss on his initial huge position. Incidentally, his methodology is the exact opposite of what Mr. Livermore had recommended, while the author considers him his guru. If you have about $30-40 to spend and like a good laugh, by all means buy this book. If you have significantly more than that to spare, the author also offers trading seminars -- I am sure these are amusing -- and the usual $2,950 software. Enjoy!

There are several reasons for my positive rating of this book. First, the author dared tell his dire trading failure in 1987 and the consequent financial and emotional trouble from then till 1992. Second, he emphasized repetitively on the need for one's own trading journal, protective stops and preparaton before any trade. Third, he elaborated plainly his past unsuccessful day trading routine. Fourth, he preached detailedly the importance of special dates and key numbers. Fifth, he respected Jesse Livermore much. I do, too. Finally, I had read four of his seven suggested readings beforehand. Our thoughts should be close. Perhaps the major weakness I can tell of it is that he had talked very little on TA tools, or at least the importance of them on day trading. In short, readable! But not on the top priority list.

Most probable price direction reflected by certain price pattern is explained in this book. Give me new insights. This book is not for the forex newbies, some basic forex trading knowledge is needed.

I am from Indonesia, I cannot understand if someone could rate this book at low level, for me, this book is worth more than 5 stars.
I am intraday forex trader and I really benefit so much from this book, boost my performance at incredible pace.
Igor explain in very good english about the subject, and this book is really a guidance, when I read it, i feel like i'm in the course with Igor Toshchakov as my private mentor.
It covers everything you need to know to be a very good trader.
I Thank's Igor for writing such a practical and useful book.
I've taken many courses, bought many books on this subject from Amazon and other stores. This one is the best. Highly recommended

I just can say that my trading style changed completely after I read this book. Definitively I highly recommend this book to novice as well as to intermediate or advanced traders. My own trading strategy (LV- Forex.Box-Trading System TM) was inspired by this book.

I generally resell books once I've read them but a select few become reference books--Beat the Odds in Forex Trading is one of those books.

One of the things that strikes you is that his approach is simple--he focuses on support/resistance and a handful of classical chart patterns that have proven themselves to be predictive. He touches on leverage, trading the news, and all of the advice is practical and sane (based upon my research through other sources).

While I would agree with others comments about the somewhat ideosyncratic writing style this is a very worthwhile book for those thinking about an effective forex trading system. The book is worth reading right through a couple of times as it does contain a lot of sound advice on Forex trading as a whole. Please not thought that it is not (and does not claim to be) a complete beginners guide.

The most important factors in trading are psychological however the price-action centred, low risk strategies in this book are, I believe very suitable for the Forex market. If you are a complete trader (see books by Alexander Elder, Van Tharpe and Mark Douglas) then I believe that the Igrok method is a sound foundation for your trading system, certainly far more than having a multitude of moving averages and oscilators flying to and fro on a 15 minute chart!

I have seen many reviews stating that this book "offers nothing new". I agree, however there is one important point that I would like to address about this book:

Even though this book doesn't offer anything new, it offers for experiences individuals a path back on track. Before reading this book, I knew investing and often hedged, however over time I began be become emotional about the stocks. This book allowed me to get on track and I wasn't derailed no more.

So if you are experiencing some bearish portfolio outcomes, it may be the book to read, even if you are experienced trader or investor.

Newbies: It doesn't stop here!

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

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

Fun read, but most people fail using these methods. I finished the book without knowing many specifics about the author's momentum methods.

This is one book that must be read all the way to the end. It starts off like so many of the others in its genre with THE ANSWER to investing. And then James DePorre gets gentle toward the end. He not only acknowledges how tough and frustrating investing can be (especially in the current market), but he encourages the reader to not give up and to discover their own style. That really helped me make a paradigm shift in my whole approach and I am seeing steady improvement in my profits. The descriptions of different breeds of shark investors was a lot of fun. Thank you for writing this book, Rev Shark. I love investing and I needed your help to "stay in the game."

There was plenty to learn in this book and overall it offers much reasonable advice. However, it also packs a large portion of bizarre and obviously silly content, such as the phase-of-the-moon and the "Jupiter-Saturn cycle" trading systems mentioned in other reviews. Still, I find even this bit useful as a reminder of the danger of being lured in by a trading system based on numerology instead of relevant data. It's nice to remember that the reason analysts compute the 14-day and 28-day moving averages are because these are half and a full moon's cycle, respectively. Of course, these became popular even though they refer to trading days instead of Earth days (what? doesn't the moon phase stop progressing over the weekend too??)

My other complaint is the use of proprietary "Easy Language" code samples; this would be fine if it included an appendix on Easy Language syntax, but this is conspicuously missing... and would have been more useful than the secion of the book titled "Financial Astrology" or the appendix on constructing a pentagon with straightedge and compass (I'm not kidding).

Suprisingly, I did find the discussion of solar eclipses informative from an astronomy viewpoint.

Overall, even with the negatives, I enjoyed the other reference material.... just figure out which chapters to tear out of the book before reading.

This is a bizzar of prorietary code (TradeStation Language), and 20 yrs old fortran code at the Appendix. I am wondering who will be using this code? Lot of spaghetti Mathematics which is neither simple focussing on concepts , nor deep enough to understant the mathematical details that's very poorly presented. In chapter 8 about uncovering cycles, after all the poorly written mathematical stuff, there is no mention on how to use the uncovered cycles in trading which is much more important than running after sines and cosines ...although I am a Computer Engineer with mathematical background , I got lost...

I am forced to read this book as a reading material for CMT2 certificate , however I consider it a very badly written book with no real focus neither elegant mathematical details nor usable code nor Trading concepts

If you can only buy one book on trading systems OR want to free up space on your bookshelf... buy this book, it's really the only reference you need.

This book exposes the reader to many concepts necessary to stay in the trading game. The information is well organized and presented well. It can be "a read" but would be better pursued as a study. That means thinking through the formulas presented, getting a grip on statistics and its interpretations (all in the book).
This is a book useful for system trading (which I do) and might even have an idea or two for the discretionary trader. To point an accusatory "what stupid book" finger at Kaufman for pointing out not so readily accepted ideas (i.e. moon phase, etc.) is plain silly. There are some obsolete parts, like old computer code, but the remaining 600 pages are great.
I wish I would have discovered this book years ago (but maybe, I would have "not gotten it" then). It is definitely one of my must have (and often consulted) books in my trading library.

Going more for breadth than depth, "Trading Systems and Methods" hits an enormous number of approaches for building a mechanical trading system. Many (some would say all) of these technical analysis approaches are obviously utter rubbish (anyone who has seen "Pi" can chuckle along with me at the section about Fibonacci Ratios), but the shear volume of techniques outlined make this a particularly good title for people new to trading systems development. The included computer code isn't particularly useful because of both its simplicity and its reliance on TradeStation features.

If you're looking for a survey of mechanical, technical trading techniques with enough detail for a jumping off point to inspire further research, this provides that on a large scale and with commendably wide coverage. I found it most helpful to identify which wheels I was busy reinventing when doing my own system development, outside of that context it doesn't have quite as much utility.

A very exhaustive list of the formula for the most used option.
A must for all Option trader. The codes are very helpfull also.

It's not expensive and almost complete. Don't show the Greeks' formulas, which is very important for practitioners.

This book is the "standard" for providing straightforward code demonstrating various options pricing techniques, and perhaps deservedly so -- after all, it really doesn't have too many competitors in that niche. However, even in the course of the fairly straightforward applications I've had for this book (mostly simple equity Cox-Ross and Black-Scholes modeling), I've been shocked by the number of blatant mathematical errors (in the formulas for rho with distinct carry and risk-free rates, for instance). Clearly, the author and editors didn't bother to spend much time verifying that the formulas they cite are actually correct. (I'm actually shocked to see a fellow reviewer praise the "proofreading" -- I'm guessing he or she never actually had to use any of the formulas in this book!)

Bottom line -- if you're looking for a handy, compact reference of option pricing formulas, this is probably what you'll end up with. But be careful. It is SO frustrating to spend hours trying to figure out where you made a mistake in implementing one of these models, only to learn that you DIDN'T make a mistake -- the mistake was in your source. Consider yourself warned...

I have been using this book for many years now and it is absolutely fantastic. This book is useful for practical users as a first step towards option pricing. This book is not intented for critical analysis and derivation of the formulas (there are a zillion research papers for that). I like the approach of the book. It keeps it simple - input parameters, formula, result. It has many examples which helps me to calibrate my results.

Bottom line - if you have a PhD and strong math background read the source literature and research papers. For the rest of us this is "the" book.

If you want to cook, buy the paperback edition of "The Joy of Cooking" (JoC) and low and behold, your cooking will improve. JoC is a recipe book, but as you work through it you learn principals for cooking that are widely applicable.

If you want to be in quantfin you need to buy The Complete Book of Option Pricing Formulas: it is the "Joy of Cooking" for options. As you work through the collection, the formulas, and look at the code (on a wonderful CDROM) low and behold you'll get better at all principals, concepts, and conceptions on how code works for option pricing formulas.

A word about errors in the previous edition: even critical editions of long-dead authors have errors in them, just look at the "errata" sheets from The Library of America critical editions.

For the first edition Espen Haug put his errata sheet immediately up on his website, and it also is widely available with a simple GOOGLE search (lots of people have copies on the various quant fin discussion boards). 10 seconds extra work versus whining away about how something isn't perfect? Oh, grow up. You rationally will be spending that much extra time on learning this code and digesting material in this book anyway.

Excellent in every way.

This book contains a wealth of information - I strongly recommend it! The content is excellent, and the writing style is understandable and candid. Brian June not only discusses the nuts-and-bolts of day-trading (Level II screens, time-and-sales data, 'ax' market makers, direct-access systems, trading strategies) but covers in detail how one should prepare prior to the market opening and how one needs to debrief trading after the close. Dr. Van Tharp covers two of the most important concepts of trading: risk management (i.e., capital preservation) and money management (i.e., position sizing). If you have not internalized these concepts into your belief system already read these chapters, memorize them. They are key disciplines as they will keep you in the game.

This book was a great addition to the other books I have read about trading for a living. While Gary Smith's book was his actual trading process and Alexander Elder's covered the psychological dynamics of creating a system, this book really got into the technical dynamics of risk and expectancy with formulas and excellent explanations of how to be profitable based on your amount of trades/risk/expectancy.

The six key elements you will understand for making money in the market from this book are:
1. System reliability
2. reward to risk ratio
3. cost of trading
4. Your trading opportunity level
5. What you can do based on the size of your equity
6. Your position sizing algorithm

This is a more technical read than other books and comes across very tedious at times, but I found it well worth the effort for the added insights I received.

I would recommend the book to stock traders,but also if you're trading futures -as in my case- the book is worthwhile as a blueprint for devising business and trading plans. Mind you, the advice given in the book about equipment, software and hardware is already obsolete since the book was written a few years ago.

Van Tharp's first book, Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, is outstanding, and highly recommended. This follow-up book, however, is not. The author spends the first portion of it reintroducing the topics of his first work. He then goes in to a discussion of day trading in Level II stocks (and the like). This was clearly an effort to take advantage of the market environment at the time. In doing that, however, Van Tharp made the fatal mistake of creating a limited lifespan for this work. Don't waste your money here. If you haven't already read Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, do so. If you have, read it again. This follow-up book won't tell you anything new and the first has much more substance.

My trading coach recommended this book to me so I could better write my trading and business plan for my trading business. After studying and applying the books material I was able to format a proven and tested plan. I later met with my trading coach to review my plan and he said it was one of the best plans he has seen. Thanks to this book I am able to sucessfully maintain a trading career.