The Compleat Day Trader

I’ve been trading for about 10 years now, but still like buying books to see what others do / get fresh ideas, etc and this is one book I wish I had found years ago. It has useful techniques and Bernstein is to the point with very little waffle and ego. I must have about 200 or more books on trading and have two book shelfs – one for the good ones and one for the trash. This one is now on my good one.

Very practical,easy to understand and straight to the point. You can trial methods and start using quickly allowing a better understanding of what is being explained.

Highly readable print and clear illustrations add to the clarity of presentation by Mr. Bernstein. This McGraw Hill publication is well produced. In fourteen chapters and just over 200 pages, the author has presented his Day Trading methodology in a simple, readable format with copious illustrations. This book is worth each of the 3500 pennies it cost and is easily readable and digestible in one weekend.

Given the specificity and clarity of everything else in the book, I am not sure I agree with the author’s decision not to include a brief discussion of Futures and Forex trading terminology so the charts and tick pricing would be easily grasped by the reader.

As the author says, day trading is the ultimate financial game given its challenge, its promise and the fact that it can be won; and the book shows how, as the author set out to do. `Having been educated in clinical psychology and having worked in clinical setting’ the author shows his expertise in his expose of the Psychology of Day Trading in Chapter 12, which may be read at any time.

The author is commended for his careful mention of the fact that `High-frequency trading, flash trading, and dark pools have given a distinct and possibly unfair advantage to institutional day traders’. He also says that `The so-called flash crash on May 6, 2010, is an extreme example of what can happen in today’s markets.’ The author believes that day traders who know their craft (and they will after reading this book!) can benefit handsomely from present and future volatility.

The author has illustrated a simple `Setup, Trigger and Follow-Through’ model using moving averages, momentum and Gaps. The discussion on Moving Average Channel illustrating Support and Resistance is well presented. As the author says `The simple fact of the matter is that if calculated correctly and implemented with discipline, they work’. However, the discussion on MACD is not covered as well or clearly as the rest of the indicators. Although the author should be commended for including realistic charts as examples, the discussion on page 27 is unconvincing; the author himself says `further research will be necessary’. The car analogy (page 93) in the context of momentum and energy leaves something to be desired! I never can understand why authors of well written books eschew simple physics and math to explain momentum. After all momentum here is the rate of change of price and a simple pendulum example which slows down as it reaches its positive (right extreme) and then reverses direction to do the same at the negative (left extreme) is not that hard an example for readers to understand.

Love the book! Long-time trader. Some good techniques are included. If you’re like me, if you only pick up one idea, it is worth the small price of a book.

He makes some very important points and I am still using them today. Most of important things he says could probably be said in 50 pages, the rest is mostly filler in order to make a book out of it. If you are new to day trading, this book will help you immensely