The Master Trader include chapters and details on technical analysis, the failure of technical analysis efforts, the business of wall street, trading indicators, anecdotal data, and price gaps.
Introduction:
The Master Trader is not a book about making money in your spare time, nor does it contain formulas that will allow you to retire early or double your money over the next two weeks. There are no guaranteed recipes for success or easy roads to riches. Warren Buffett once said about life, or maybe it was the market, that the key was to make a large snowball and find a steep hill. For investors today, both professionals and individuals, the reality is not only that the hill is getting steeper but that it is increasingly uphill.
This book details many of these issues. It should make you aware of some of the issues every investor faces (including professionals who are sadly unaware of many of them as well). Among our recommendations is education, including reading both current and historical articles and writings. The Money Game by Adam Smith, the 1967 bestseller, must be at the top of your reading list.
If money is a game, then like all games there are winners and losers. Hopefully, you will emerge a winner by understanding the reality of today’s markets and being aware of the landmines and pitfalls. It is not necessarily a guide to making money but should illustrate what you must do and consider to avoid losing money. It is also intended for the sophisticated or professional investor. Sadly, one of the characteristics of money managers today is their disregard for the market itself. No longer are ticker tapes a critical input, trading feedback is nonexistent, and history is seldom incorporated or interrogated.
Contents:
- technical analysis: Fuhgeddaboudit
- the Failure of technical efforts
- technicals: the Last Word
- Wall Street: Games people play
- Money Flows: The Ultimate Indicator
- Anecdotal Data
- Always Cut the Cards
- DOW: 19,792?
- That’s Easy for You to Say!
- Playing the Game
- Have It Your Way
- The Market: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow?
- Get Ready, Get Set . . .
- Market Cycles and Rotation
- The Economy and the Federal Reserve Board
- Picking Stocks
- The Trading Day
- “Mind the Gap”
- You Must Remember This
- Wall Street Week and Other Adventures
The Master Trader: Birinyi's Secrets to Understanding the Market By Laszlo Birinyi pdf
Navy Ward (verified owner) –
kind of a boring slog of theory though good if you have not been exposed to it. New investors, it’s worth a ready. It does not really get at the how so I was disappointed.
Cody Pena (verified owner) –
It included a great deal of important information. The info from various studies, charts, inputs was very helpful. I was disappointed that more of the writers perspective and insight we not more prevalent in the content . But, saying all of that i’m glad I purchased it.
Loretta Schultz (verified owner) –
There are some good ideas and theories in this book.
Rachel Stafford (verified owner) –
I’m afraid I was a bit disappointed by this book. I have always enjoyed Mr. Birinyi in his appearances on CNBC. But the book was not as engaging. It seems a bit random in its organization–a series of anecdotes and thoughts-in-passing rather than a developed manuscript. His tone is too often self-congratulatory while also being biting and sarcastic about others. And the financial suggestions also come in a relatively random and disconnected sequence, which makes them less useful for readers.
Ainsley Wolf (verified owner) –
A lot of denunciation of economists and technical analysis in the early stages of the missile. A lot of self back patting, followed by how he appears to ignore all fundamental company data in favor of technical analysis. I found the book to be totally useless.
Abby Villa (verified owner) –
An appropriate title for this book would be “Reminiscences” — the title of Birinyi’s monthly newsletter. The book has an organizational flow to it but it also contains a potpourri of experiences and anecdotes – one of them about William Simon he likes so much he repeats the whole story a second time. Birinyi takes the scorced earth approach and criticizes a variety of approaches but primarily technical analysis. As a result, the last man standing is Lazlo with his approach to Money Flow. He starts the book by saying that “This is not a book about making money in your spare time” and provides limited assistance in that regard. He does have a helpful chapter (The Trading Day) that provides general patterns to price movements during the day.
He pulls snippets from his long investing career. I liked the mention of his appearances on Wall Street Week that I remember well. Birinyi has drilled down and dissected a large number of approaches and strategies over the years and he provides glimpses of that through graphs and data. The associated website has a 40 page paper on his view of Money Flow.
I personally enjoyed the book but it could have been even better with more editing.
Briar Porter (verified owner) –
If you want to understand the markets and how they work and save yourself from endless, fruitless, attempts at investing and trading markets this is your book. Tried and true. Been following him for years and he gets it right.
Jase Dickerson (verified owner) –
Lazlo gives away absolutely nothing in this book. Its one long diatribe about how smart I am and how stupid everybody else is. Don’t waste your time.
Clay Parks (verified owner) –
Well written, full of insight and experience from people who have actually worked on the street. Not a quick flash in the pan, how to make a million bucks in 10 weeks, but real insight you can use to get you started in investing.
Alaric Ball (verified owner) –
one of the best books ever written on investing … from a trader’s perspective…