Trade Chart Patterns Like the Pros

I really didn’t want to write this review and I really don’t want you to buy it. But what I say doesn’t really matter since you’ve heard such comments before 🙂 But this guy really deserves to sell a ton of this book. This is not just any trading book. Its is the greatest trading book EVER written. Throw away everything else in your bookself. This is all you need. Why? Because all the other books spend 300 pages talked about stuff you don’t care about. You go through all those books just to find 5 pages on the important stuff. The actual trades and example. This book is the opposite. 5 pages you don’t care about, and 300 pages of what you want to hear. Ok, now you want to learn to trade follow these steps: 1)Buy a good computer with a large screen, 2) Open an account with a broker that has simulation abilities, 3) Get a good charting software and real time data(some companies like Tradestation offer brokerage and good charting platform), 3) Spend alot of hours watching the screen and entering simulation trades, 4) Document those trades. Check out Elitetrade.com and start a journal. 5) Start reading and re-reading and re-reading this book. Pick the setups you like best (2-3 are enough – you don’t need all 300), 6) Sim, sim, sim

This is an excellent book as a REFERENCE for various patterns and their target objectives. Weaknesses are that trade entries are often ambiguous and not always the best. For example, breakouts are FAR more effective if taken on the first pullback… the author barely even mentions pullbacks, which are a staple for successful trading. Also, the drawings need more marks as to EXACTLY where to enter. It scantily mentions candlesticks and doesn’t integrate them into the entries, which is a huge mistake, as they are so vital. Steve Nison teaches candlesticks, but he (Nison) does NOT teach these patterns. The two need to be married. Maybe I’ll write that book someday. Or not. Also, nowhere could I find any treatment whatsoever on diagonal channel breakouts. Why not? It seems the author certainly tried his best to put together a good reference book on general patterns, but NOT a comprehensive manual for trading. To actually trade, one needs to know candlesticks and several other things. With just a bit more work and thought, this could have been a seminal publication.

If the book was less expensive I’d be more forgiving but for the price this book has nothing that’s not available online for free and the author doesn’t add anything new.

If you are a day trader, this book is a must. The graph photos are big and understandable. The book get straight to the point. No history etc etc.

The book is better than I even expected even after reading all the good reviews. Give you the information in a format you can work with. By far the most valuable trading book I have read hands down.

Good overview with decent breakdown and visuals. note- The book is in black and white. The book included several patterns not encompassed in other books as a group. These include the nr7 and the Gartley’s. imo- Each trader must find and make his own set ups as his niche if one is to survive the onslaught against the pros and HFT. This book shows a very diverse amount of trading patterns and methods with a brief section including history, synopsis, the trade, targets and stops. It then gives an example with a short summary of it done on an actual chart. My only concerns is not with the book itself, but these type of books premise. More is not always better. Another note is many of these patterns are easy to find and identify after the fact, to do so in real time takes lots of screen time(live or sim). Thus my supposition that each trader must find then develop his own niche. The drawback that I see with a book like this and the huge amount of information out there is the diverse and many choices to make, causing the novice, intermediate and even advanced trader the option of dabbling. Imo trading is best done from a niche perspective, with the ability to filter out the rest. An addition to this book that would be benefical on many traders desk is a price action diagram with various patterns. Many patterns unfold the same or similarly. By identifying and relating to the current chart with a template one may be able to quickly identify which potential price action and pattern that may be unfolding in the short term, mid term and long term which is all relative to each trader. For myself, scalp(minutes) to spot(sessions) to swing(multisessions). This is a good buy to be able to quickly look at various patterns to potentially recognize what other traders are seeing to be able to identify the various bull and bear lines. One must do the work themselves to make it their own. My personal arsenal from the book are triangles, pivots, rectangles, AB=CD, 3valleys = river. Many notable patterns that I use to recognize but not trade are H&S, 2B, nr7, double tops/bottoms, gaps. Money well spent for it’s purpose, a consolidated version of patterns. Highlighting sections may be a good idea. There is plenty of space in the book itself to write one’s own notes. Tabbing key or favored pages is also another suggestion. Choose a pattern then make it your own by identyfying and trading it many times over.

This book is a gem. I have purchased it after I noticed that it was recommended on Tradestation’s forums. The book is written by an active trader so the author knows what you want and does not waste time. He gives one setup after the other. He first explains the pattern, gives credit to whomever discovered it, shows you clearly where the entry points are, where the stoploss level is and finally where the profit targets are. He spends about 2 pages per pattern and that’s including the charts. So he gets right to the point quick! The patterns are numerous and many of them are exotic and not known. I learnt a lot from this book and I am an active trader whose read over 60 books. Additionally, I want to say that if you are a algorithmic trader this book has many patterns that are programmable and can be deployed on intraday data and even on daily charts. So if you want a book that will help you become more profitable and if you want a book that is written by someone who trades for a living as appose to someone who writes for a living then buy this book.