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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A effective use of two classic strategies, April 15, 2004
This review is from: Advanced Swing Trading: Strategies to Predict, Identify, and Trade Future Market Swings (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)
This book takes two classic techniques -Roger Babson's action/reaction theory and Alan Andrew's median line - aka pitchfork - and combines them in a very unique and effective way. Then the author inserts his own proprietary timing method to project future support and resistance and turning points. Being a technical trader myself, I found the book to be interesting and contained a few new twists I've never seen before. I have read some reviews that think this method is too simplistic. I disagree. From trading for over the past ten years, I have always thought a simple, but effective strategy is much better than a complicated trading approach. Complicated doesn't mean better, its just complicated. If I find a trading method to be too complicated I will usually abandon the approach and look for something else. And besides, this could be a compliment to the author for taking something that can be complicated and explaining it in a way that makes it seem simple. I think where some readers may become disappointed, is if they are looking for this book to give them a trading system. If that is the case, this is not the book for them. Even the author states this in the beginning of the book. Advanced Swing Trading is more about understanding market behavior along same lines of Elliott wave or W.D. Gann. However, it is written in a matter that makes it seem much simpler than Elliott wave and not as subjective as W.D. Gann - to me that is a real plus, not a negative. The author explains that knowing how to identify where you are in , what he calls a Reaction cycle, a trader can easily see if the market is reacting correctly - if it is, you know what should follow. If not, you can react accordingly. I have read many books on trading and I believe every author uses carefully selected examples to illustrate their ideas, and this author is no exception. But, on the other hand, he did a couple of things in this book that I have never seen before. First, in chapter three, he shows how to use his Reaction swing for short-term swing trading. After a few examples explaining the process, he takes six months of the S&P and goes step-by-step through every swing pattern. He describes the entry and exit of each trade - both winners and losers - showing the end results. I must say this was impressive! (This chapter alone was worth the cost of the book ten times over.) Secondly, he takes three unrelated commodity markets and goes through the entire Reaction cycle - from the beginning of a major trend all the way through to the end of the trend - showing how the previous swing pattern was used to project the future pattern. To be realistic, the only way a trader can know for sure if the techniques described in this book will work for them, is to get out your own charts and test it. The methods described in Advanced Swing Trading can easily be tested just on any chart. I know this because I tested it myself. After stumbling around for a little while it all came together and - for me at least - it was impressive. Not exact every time, but the best I've seen. To be fair to the author, this was not meant to be a trading system, but offers a valuable tools that can enhance your own trading style. I believe a trader cannot be successful without understanding market behavior and this book does a good job of explaining this. It is well written and very well illustrated with plenty of charts. I recommend it as an addition to any trading library.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An effective use of two classic indicators, April 15, 2004
This review is from: Advanced Swing Trading: Strategies to Predict, Identify, and Trade Future Market Swings (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)
This book takes two classic techniques -Roger Babson's action/reaction theory and Alan Andrew's median line - aka pitchfork - and combines them in a very unique and effective way. Then the author inserts his own proprietary timing method to project future support and resistance and turning points. Being a technical trader myself, I found the book to be interesting and contained a few new twists I've never seen before. I have read some reviews that think this method is too simplistic. I disagree. From trading for over the past ten years, I have always thought a simple, but effective strategy is much better than a complicated trading approach. Complicated doesn't mean better, its just complicated. If I find a trading method to be too complicated I will usually abandon the approach and look for something else. And besides, this could be a compliment to the author for taking something that can be complicated and explaining it in a way that makes it seem simple. I think where some readers may become disappointed, is if they are looking for this book to give them a trading system. If that is the case, this is not the book for them. Even the author states this in the beginning of the book. Advanced Swing Trading is more about understanding market behavior along same lines of Elliott wave or W.D. Gann. However, it is written in a matter that makes it seem much simpler than Elliott wave and not as subjective as W.D. Gann - to me that is a real plus, not a negative. The author explains that knowing how to identify where you are in , what he calls a Reaction cycle, a trader can easily see if the market is reacting correctly - if it is, you know what should follow. If not, you can react accordingly. I have read many books on trading and I believe every author uses carefully selected examples to illustrate their ideas, and this author is no exception. But, on the other hand, he did a couple of things in this book that I have never seen before. First, in chapter three, he shows how to use his Reaction swing for short-term swing trading. After a few examples explaining the process, he takes six months of the S&P and goes step-by-step through every swing pattern. He describes the entry and exit of each trade - both winners and losers - showing the end results. I must say this was impressive! (This chapter alone was worth the cost of the book ten times over.) Secondly, he takes three unrelated commodity markets and goes through the entire Reaction cycle - from the beginning of a major trend all the way through to the end of the trend - showing how the previous swing pattern was used to project the future pattern. To be realistic, the only way a trader can know for sure if the techniques described in this book will work for them, is to get out your own charts and test it. The methods described in Advanced Swing Trading can easily be tested just on any chart. I know this because I tested it myself. After stumbling around for a little while it all came together and - for me at least - it was impressive. Not exact every time, but the best I've seen. To be fair to the author, this was not meant to be a trading system, but offers a valuable tools that can enhance your own trading style. I believe a trader cannot be successful without understanding market behavior and this book does a good job of explaining this. It is well written and very well illustrated with plenty of charts. I recommend it as an addition to any trading library.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of all that I have read!, January 31, 2004
This review is from: Advanced Swing Trading: Strategies to Predict, Identify, and Trade Future Market Swings (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)
I became interested in short-term swing trading a couple of years ago. Since then I have studied several techniques and read books by Farley, Markman, Nassar, Angell, Landry and Williams. All these books offered good information and techniques for short-term trading, but none offered the insight into market behavior like "Advanced Swing Trading." After reading John Crane's book I attended a presentation he made at the Traders Option Forum in Chicago. I was amazed at the information he presented about using market action to predict futures highs and lows. That was the first time I realized the market moved in predictable patterns and they could be used to trade the market successfully. By combining aspects of the Andrews Pitchfork and Babson Action/Reaction lines in a unique fashion, Mr. Crane offers a whole new way to predict and trade future market swings. This valuable book offers clear, step-by-step guidance that will allow you to apply this swing trading methodology to any trading account and improve your bottom line. Mr. Crane was not only very gratious in answering my questions at the forum, but also made himself available when I called his office a few weeks later. I was impressed with is professionalism and willingness to help. I have recommended this book to other traders and I would recommend it to anyone looking to improve their trading and understanding of market behavior.
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