Customer Reviews

The Art of the Trade: What I Learned (and Lost) Trading the Chicago Futures Markets

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a reprint of "Dancing With Lions", a 1999 book I already had on my bookshelf. I Liked it better the first time I read it, but maybe that is because I am a better trader now. Or maybe it is because some of the material is somewhat dated. "Dancing With Lions" suffered from poor editing. This book is better, but there are still mistakes. I would not have bought this book if I had known I already had it.

I give this book a cautious (3 star) recommendation because there is so little available from people who really know how to trade. The author also has an audio course, "The Art of Evolving as a Trader" which I do not recommend.

I have to give this 5 stars because the book is just as the title says it is. It is about what Jason learned and lost trading the Chicago Futures Markets, so no one should be surprised or disappointed.

"The Art of the Trade" part of the title should really be "The Art of Jason's Trade", but that is ok. One thing about Jason is he has no lack of ego. If ego were energy, this guy's ego could power the entire city of Chicago, but that actually makes this book a little more interesting. To see and feel his ego boldly and unashamedly served up and spatula-spanked point blank right into your face is kind of entertaining.

He has had an interesting career with brokers and he shares not only the experiences he has had, but his thoughts and feeling towards those experiences and how it affected him personally and emotionally. Anyone that has traded for any length of time can relate to many of the emotional turmoils that this business can manifest.

Don't buy this book expecting a "how to" book on trading. He does have some verbiage alluding to some trading theory, but again, like his other book, he doesn't really give you anything you can use. For example, he tells the reader to figure out where the loser is in any given trade situation, but doesn't really tell us how to do that - which is actually the most important part. It's like telling us the secret to trading is to buy low and sell high, but if he doesn't tell us how to do that, then it is really a worthless statement.

So if you are interested in reading about the career and personal thoughts of a trader, and would like a little insight into how bizarre the world of brokers can be, and how it has affected this trader through good times and bad times, then this book is for you.

This book has some really great things about it, and some really iffy things about it. If you do not know, then this is a reprint of the book "Dancing with Lions" written by the same author. I have never read that book, but I was drawn to read this book when I heard some people I know mention it, as well as after I read this guy's other book: 28 rules that work (something like that). Here is the break down:

PROS:

-This book has it; it has the key to trading, and it is right in front of your face. If you pick this book up and throw it down in disgust, you missed something very important. One of the leading causes of trading woes is when people do not understand the true nature of the market. After reading this book, pick up some Mark Douglas, or Rem. of a Stock Operator, or any other book you know that is packed with trading wisdom. You will start to see points from this book in those. Once you understand truly the nature of the markets, then right action becomes self evident, and to not make money in the market, you have to TRY to not make it. Once understanding comes, you will flow with the market and all the riches you imagined can be yours. But do you understand its true nature yet?

-I liked the way this guy told stories, and although some of them were pretty outrageous, without speaking to their validity, they were entertaining. I also think his stories got the points across.

-Some really great lines in this book that point to deep truths about both the markets, and reality. "There are only two realities, yours, and the right one." Also, when talking about the fact that when two people trade, they both believe totally opposite things, he says (I am paraphrasing): "That little thing that makes you believe your trade is right, that is why you lose." These sayings have some really deep truths to them, but you have to truly understand reality, as well as the market for these truths to set you free. This book has these truths, and discusses them in a way that can give you an understanding if you are open to it.

CONS

-This book, while probably better edited than the earlier version (from what I have heard), still is filled with quite a few mistakes. Mostly harmless things, like forgetting to put a space or two after sentences, or some small spelling errors. Still, it is not up to this publisher's standards and the errors in this book should be redone.

-This guy is a pretty sarcastic dude at times. It is actually a bit mind-boggling because at times, he seems very wise, and at others, he is like a closed off Neanderthal. A lot of his stories seem like bragging, but then he acknowledges this and this can be confusing about his intentions.

-It can seriously get annoying with how many times this author says "I wont go into that, but you know," "I wont say the name of this, but you know," or something to that effect. This happens once or twice, its not a big deal. But this guy does it quite a bit, and you start to wonder why he has to do this in the first place, what is he trying to hide? The cloak and dagger stuff he does is the exact opposite to the confident trader that he is trying to portray. Plus the book isn't that long, what is another few pages describing things you mention? This can be all very confusing, and sometimes exasperating, almost like a wise man who every once and awhile turns into a child. But I do not know this guy, nor the circumstances under which he wrote the book, so whatever floats his boat is fine.

Conclusion:

I would say, no matter the downfalls of this book (like mentioning 100% winning traders; seriously? I mean even if you know one, why mention it, its entirely unbelievable), it does have wisdom in it, and it has the type of wisdom in it that you CAN come back to. At its price, it is a no-brain buy because I know for a fact, you can come back to this book and its message will fit what you are currently experiencing. Like all great wisdom, a lot of people will not see it on the first, or even the second run through. That is fine, just keep it on your book shelf and know its there, and one day, you may decide to pick it up and it will speak to you.

That great line "You will Know the Truth, and it will set you free" really is the essence of this book. If you are struggling trading, the truth is right in front of your face, and it has been waiting for a long time to set you free if you open yourself to it. I know I have had to get smacked with a loss bat numerous times to open my eyes. If you are at the point where you are totally exasperated with your performance, your are angry with yourself and your emotions, pick this book up and KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN.

I bought this book hoping that it would give some insights into how the "underbelly" of the Chicago Futures market worked. There is no such insight. The author basically tells his story about how he lost, made, lost and then made his money. There is nothing useful in it. The last chapter is a bunch of tips on how to trade. There is nothing new that this book offers.

This is the worst book I've read in a long time. It starts off well with some stories highlighting the level of corruption and incomptence in the industry he works in and it goes steadily downhill from there. From highlighting the incomptence and corruption in his industry he dedicates an entire chapter complaining about intrusive regulation. He spends a lot of time talking about finding god, his personal views of the social decay of the US and various other bit of nonsense that seem to have come into his oversized head over the course of a day. He spends very little time talking about successful trades he made or supporting his claims that he is consistently right more than 70% of time.

The ego of the author is clearly evident throughout this book, at one time claiming to have developed a more efficient way of space travel before NASA and developing the closest solution in 2000 years to some mathemathical problem, he did this after school over 5 days. I would suggest that these claims cast a level of suspicion over the various other claims he makes in the book (see above).

The book is 154 pages long and included in that is a personal view of the author by his ghost writer, the intention of this chapter is clearly to buff up the number of pages in the book. I'm not even sure why the book needed a ghost writer given how little substance was in it.

He spends alot of time talking about how for the various derivatives he trades in, it's a zero sum game, in so far as one person wins at the expense of someone else. This book is clearly an extension of this. I bought it, paid the $20 or whatever it was, got absolutely nothing out of it, other than a sense of shame for having read it, and he took my $20. He wins, I lose. At the end of book there is suitable photo of his big dumb slimy head holding a 20 note. He almost seems to be saying "Ha you are just another dumb schmuck who doesn't deserve his money, I win!!"

A series of murky, unverifiable stories that paint the egomaniacal author as a hero but which provide zero insight about trading (or anything else).

The author picture on the back flap is good for a laugh but please don't waste your time on the garbage between the covers.

This book is monumental and it will lead to a paradigm shift in the way you look at trading and conduct technical analysis. As the author stated in this book "trading becomes effortless and a way of life (borrowing his words "meaning of life")."

It's just an incredible transformation process you will go through as you study this book and finally get his points. During this transformation you will look at market and price movements more objectively, subsequently, to exploit market volatility.

The author is brutally honest and straight forward in telling his story, which I appreciate immensely. There're sections of the book you may find irrelavant to what you are seeking, please don't let it or the author's sarcasm distract your search for gems in this book. Read, re-read, and study this book until you understand and grasp his point of view - market is a mirror of a trader's thoughts/emotions/beliefs...

I am grateful to the author for sharing his life/trading experiences in this book. Trading is not about techniques or price, it's a MIND thing! Trading is not hard, it's US - who we are - that makes it hard!

However, I do feel that there're certain points the author failed to follow through or explain completely, maybe intentionally being vague. Mark Douglas' "The Disciplined Trader" and "Trading in the Zone" did a more systematic and thorough job in explaining psychological aspect of trading - highly recommended to complement this ttile if you like its ideas and insights.

PS. You can also google and read his interviews, columns, and broadcasts on the web. I find them helpful.

Update on 10/25/2010: Jason's new book "Time compression trading" is published this summer. If you like "Art of trade", you will like his new book a lot more. He basically clarifies and provides answers to all his "metaphysical" questions in "Art of Trade", such as "how to find the loser." I have become more profitable with more consistency after studying his concepts in both books. More importantly, I become more confident in trading because I understand the true nature of market now. Can't thank him more!!!

After reading the authors's latest book "Time Compression Trading" and rating it poorly, and after the author kept telling all those who rated that book poorly that this book "The Art of The Trade" should be read first, I considered it is only fair to look at at it.

In Summary: Worthless content for traders. Nothing here will in any way make you a better trader. It will just make you hate trading and feel that no matter what you do you would become a loser, just like the author.

Very entertaining book about his life in the brokerage business. Lots of good stories, ups and downs, round and round. The trading info is more on a theoretical, metaphysical, philosophical level with no really helpful or practical information. His 28 rules book, though predictable, is much more useful. Not much here, keep looking.

I found this book to be supremely helpful. It's difficult to pin down precisely what the book says - - I think it requires several careful reads for it to "sink in." But this is definitely one of the TOP books I'd ever suggest to a friend interested in trading.