Bollinger on Bollinger Bands [Hardcover]

John A. Bollinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2001

John Bollinger is a giant in today’s trading community. His Bollinger Bands sharpen the sensitivity of fixed indicators, allowing them to more precisely reflect a market’s volatility. By more accurately indicating the existing market environment, they are seen by many as today’s standard—and most reliable—tool for plotting expected price action.

Now, in Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, Bollinger himself explains how to use this extraordinary technique to compare price and indicator action and make sound, sensible, and profitable trading decisions.

Concise, straightforward, and filled with instructive charts and graphs, this remarkable book will be essential reading for all serious traders, regardless of market. Bollinger includes his simple system for implementation, and techniques for combining bands and indicators.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Get the word from the Master! ... the indicator discussion is heaven for tech junkies. -- John Sweeney, editor, Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities

John explains the Bands in detail, from the Squeeze to the Walk to the relationship between Bands and other indicators. -- Steve Achelis, Author of Technical Analysis from A to Z

This book is a wonderful, easy-to-understand explanation of his famous baby. -- Bill Griffeth, CNBC TV Anchor

From the Back Cover

"All in all, Bollinger on Bollinger Bands is a gem. ...within 10 minutes of opening it, it went on my list of the five best technical analysis books ever." - Active Trader

The First Comprehensive Traders' Guide to Using Bollinger Bands­­from the Man Who Created Them

Includes handy Bollinger Bands reference card

Over the past two decades, thousands of veteran traders have come to view Bollinger Bands as the most representative­­and reliable­­tool for assessing expected price action. Now, in the long-anticipated Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, John Bollinger himself explains how to use this extraordinary technique to effectively compare price and indicator movements.

Traders can look to this techniques-oriented book for hundreds of valuable insights, including:

• Analysis of the primary indicators derived from Bollinger Bands­­%b and BandWidth
• How traders can use Bollinger Bands to work with­­instead of against­­commonly encountered trading patterns
• Strategic use of Bollinger Bands in short-, mid-, and long-term trading programs
• Three trading systems based on Bollinger Bands

The essence of successful investing is to determine when a stock's price is too high or too low and then act accordingly. While John Bollinger would be the first to argue that no techniques exist for definitively determining these levels, Bollinger on Bollinger Bands presents an insider's examination of the one tool that­­if its widespread popularity is an accurate judge of its effectiveness­­comes closer than anything else. Concise yet comprehensive, it is one of today's truly indispensable investment guidebooks.

"The purpose of this book is to help you avoid many of the common traps investors get caught in, including the buy_low, sell-high trap, where the investor buys only to watch the stock continue downward or sells only to watch the stock continue upward. Here, the traditional, emotional approach to the markets is replaced with a relative framework within which prices can be evaluated in a rigorous manner leading to a series of rational investment decisions without reference to absolute truths. "
­­From the Introduction

In the 1970s, market newcomer John Bollinger couldn't find a system of investment analysis to fit his belief that all market events exist only in relation to one another and that there are no absolutes. So he created his own.

That approach­­Rational Analysis­­led to the establishment of Bollinger Bands and ensured Bollinger's spot in investment analysis history. Now, in Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, John Bollinger explains the market conditions that led to his initial discovery, and gives readers the inside story of the development and refinement of Bollinger Bands. He then goes on to present a relative decision framework built around Rational Analysis and Bollinger Bands­­an extraordinarily powerful combination of technical and fundamental analysis that answers the question of whether prices are too high or too low for virtually any security or market environment.

By understanding how to incorporate Bollinger's techniques into their own investment strategy, investors will greatly increase their ability to ignore often-costly emotions and arrive at rational decisions supported by both the facts and the underlying market environment. Bollinger on Bollinger Bands provides:

• The first authoritative examination of this revolutionary technical analysis tool
• Three simple systems for implementing Bollinger Bands
• Innovative methods for clarifying patterns­­and analyzing time frames and moving averages

The key to effective investment analysis is to­­as much as possible­­eliminate emotion and approach each trade on its technical and fundamental merits alone. Since their introduction, few analytical techniques have helped investors do this better or more consistently than Bollinger Bands. Bollinger on Bollinger Bands provides tips, guidelines, and rules for incorporating the bands into virtually any investment strategy. It is a watershed book, written by the only man truly qualified to claim a comprehensive knowledge of the topic­­John Bollinger himself.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (July 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071373683
• ISBN-13: 978-0071373685
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

152 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent...on an Absolute and a Relative Basis, December 11, 2001

By 

D.T. Fitz "second-son" (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bollinger on Bollinger Bands (Hardcover)

I've been trading for a living for more than 5 years, and am now a frequent commentator on a major financial website. As a student of the market, I became familiar with Bollinger Bands very early in my career. I thought I knew how to use them, and ALWAYS looked at them as a reference before entering any trades. However, after reading this book, I realized that I was just barely skimming the surface of this important indicator. I've read it 3 times, and all the margins are now marked up with notes.
The most striking revelation to me was the difference between "absolute" and "relative" readings -- in other words, how a stock could make a new high on an absolute level, but actually be a failure in reference to the upper Bollinger Band. This simple, yet elegant, idea has had a profound effect on how I view price action, and I find that my other technical indicators are much more revealing when viewed in this context. The book is infinitely readable for both novice and seasoned investors, and there is also enough math and statistical data to satisfy most geeks. Mr. Bollinger also discusses various other indicators that can (and should) be used in conjunction with Bollinger Bands.
Remarkably, Mr. Bollinger also supports the content of his book with a free website .... You can use all the indicators he highlights inhis book, and customize them according to your own parameters. It's basicallyan "on-going continuing education" program. Nice to finally see somebody primarily concerned with teaching rather than self-promotion and profit.
The bottom line is this: If you want to learn how to increase your performance in both trending and non-trending markets, this book is a "must-read." It is NOT a trading system; rather, it is an excellent and insightful dissertation on the proper usage of Bollinger Bands. In the current sideways market environment, Bollinger Bands are more useful than ever. No serious trader/investor should be without this book.

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What The Doctor Ordered, August 26, 2001

By 

Dr. Joe Duarte "J. Duarte www.joe-duarte.com" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bollinger on Bollinger Bands (Hardcover)

A quiet, well paced, unassuming power house of history, insight, and trading experience all rolled into an easy flowing, unpretentious read. Bollinger manages to teach us about his indicator, and about the market itself without shameless self promotion or hype. Bollinger on Bollinger bands is what this market needed, a clear, concise and useful tool for investors to use to provide balance in a chaotic time. As a financial writer, and money manager, who uses Bollinger Bands on every trade, I found that the book gave me new ways to not just trade, but analyze the market and decide when not to trade, which is where the difference between success and failure is often deciced. The book is written in a fluid, easy to digest manner, which gives the reader room to sit back and ponder between chapters. There are clear, one sentence summary statements after each section, which pull the material together quite well and reinforce the main points. Other useful aids include a pull out reference card with statistical formulas and reference charts. The best thing is that Bollinger, a bona fide market guru, doesn't take himself too seriously. He humbly admits that trading has a great deal of uncertainty, and does not tout his own fortunes as a result of his indicator. The book can also be read as a nice historical piece, which begins with the nostalgic foreword by CNBC's Ron Insana about the old FNN news room, including a classic anecdote about the late Ed Hart, who for all of us who knew FNN could only bring a smile. Thanks John.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If history has taught us anything..., December 18, 2001

By 

G. Shkodra (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bollinger on Bollinger Bands (Hardcover)

...is that it continually keeps repeating itself. And Bollinger Bands are one of the tools helping you notice it and profit from it.

If you think you know everything about BB you'd better not say it too loud before you read this book. Being myself a mixture of day-swing trader I have to say it helps a lot, although I look at other tools before entering or exiting a trade. But if you are a position trader or a mid-long term investor, I think the BB are a valuable tool at your disposal. You're not going to make a killing only by using this tool, but if you combine the BB with other tools such as simple or exponential moving averages, volume, RSI and/or momentum and accumulation/distribution, you have much better chances of being financially more independent.

The most part of day-swing-position trading and mid-long term investing book authors tend to make things seem much more complicated than they are (I suspect they do it on purpose-to make you feel foolish or to make you think they are geniuses?). Well, John Bollinger's book is very simple to understand, and it's exactly the simplicity in explaining somehow difficult tools and theories that I like the most.