Customer Reviews

Candlestick and Pivot Point Trading Triggers + CD-ROM: Setups for Stock, Forex, and Futures Markets

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am always looking for for a new angle in my day trading strategies. I do some technical analysis (TC2000) and do my program trading thru Tradestation. I like to run my ideas thru Tradestation to look for useful indicators and signals. I hadn't studied pivot points too much and felt this book would bring me "up to speed" on this subject. I ran many different variations of pivot points and support resistance levels. Although the book is clearly written and the author presents the material well, I didn't extract anything useful out of it.

Perhaps FOREX traders have better luck with pivot points than I did with the stock market. I saw no correlation in the stocks I trade in regards to pivot points, support, resistance, fibonacci levels, etc. After years of computer trading systems, I have concluded that the market is a random event and market psychology just can't be programmed.

[...]

I reread the book very thoroughly and figured out what the author was preaching. As a stock trader, his pivot point analysis and trading techniques are working very well. I was not applying his methods correctly the first time I read the book and now I get it... It is definitely increasing my successful trade probabilities. 5 STARS.. I am going to order his new DVD and see if I can refine the process even more.

Before you read this book I would highly recommend reading any other with candlestick being the primary subject. "High Profit Candlestick Patterns" or "Profitable Candlestick Investing" - both by Stephen W. Bigalow or one of Steve Nison books. The more you know about candlesticks patterns and emotions behind them the better trading decisions you might be reaching.
Person's book is one of the very few explaining pivot point - very useful tool indeed. Using high closing and low closing doji with pivot point will not make you a perfect trader, but will allow to avoid disasters being to hasty (or too greedy ) in your decisions. Bottom line of any trading is discipline - and this book is trying to teach this showing how to develop and use very simple system.
CD provides nice overview of everything covered in the book plus pivot calculator. If you need one a bit more sophisticated, you can find it on [...].
Trading is about making money. Keeping things simple will make you a better trader and this book will help you in that.

John Person's first book, A Complete Guide to Technical Trading Tactics, is a must read for any trader. When I heard his new book, Candlestick and Pivot Point Trading Triggers was published I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. This book exceeded my high expectations! I now have a much better understanding of how to use triggers, set-ups and stops combined with candlesticks, pivots and the moving average approach. I not only have a stronger grasp on candlesticks and pivot points but now I can go way beyond and use Person's proven methods, techniques and formulas in my own trading plan. If you are a trader you need to study and implement the knowledge from this great book.

UPDATE: The only annoying thing about this book is some of the organization. For example, the author discusses "high close dojis" and "low close dojis" (which apparently are terms he gave to certain candlestick formations) and does not explain what they are until CHAPTER EIGHT (I believe it's chapter 8). I got so annoyed I just skipped ahead and read what they all were, then returned and picked up to where I left off. Other than that, this book is an outstanding source of information!
I've been studying, practice trading, and trading options now for almost a year and I've been absolutely relentless in my studies...seminars, DVDs, and books. And of all the books I've read, this is probably tied for the single best book on trading (the other book is Trade Chart Patterns Like the Pros by Suri Dudella). What I like is that the examples are recent and relevant and the pictures/charts are clear. Although I'm not into futures, the e-minis or forex, this book covers everything as John Person trades just about everything. And thats another thing, the guy is a trader...wow! Imagine that! A book on trading written by a guy who actually trades! This book has helped my trading more than any other that I've read, and I've read a lot. To those who gave this book a poor rating, I'm curious if we read the same book. If you have any questions, you can email me at headbanger51 at yahoo dot com and be sure to put the title of this book in the subject line or it'll get deleted. Bottom line: INVALUABLE BOOK!

I've invested on and off for years, and wanted to try my hand at day trading stocks and ETFs, so I went looking for a trading system that would work for me. This book delivered for the most part. So why only 3 stars?

On the plus side, the author's system relies heavily on only a small number of candlestick formations and technical indicators to do the heavy lifting, and I'm a big believer in the KISS principle. And he includes tons of real chart snippets along the way to exemplify every aspect of his system. I found that adhering strictly to the prescribed candle and technical confirmation triggers enabled me to make good trade entries almost immediately. That in itself makes me glad I read this work.

But there are some negatives. I found myself re-reading a page occasionally to gain understanding, not due to techno-market esoterica, but because it was not well written. I regret that I never did totally extract an understanding of the author's system for setting trailing stops. I wondered if the book was proof read. The pivot point portion of the system, though fairly easy to understand, is virtually impossible to implement/use without the right software package (which the author promotes randomly throughout the book).

I really like the combination of candle sticks with pivot points! Candles are fine but must be combines with other western technicals. I like this as a constant combination. You can then add MACD or ADX to finetune your timing. I learned a lot from Person.

My only reason for not giving it 5 stars is that it has a lot of filler. Gives the book a bit of bulk but not much meat. A good edit would have made for an easier read.

Candlesticks are what I call the "alphabet" of trading. Just as you cannot write great literature using only knowledge of the alphabet, trading requires knowledge of candlestick patterns as a foundation only. Pivot points are also one of the least useful indicators in Forex trading although they have become extremely popular through several Forex training courses. Dividing your chart into horizontal sections based on a mathematical formula can give the appearance of being useful if that is all you know. However, I have found that there are usually more significant and more meaningful reasons to expect a certain price zone to be a potential barrier. Therefore, after using pivot points for about 2 years I have stopped using them altogether in preference to other methods of analyzing the market. This book has other methods that are very useful and all in all it is potentially valuable for beginners especially in preference to buying an expensive course that covers this information.

Book is well written, author language is clear and understandable but...

I struggle to manage to make the system described in this book to work for me. I don't have the charting package and software that author use, but the system should work on any system. The only problem is that if you
dont have the software that author use - you can't use moving averages.

I will give this system few more attempts and I will update this review later.

Don't use the system described in the book without testing. Losses that I have with this system are virtual. But the waiste of the time is real.

This is an exceptionaly well written book. Not only is the reader introduced to a new concept of Pivot Points, but also the combination of using Candlestick charting and special Moving averages gives a very powerful trading platform. John Person has taken a lot of effort to explain all details of his trading platform, but what is more than unusual in books like these, is that he gives dozens of examples with very detailed explanations. This is something rare, but allows the reader to fully understand the theory not only in written words but in live examples down to the last detail.
This book is a must reader for all Traders whether professional or not, as it is an eye opener into a very powerful platform. Even taking parts of this platform into ones own trading systems can be very beneficial. All Kudus to John Persons latest book.

I wonder why all the previous stellar reviews (6 so far) are written by folks who only reviewed the author's books, within a couple of months? I also wonder why the author chose not to enable looking inside his book? This is rarely a good sign.