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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunate Title, July 22, 2010
This review is from: The Ed Ponsi Forex Playbook: Strategies and Trade Set-Ups (Wiley Trading) (Paperback)
I'm an Ed Ponsi fan. However, I think he may have inadvertently misled people with his choice of title and cover art. In particular, the subtitle -- Strategies and Trade Set-Ups -- along with the sports diagrams on the cover, imply that he's going to get down with some powerful set-ups and management techniques. The trade set-ups consist of trading off 10 and 20 day moving averages, and the management techniques consist of the option of adding to a winning trade when it retraces. Duh.
Furthermore, there is quite a lot of rank beginner stuff, for example, an explanation of currency pairs, pip value, lot size, etc. I don't have much patience with that sort of thing. There is plenty of introductory Forex material readily available, and I don't see why so many authors seem to feel the need to pad their books with what their readers already know. It's like buying a book on computer programming that contains detailed instructions on how to turn on the computer or what a hard drive is.
Oddly enough, in a book that explains pip value, there is a chapter on trading other people's money. I think he tried to be all things to all people, from those who started trading a demo last week to the guy who wants to start a hedge fund. I don't think it comes off very well, especially in a 200 page book.
The meat of the book -- the strategy -- consists of various sources of information that can give you a head's up on currency strength. We're talking the COT Report and such things, some which are not so widely known by intermediate level traders. It's good information to have. It wasn't what I was expecting, though. And of course, it's still a crap-shoot. Was the crowd right, or was the crowd wrong? It's the same old question with the same old answer: buy your ticket and take your chances.
The take-away is that Ed feels the real money is in long-term trading as opposed to day-trading. Certainly if you are trading moving averages, you need to let your profits run. Personally, I hate trading moving averages -- or anything that wiggles, for that matter -- and no day will dawn when I'm willing to eat a 100 pip stop.
Buy the book anyway. There are useful and important nuggets and the book is worth the money. Just don't expect trade set-ups that you haven't heard about a hundred times before.
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22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Traders beware!, January 3, 2011
This review is from: The Ed Ponsi Forex Playbook: Strategies and Trade Set-Ups (Wiley Trading) (Paperback)
You will NOT find ANY forex strategy that you can backtest, all the trade "setups" described in the book consist of extremely subjective (and sometimes dangerous) fundamental ideas. For example the author claims he uses the COT report to go long or short when he sees a huge imbalance between the the large speculators and the small speculators. Then he fades the net position of the large (non-commercial) speculators and bets on the net position of the small speculators. To "prove" his point he shows you plenty of (cherry-picked) charts where the market went in the direction of the net position of the small speculators. Sure, sure, but what this genius is not telling you is that the market could move 1000 or 2000 pips AGAINST your position BEFORE actually going in the expected direction (if at all!), because it is impossible to know in advance how far this "imbalance" could go (2 to 1, 3 to 1, 4 to 1, 5 to 1, 6 to 1, etc...)!! It is like the RSI, this technical indicator can stay in the overbought or oversold zone long enough to empty your trading account, BEFORE the price actually reverses its direction. This trading idea alone could bankrupt you faster than you can say "margin call"! Here is another trade "setup" from another chapter, he says that it "pays" to listen to reports from the Federal Reserve Bank and other central banks in the world, looking for "clues" and "hints". Wow, is that a fantastic trade setup or what! Gosh, why didn't I think of that? The whole book is like that, there is not a single trading idea with specific entry/exit points. Sorry but I do no trade with subjective ideas, I learned (the hard way) that a trader needs solid, fully backtested strategies with specific entry/exit point to make it in this business, in the long run. That's the only way to trade, all the rest is totally irrelevant. Little update : Look at all the 1-star reviews for this book (my review included) and notice how very few people think our reviews are helpful. It seems pretty obvious that Ed Ponsi cheerleaders (and friends...) were busy voting down our 1 star review, while simultaneously giving glowing 5-stars generic reviews. I guess they all think we are just a bunch of morons and we would not notice a thing.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Book on Forex Trading, January 13, 2011
This review is from: The Ed Ponsi Forex Playbook: Strategies and Trade Set-Ups (Wiley Trading) (Paperback)
This is an excellent follow-up to Ed's previous book. It's understandable that if an individual had not read his previous book, they would not understand the purpose in the things he shares. But it is very clear, that he gave considerable thought to what he writes. Undoubtedly, there was a purpose in almost every detail. If there were any questions that you may have had after reading Ed's first book (which in my opinion is the best book out there on Forex, and I have read almost every one of them) he more than clears them up in this book. After reading this second book, I feel confident that I understand one of, if not the best forex trading system available. And his systems can be used in any equities, futures, or commodities market. In my opinion this book is an outstanding contribution to Forex education.
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