Customer Reviews

Float Analysis: Powerful Technical Indicators Using Price and Volume (A Marketplace Book)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A stock's float is the total number of shares available to the public for trading. When this total number of shares gets traded in the market (whether over a week, a month, or a year), you have a "float turnover". This book argues that float turnovers are closely correlated with significant price moves. It's a simple and clear idea, made all the more persuasive by the fact that there's a common-sense explanation for it: a float turnover represents an (approximately) complete change of ownership in who holds the stock; so if, for example, the new owners are significantly more bullish than the previous owners, they will be more reluctant to sell, and the price will rise. Mr. Woods makes a good case that the float is a relevant piece of information, and I don't doubt that many traders will be grateful to him for bringing this to their attention. Only one thing prevents me from giving this book 5 stars: the incessancy with which the author can't refrain from referring to his "discoveries", going so far as to compare his "discoveries" to those of Columbus, Copernicus, and Newton (to name only three). He seems like a good enough guy and is probably doing this out of insecurity, but it's off-putting. The book badly needed a good editor to inform Mr. Woods that the best, indeed the only real way for him to advance his work is to present it clearly and let it speak for itself, and that for an author to constantly urge the reader to think highly of his "discoveries" is not only in bad taste, but detracts from the persuasive power of his idea. This, however, is a minor complaint which should not dissuade anyone from investigating the idea, which seems like a good one. I say "seems" because, unlike a previous reviewer, I have not yet back-tested it; but after reading the book I certainly intend to do so.

The theme of the book is SCAM, and the book is full of CONS

Let me show you why I said so:

The author claims at any given turn, there is always one float turn over, and if the stock has not turned over yet after one float, he refers to multiple floats. This is the biggest con.

Pick a number from the air. Use that as the float of the stock and chart it the way the author says it. You will have the same result at every turn of the stocks, ofcourse, depending on which number you pick, your float turn over could happen before or after his float turn over.

You see, if you add enough day volume, you will sooner or later get to the float number you pick. When it happens at the time when the stock turns, you call it one float turn over. And if the stock price has not turned yet, and you keep adding to it eventually you will have another float turn over. When this process is repeated over time, guess what, the stock will turn direction while the number you pick has turned multiple times. The author calls it multiple float turnover. What a SCAM.

I bought the book because I need to get more indicators for my software but I did not realize that there are many people got bought into it and gave it a positive review. As a software developer, I had to buy the book to see if this is really another valid indicator, and I was so disappointed that even the professional like Martin Pring got bought into it (Not sure if Mr. Pring realized this)

There are several places where you could spot the scam. First, what I have shown you above. Second, to get more people interested, the author uses the names of professionals such as William O'Neil and Gann. You see, if you study and follow those professionals, you will be far ahead with your own experience. And by telling the readers to study other professionals, the author gets the free ride on one of the most useless tool. O'Neil and Gann probably would not mind have their names mentioned because that is free publicity. But Pring! I am so disappointed.

He claimed he turned a few thousands to ten fold from Sep 98 to Jan 2000. Well, like Wall Street used to say: even a monkey can pick a stock in a bull market. What happened to the author after Jan 2000 while the book is copyrighted in 2002? Too busy to write the book conveniently in that 2 years and not trading for another 10 folds? Are you ... me?

If you have not bought the book, ask someone about the theory and check it out first before you buy. If you already have the book and think it is valid, please let me know. If I am wrong, I would like to know.

After reading the book, I have mixed feelings; this may be a brilliant new concept or a mathematical gimmick. What I can say is that this book comes with no software code. That costs considerable more. If you use Tradestation and can't code the concepts from the book yourself, your next book should be Professional Stock Trading by Mark Conway and Aaron Behle. They have a chapter on Float Trading with their adaptation of the Float Box, Float Channel, and Float Percentage. Also included is a trading system based on these concepts.

With fairness in mind, I must say that this book is both informing and yet another money-trap for you.
First of all; this writing is good because it takes a subject (A Stocks Float) and explains its` important role, and gives the reader a little more education on buying and selling power in the markets.
For all this, the book is great. However! Don't be fooled into thinking you are getting a tool or anything you can use in your market analysis. If you are a MetaStock language programmer or in some other high end platform of securities analysis, you can build your own indicator with the scant information given in the book.
Or you can shuck out about ... bucks and get a ready made indicator system that will make all your dreams come true.
If you are not a language programmer, or don't want to spend another five hundred on top of the WhOOPing ... bucks for a small under-written book, you better leave it on the shelf. You are better off just getting on-line and type in (Stocks Float) or the like and you can get a better education for a lot less money.
I have the book on my shelf. It collects dust. Save you money for a better education else ware.

For several years, I always thought that there was a missing dimension to trading stocks and wondered how certain stocks go up so fast compared with others. When trading IPOs, one always looks at the stock's float because if it's very small, then the price move can be explosive in some cases.

The first thing I did was program all of the float indicators in TradeStation and even devised some of my own based on the ideas in the book. The whole idea of the float turning over at critical turning points turns out to be valid. As Steve Woods points out, float analysis in and of itself is not a solution, but if you pay attention to the trend of the float channels and have some kind of market analysis tool for short-term direction, then it is a gold mine.

This is a remarkable book for a number of reasons. First, it lucidly presents an entirely innovative look at the meaning of price and volume relationships and how stock prices move in response to changeover in ownership of the "float." Second, it presents an entirely new and eminently useful set of technical indicators that effectively identify stocks that are poised to make significant price moves. Finally, the book is richly detailed with numerous charts that not only illustrate the principles presented but also validate the methodology proposed. I highly recommend this book. It will change your thinking forever about why stock prices change and what moves the market.

The author claims that he has discovered the missing element that complements price and volume and it is the float (or, the status of it). When the cumulative daily volume in a given time period adds up to the float (the number of publicly available and traded shares), you get a Float Turnover; good or bad things may happen at this point. Three cumulative technical markers are introduced here: Volume-Float Indicator, Volume Percentage Indicator and Volume Channel Indicator (this last looks like Bollinger Bands). These concepts and markers are all well explaned and demonstrated. The book has plenty of figures, even "A Compendium of Float Analysis Formations".

The book is clearly written, enthusiastic, even modest considering the confidence the author has in his findings. He wastes no time detailing the core discovery and the ten "sub-discoveries" that stem from it. He does not state that the method is fool-proof, but emphasizes its place in technical analysis. Fair enough. One may argue that the backward calculation that marks a period of Float Turnover is, well, backward. That is, how do you know where to start adding together the daily volume - backward? It is also hard to see the success of the method in today's quite volatile market environment. May work well for nice, smooth, trending periods, but boy, haven't you "gapped down" lately? I disagree with the criticism below that the introduction of Multiple Float Turnovers would be an oxymoron. These formations are emphasized only in the context of base building, nothing is wrong with that.

My only problem is that the book seems too pricey, considering that it is an expansion of a published article. I respect the author that he avoided unnecessary repetitions to bloat the number of pages, but one star is still down for the price, sorry...

I find this book to be outstanding. It is a hard book to put down, you will want to read the whole book before you stop reading. You will want to buy an extra copy to give as a gift if you have a serious trading friend. This book is a classic and is a must read for anyone who wishes to study volume in regards to stock. The information given is unique. The book not only covers buy signals, but also covers sell signals. Woods reveals one of the best techniques I've ever seen for telling how to get out of volatile high momentum stocks on fast run ups. The book also gives very solid information on expected reversal, support and resistance levels.

This is a great book showing a new way of looking at volume analysis to identify trend reversal, breakout from tops and bottoms. Float analysis can be used as one of the volume tools in idetifying stocks that are ready to make move. The author also has a great website www.FloatAnalysis.com with a copy of the original an article on the subject published in "Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities" magazine. This is a must read book for any serious investor interested in Technical analysis.

This book explains that there is 2 types of stock owners, stupid and smart. Using the author's techniques, you can become one of the smart people and find out when a stock has bottomed--buy up the shares from the stupid people. Once the stock goes up, you can tell where it will peak--you now sell out to the stupid people. I strongly endorse this book for many reasons. Here they are:

1. It can help increase your returns

2. It uses many graphic aids so you can see what the author is explaining

3. The author is a great guy and is willing to help you if you ask him (contact him at FloatAnalysis.com).

4. The author spends his own time for you. He created a FREE newsletter that lists possible buy candidates along with their buying point. This newsletter greatly reduces the time it would take you to do alone by many HOURS.

Buy this book, read it, and go to FloatAnalysis.com.