Customer Reviews

The Global Trader: Strategies for Profiting in Foreign Exchange, Futures and Stocks

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

 

 

I cannot believe the two reviews that currently (November 2005) appear regarding this book: one critic admits to never even having read it, while the other goes off on jesuitical semantics!

The book is a good one, as are Ms. Rockefeller's other books. She also runs a very good trading advisory service, that has made me a LOT of money!

That being said, this edition is now over four years old, in a market that changes very rapidly. I hope that she will soon be coming out with an updated edition of the book, addressing all the many changes that have occurred in the FX market since this edition.

This book is one of those books which is a must read for a Trader to be successful. It is more useful for those who want and operate in global markets and not just plain equity. It also analyses the major events and discloses the facts which most media missed but was crucial to the risk taken by the particular trader.

Barbara has done very well with this book. It is a bit dated but it has the basics and some very good information.

This book is full of misinformation. For example, the author claims that value investors rely on the efficiency of the markets, when, in fact, what they do is exploit market inefficiencies. I have yet to meet a value investor who believes the Efficient Market Theory. She also compares trading to investing by saying that the goal of trading is to make money, while the goal of equity investing is to preserve capital! Of course preserving capital is certainly important, but have you ever met an equity investor whose goal it wasn't to make money? If capital preservation were the goal, investors wouldn't buy equities, they'd buy bonds or other instruments that guarantee the capital. She also claims that there's no risk management in equity investing, adding that traders do manage risk. The truth is that trading is a losing proposition for most people, and it wouldn't be that way if managing risk was as straightforward as she implies. Trading can be profitable, but don't put much of your money into it (it's too risky), and find a better book than this one!

Let me say right up front I did not read this book. However, I heard a talk the author gave in 2000, in which she made the following "predictions".

1. The euro would fail as a currency.
2. Great Britain would not enter the EU.

Additionally, to paraphrase, she said that no one in their right mind would trade FOREX; you should trade futures instead. Finally, she showed overhead projections of various technical indicators, some of which she couldn't explain. Huh???

I was all set to buy this book until I heard her talk. For all I know, the book may be excellent, but based on her presentation, I'm not as enthusiastic about spending the 40 bucks.

Just my opinion, and you know what they say about those...