Customer Reviews

How to Make Profits In Commodities

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This book is usually priced around $50. (a mere one cent move in grain futures) Yet the same cost provides us with a wealth of knowledge far beyond a lot of the modern books written on commodity trading!

Whilst certain things like placing a 2-3 cents stop will have gotten outdated, many of the ideas such as to divide your trading capital into 10 equal parts and risk only one tenth at a time are useful for the present time and also for the future!

The section that is most appealing is the area that deals with the TIME periods. As Gann said: "Time is the most important factor." I am in complete agreement with him.

Another thing that I will like to add is that there are a lot of things that need to be understood as the reader may not grasp these on a first quick reading.

I will definitely suggest that ALL teaders of all types of futures should get a copy of it and read it more than a few times. Use it as a source of knowledge and as a reference guide as well.

From the use of this book, you will be inspired to carry out your own experiments and get some interesting results.

WD Gann wrote this updated version of the book in 1951. Yes, 1951. His methodologies and style, as well as his world view, are so....well 1950's. However, what he provides to those of us who want to be successful in trading commodites is a broad set of 'do's and dont's' that you can find in nearly every trading book written today. You know, "stop loss orders", "dont over trade", "never risk more than X%" of your capital on a given trade, "let your winning trade's ride", "get out of a bad trade immediately", "when in doubt, there is no doubt".... We have read them all before. NONE of this is of any real value to the modern trader. However, what is of value, is getting a recognition of the painstaking historical analysis that WD Gann went through BEFORE he traded any commodities. This book includes several 100 year analyses of all the traded commodities of his time. The analyses include what happened in the "month of September in 1897" in cotton. And then that is followed by the next relevant technical occurance, which happened in October of 1897. He does this for many of the commodites of the time from 1841 to 1941. What the reader comes away with in my opinion, is that commodities are cyclical in nature. And that if you can holistically 'feel' the history and the motion of the cycles that exist in each commodity, you can trade more effectively. This includes understanding the 'how we got here' and the relevant bigger picture points that one can glean from looking at the historical data on a specific commodity. For example, that in the last 100 years (1841-1941), (I am making this up) Corn has reached a new yearly high in the month of June 22 times, and a new low in August 36 times. Whereas, new highs were reached in February only 2 times, and new lows reached in December 2 times. This information is valuable to a trader who knows what to do with this type of information. In my view, dont look to this book for more information on "how to trade" as much as you should look at 'what to do' to improve your chances of success. One last note, if you are looking to get some background or academic knowledge on how GANN lines are used, or GANN Boxes or any of the other GANN ascribed technical tools used or invented by GANN, this book DOES NOT show, teach or discuss any of them.

W.D. Gann is considered to be the greatest trader of all time. This book shows how to make profits on the commodities exchanges. It is combines theory and practice. It is very logical and he presents an excellent case for making money in commodities. Many trading books are expensive and not worth the price you pay for them. Ganns books and courses are an exception. They are worth every penny. What impressed me most about the book, is that Gann is honest. He doesn't try to con his readers.

For those who had not read any other Gann's trading book, this is an excellent choice. I assure you that you would be fascinated by Gann's superb insight and intelligence that had transcended over half a century. Though it focused primarily on commodities, the principles are applicable to stock trading as well. Traders can definitely benefit from them.

For those who had read other Gann's books before, you may feel that this one is quite similar to his previous books (this is Gann's last book published). In fact, the rules set here are over 95% identical with those laid out in "45 Years in Wall Street" Gann published two years before this. However, as one reviewer wrote that the above average price ($49) of this highly valuable book is still lower than one single pip of a commodity futures contract, I think it should still be an essential item in any Gann friend's personal collection.

I like this book. It does not promise "90% accurate signals" or treat reader with condescension. It teaches three things: 1) "swing trading" methods, 2) how to pay attention, 3) never forget stop loss orders.

The book itself is structured in three large parts: 1) W.D. Gann's approach to markets and trader's discipline, 2) examples of trading patterns from various commodities all the way from 19th century, 3) addendum from 1951 with some more details and clarifications.

Some people complain that Gann's writing style is too monotonous and droning. It is true in the sense that he does not entertain. But he does cover more ground than all those easy-reading "Trading for Dummies" book which are typeset in triple space with large charts.

Parts of this book and interpretations of Gann's methods are available on the web - but it is still nice to have it as a book.

I've been a commodities trader for many years but I've never owned a book by Gann so I bought this to use more as a reference than a first time read. I'm very familiar with many of his concepts but wanted to get them first hand instead of "Gann said..." which I know more often than not is used as a false come-on to lure you to the commentator's product - including software.
That said, I'm rating the book on the quality of the printed product and not on Gann's trading. I purchased this book new directly from Amazon. Beginning with the Gann charts on page 329 there are five of them that are completely unreadable because the crosshatch on the chart along with its comments are mostly blank. It is a production problem. The five charts simply didn't reproduce on the page. They are blotchy or in some cases almost blank. The printing quality isn't limited to the charts. Some of the textual pages are lighter than others and some are heavy black, obviously a problem with the printer.
I'm not exchanging the book because there is no guarantee that the next one will be any better and you know good and well they're not going to thumb through the book before shipping it out.
C'mon Amazon - at the price you're getting for this product you can do better.

Traders tend to confuse 'Gann, the Trader', with 'Gann, the Forecaster'. Gann, the Trader, was straight forward and logical. Problem starts when traders attempt to trade the forecast with Gann's numerous predictive methods and, vice versa, forecast the trade with Gann's trading method. Gann really does not deserve all the unfounded criticisms. Although there are doubts as to the claims that Gann was the originator of swing chart trading method, Gann, at least, refined and definitized the swing chart trading concept. No one can question the sound trading principles behind the method since there is a clear and convincing proof by none other than Jesse Livermore who achieved the spectacular trading accomplishments by using a variation of swing chart trading method. What Gann tried to do was to add his own brand of forecasting methods to complement his trading operation. There is certainly nothing wrong with the exercise as long as one does not confuse either objective with the other. To be a good trader, one does not need to be a forecaster. In fact, it is not recommended if the trader is a terrible forecaster for his prediction may be detrimental to his trading. However, to truly become an excellent trader, it does not hurt to be a good forecaster as well. The decision on whether or not the chosen forecasting algorithm should be based on Gann is another matter.

If i could keep just one of my gann books this one would be it , it is packed full of ideas even a non gann follower could benifit from this book.

This book is a hodge-podge of techniques presented in a droning, labored style. However, literary taste is not what draws traders to the works of Gann. Gann's writings supposedly contain "hidden clues" as to how to forecast price levels at a specific time in the future for financial instruments.

Applying an honest effort to Gann's material, it appears that the SP500 index (SPX) should sell at 1172.50 on Wednesday, 11/03/04. I am writing this review on Monday, October 4, 2004 when the index is priced at 1137.22. If this projection is close to the mark - you may want to consider buying this book.

Pattern, Price & Time: Using Gann Theory in Technical Analysis (Wiley Trading)

Pattern, Price & Time: Using Gann Theory in Trading Systems (Wiley Trading)

This was the first Gann book that I read. I found it to be very inspirational. Reading it encourage me to seek more knowledge about the markets.

The first 2 chapters are the best. The rest of the book is material copied from the Chicago Board of Trade Yearbooks except for the swing data. Most of the trades suggested in the book are hypothetical. He even says so in the book. Nonetheless I recommend it just for the trading rules scattered all over the book.

James A. Hyerczyk
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