95 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad!, August 31, 2004
This review is from: Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time (Paperback)
This is an "ok" book that describes supposed trading methods of some "old master" traders in terms of an event-based trading model. This model requires buying upside breakouts from congestion areas on increasing volume during bull markets. This is a good method if one's disposition can withstand generally high-volatility trades. However, to claim that this mode of trading was actually used by Livermore, Baruch, or Loeb is perhaps claiming too much.
Livermore was highly secretive about his trading. Although he discussed his psychology of trading in LeFevre's work, he did not go into much detail about his actual trading method. He later claimed that industry changes wrought by the SEC in the early 1930s made the markets less amenable to his brand of analysis. He made and lost four fortunes and ended his career and life by suicide in 1940.
Baruch made a significant portion of his trading gains by means of London - New York arbitrage. There is further evidence that he traded, scalped, value invested, growth stock invested, etc. The trader, Baruch, described in this book is only a microcosm of this highly complex, and multi-faceted individual.
Loeb was in, out, and sometimes back in again on a single day on a particular stock! He was a feverish trader! He seldom held a stock for the intermediate-term, and almost never for the long-term. To trade in his manner, one has to be correct a minimum of 30% of the time, and be capitalized enough to bear heavy trading expenses.
Nicolas Darvas wrote two books, "How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market," and "Wall Street: The Other Las Vegas." They are both must reads for the aspiring trader, and best exemplify the event-based model covered by this book under review. Darvas claimed that his trading account went into a nosedive when he continued to use this method during the advent of a bear market.
All of O'Neil's works are excellent. Since he is well-known and active today, I will not comment upon the section of the book devoted to him.
The method presented is useful if one: 1) is adequately capitalized; 2) exercises tight loss control; 3)has an effective selection filter; and 4) is psychologically equipped for active trading (not many people can successfully do this). The book itself, is written in a breezy, narative style, and makes for a quick, pleasurable read.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A shortcut to must reads about the best stock traders ever, January 7, 2005
This review is from: Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time (Paperback)
Notwithstanding the author's substandard writing and analytical skill reflected by the passages/chapters in concluding the rules, strategies and, similarities of the five legends, the material available to the chef (author) is just so superb that the dish is still too good for any trader to miss. I dont mean to undermine the author in whatever sense. However, I had read at least two whole books about each of the five gurus (except Nicholas Darvas, which I had read only one) that the impression of copy and paste is really strong. In fact, I had read six out of the 12 books marked in the Bibliography section and it's so hard for me not to get that uneasy feeling of plagiarism.
In case you had not heard of those gurus before, this book will be a huge treasure to you. If you had heard the great names but read only bits and pieces of them, this book will do you much good. If you had read books including "Reminiscences of a stock operator" about Jesse Livermore, "My own story" by Baruch, "The battle for investment survival" by Gerald Loeb, "How I made $2 million in the stock market" by Nicholas Darvas and any book by William O'Neil, your liking of this book will drop inproportionately.
p.s. I strongly recommend readers to buy and read the titles I mentioned above. The return on the money and time invested will be over a hundred fold.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little thin on the Application side, but does motivate to learn more, July 5, 2005
This review is from: Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time (Paperback)
Having been an avid trader for some years now, and a huge follower of William O'Neil I decided a book such as this could give me some insight into the mind of the other great traders outlined here. What you gather out of these five gentlemen's stories is the common themes of: Volume is the most important indicator, Buy stocks at all time highs, Add to positions thru pyramiding, and while all of these principles are common, and shown thru in the book, the author misses in providing examples for concrete evidence. Throughout the book there are maybe 7 charts, and most all of them devoted to the O'Neil section, and for that you will need to select from the selected reading section at the end to better understand how each of these individuals bought their winners.
This book is a great starter in learning who the men are, and their life stories, but you have to dig outside this publication to really get the how behind their success.
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