Customer Reviews

The Perfect Speculator

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I learn by repetition, if I take a vacation, I sometimes have to go back and re-learn that which I thought was automatic before I left. Brad, besides talking about the selection process for new potential buys (which he keeps very simple like other reviewers have said) also discusses a daily routine, which he summarized into "20 Rules of Speculation." I found these to be very valuable.

This book helped me re-learn what William J. O'Neill discussed in "How To Make Money In Stocks." O'Neill talked about a prior run up, but I couldn't fully grasp it until I read Brad's book. Another valuable lesson for me was on p.93 where he discusses how to pyramid-add onto a position which is different from O'Neill's method. Essentially this "formula" allows Brad to exit a position without losing any money after he has already added to his initial buy.

Everything about this book is simple, and I think that's the beauty of it; I'm glad there was no fluff. I definitely recommend it, and like other's have said, think it is complimentary to O'Neill's "How To Make Money In Stocks," and Darvas' "How I Made $2,000,000 in The Stock Market."

This book, presented in a narrative format between a teacher and student, is an excellent book on stock market speculation. It is a wonderful counterpart to the IBD/William O'Neil school of stock market investing (buy newer growth stocks leading the market, etc.) Easily readable and very informative.

I have read perhaps a 100 books on investing.. this one needs to be read. Brad writes without the hype and provides a simple investment strategy using price-volume-pattern. No fancy formulas, fibonacci or Gann in this book..just plain good old investing advice.

SIMPLE: Best book on trading I have ever read with the Nicolas Darvas and How to make money in stocks by Jesse Livermore (written by Smitten).

The other one of Brad Koteshwar is really good too.

Not sure why all the negative reviews, maybe some of you just dont get it? I've read probably close to fifty or so trading books and this one for some reason really hit home with me. I have spent thousands and tried many systems that promise success only to have losing trade after losing trade. After learning and applying the principles in this book my trades are consistent 90+% winners with pracically no stress compared to before. Some of you said all is shows is higher highs and lows but if you look closely and study it a real pattern emerges, thats when the lightbulb went off. The message of the book is to keep it simple and I've got to say after 15 years of trying everything else, I've found a method that works.

This book is now one of my must have books on investing along with "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" and "How I made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market". It stresses the most important factor in trading successfully, patience. There are no consistent get rich quick schemes in the market. If you accept this it just takes time and a willingness to hold onto your winners and quickly sell your losers, to make money. It just takes a long time. I want quick easy money like everyone else but have now accepted that it will take time to make back my "Easy Money" losses. I am now chipping away at those losses week by week and month by month using one to two stocks. I want to sell and take my profits but these books have convinced me I have no reason to sell a rising stock.

I think the author was very much thinking of those that who are overwhelmed with technical analysis of charts in trading the market. Some of the principles taught in this book are very basic. However, they are all necessary to be successful in the market.

The author basically writes his experience of having valuable information passed down to him by a VERY VERY SUCCESSFUL Trader/Speculator. It's as if we were there watching the author quiz this guru. Each chapter ends with a brief summary of the principle(s) to keep in mind. You could literally read the summaries alone and benefit.

At the time of this review, we are at the beginning of 2008... Bear market, recession worries, credit crunch, new president (btw, i'm neutral)... with the exception of one "greedy" trade (which ended in a huge loss), my portfolios have improved. I find myself applying the principles found in the book and have found my trades more disciplined as a result. My portfolios have improved in having more winning trades (even meager profits), while minimizing bad losses. My risk management has improved immensely!

This is a great book to read for beginners. It really nails the basics of watching for break out stocks with potential, limit your watch list to only a few stocks (3-5). And limit your trading to only high probability trades and trade only about 5 times a year. The book teaches that all that is needed is to turn off CNBC and cancel all your financial periodicals and simply watch volume and price action. The author teaches these principles by telling the story of how he met with a great speculator at the end of his life and this speculator passed on his tactics. The author believes that you only need 3 books to be a successful stock speculator, Darvas's "How I made $2,000,000" and Jilers "How to use charts to make money in the stock market" I have read both of these books and think they are great books, but leave out huge pieces of the puzzle. He also recommends his previous book "The perfect stock". For experienced traders you will find nothing new here, just an attempt to simplify. If you know what Darvas', O'Neal's , and Livermore's trading methods were then you need a more in depth book. But for beginners I highly recommend this book it will save you a lot of time wandering through the trading book jungle. William O'Neal is another excellent author for the investor or trader.Also Alexander Elder for stock traders.

I found out about this book after reading the author's previous book about TASR (The Perfect Stock).

This book is amazing, it's the closest method I've seen to the holy grail of stock speculation.

The method is simple... perhaps too simple for the majority who will keep chasing the latest complex (and not very useful) indicator...

The author lays out the principles of speculation very nicely, and it reminded me of Jesse Livermore.

Two things I would have liked to see:

- some practical examples of stocks with charts.

- the author does not discuss earnings at all. There are 4 earning seasons per year in the US stock market and stocks can gap up or down big time. There are no guidelines in the book regarding this.

Anyway... the 2 books from this author are a must-read for any serious speculator.

This book is for investors that have no stock market experience. There are really very little new idea come out of this book. Beware, the only chart in this book is an abstract graph of a lower-high and lower-low turning into a higher-high and higher-low and the author spends pages after pages to explain it.