Customer Reviews

Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

J.M. Hurst was the "father" of cycles in the market. This book, written in the late '60's by this mathematician, was based on research he did using a Fourier Transfomations/Spectral Analysis model. Putting it bluntly, it is not an easy read. Hurst is a terrific writer - the book is very well done - but the material is involved and complicated. However, for anyone interest in technical trading, I think this book is a must!

After finishing the book, he then wrote a "course" which he gave for a year... then dropped out of sight. I bought this "course", all 1200 pages of it +++; Now this is HARD to get through. It is far more detailed than the book and I also feel essential to learning cyclic trading. If someone asks "if this is so easy, why isn't everyone doing it?", this course answers that emphatically! It's a tough nut to crack. I would add that having digested his book first was of much help in doing the course.

Eric Stephan

This is a very well written book that demonstrates the existence of underlying cycles in stock / index price movements. By knowing where the price is viz. which cycle (e.g., rising, topping, falling), a person can make better decisions re buy or sell leading to above average returns.
The book shows the reader how to identify key cycles and how to enter and exit trades. Since it was written pre-PCs, the methodology is illustrated very simply (thankfully). A good understanding of PCs and analytical techniques can only improve upon the work, but is not essential.
The book also shows how the summation of underlying cycles and trends create well-known technical analysis patterns, e.g., head and shoulders, triangles, elliot, etc.
An application of this methodology can be found [on the internet](look under Hurst). This is not intended to be an advertisment for the site (though I am a fan), but rather to help potential buyers of the book get several visual examples of the Hurst theory at work.

This book is a classic for anyone into cycles or swing trading. Some of the info is dated, and forget the complicated stuff (Fourier, etc), that's not the point. The point is get in for the upswing and get out near the top and into another trade. The more and faster you do this the better. This is a must have.

Reading this book gave me a real understanding of the stock market movement. Now, I look at indicators, patterns, etc. with a different pair of eyes. The book explains convicingly that stock market moves in cycles. I am now using it successfully in my trading. With it, I have the ability to estimate market tops and bottoms frequently. My analysis for Nasdaq is posted in http://www.geocities.com/zentex3/ if you want to see evidence of me putting this into practice. Overall, the book is enjoyable read. The mathematics can be difficult but I do not use Fourier Analysis or any advanced maths to put his method into practice. In fact, I actually used very basic maths and put it in my excel spreadsheet and the envelopes are plotted automatically. I just turned the logic he uses for visual analysis into basic rules.

J.M. Hurst was a pioneer in the computerized research into the nature of stock price action. He drew upon that experience and research to write The Profit Magic Of Stock Transaction Timing, which became a standard text for the serious student of stock market analysis and investment. The stock market has always been volatile and impacted by the social, economic, and political events of the day, at home and abroad. This 25th Anniversary edition will admirably serve to introduce a whole new generation of economists, stock market analysts, and investors to an invaluable source for understanding market trends and how best to capitalize on them with respect to the timing of their buy and sell commands. Highly recommended.

I first bought this book when the original issue was published by Prentice Hall in the early 1980s. I'm glad to see it has stood the test of time and is still available. This book, among others, was influential on my thinking and research that led to a Ph.D. in economics. The book is highly technical and would be of most use to programmer-types. Even if you are not a programmer, it details concepts that have withstood up and down markets over many many years. Highly recommended.

When I first read this book, almost 8 years ago, I was overwhelmed. The amount of information was not only volumounous but meaty. Reading it made you feel like you were being let into some kind of secret that only the best trader's understood. This book is a classic, but not for the fainthearted.

Also as with all books on swing trading and cycles as the market progresses the cycles change. I would love to see a complete revist of Hurst's strategies for today's market. I believe many of the skeptical would be pleasantly surprised.

i'm glad that most who reviewed it here got it! it is a little mathematically beefy. even if you can't grasp the heavy math of the last chapters, the layman can benefit from the graphical buy/sell/hold signals and easy offset moving average methodology. while this book doesn't provide the holy grail, it gives you "willie wonka's golden ticket" into the wall street candy factory...

Great book about the stock market and especially technical analysis. The book was written in 1968. With the advent of computers I'd be interested to see how his theories hold up now. The book explains his theories of what makes stocks move. He says stocks seem to move in an irratic and random fashion to the untrained. Yet, he believes 70%+ of stock movement can be predicted using time-cycle analysis. The book writes of trend lines, channels, head&shoulders, triangles, double tops/bottoms, and he explains what causes each. This book is a must read for anyone interested in technical analyis! If anyone knows anything about the author please let me know. I'm interested in finding out what happened to him and his career in market research.

So sad for the ignorant who do not understand the scientific correctness of Hurst`s brilliant work. He explains and proves it all. Fascinating!