Customer Reviews

Riding the Bear: Reap Huge Gains by Recognizing a Bear or Bull Market

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is all about avoiding bearish turns in bull markets, and not, as the title claims, about profiting from bear markets.

While the first half of the book is full of substantial and enlightening advice about reducing risk in bull markets, Harding offers only a meager 10 pages or so of light commentary on tools for profiting in down markets, namely short-selling and put options.

Having introduced short-selling and put options, he quickly abandons the subject, with barely a word of advice on how long to hold a short position, and not one word of guidance on executing an options trade.

If you want to learn how to avoid bear turns in bull markets, this book is worth the price.

But if you want to learn how to execute profitable options trades and short sales in a bear market, you won't find this book helpful.

Riding the Bear is half good. There is useful perspective information on the history of the markets, how they tend to cycle, and some very interesting measurements of bear and bull runs. The sordid past of Wall Street brokers gets a good airing. For a long term perspective on the importance of watching your investments closely, it gets 5 stars.

Unfortunately, it falls down hard when it comes to specifics of how to deal with a bear market. The ideas put forth to time the market rely heavily on backtesting theories and seasonality. "If you followed this plan, you would have made X percent over 20 years instead of only Y". This may work in the future, or it may set you up for big disappointment. The methods of selecting stocks to short is also simplistic and dangerous. I give it zero stars for this aspect. I think the markets are too dynamic to rely on backtesting any timing theory.

There are also plenty of graphs in here, but Mark Twain's statement that there are lies, damn lies and statistics holds true. Some of the most important graphs are incomplete, and give a misleading impression. The most glaring is the Market Cap to GDP measure. I found another version of this graph, and the full graph is not so clear an indicator. The selective use of statistics is a turn off in this case.

Read this book, but only to compare it to other perspectives. Don't think you are going to rule Wall Street by spending $11 on this paperback.

Sy Harding's book contains stock market strategies that will prevent you from being a victim (and about 80% of investors do poorly in the market). Many investing books are written by successful and well-known market mavens yet they are often hard to read and their major points murky (Tom Dorsey's 1995 "Point and Figure Charting" is essentially unreadable ...). Not so here. Hardings book is very well-written and complete. It was written in 1999, he warned of a huge bear market coming. Historical perspective is given to show how old man Kennedy and others financially raped the small investor on repeated occasions ... Hardings clearcut explanation of the seasonal effect (buy around Nov 1 and sell around May 1)is noteworthy. Stockcharts dot com provides the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line info for free, that Sy wrote about. Every small investor needs this book. Sy has a site in his own name that is worthy of your viewing. Can't think of a better gift for an investor than this book.

After finding this book in a second hand book shop, I decided to buy and read it. I noticed it predicted the bear market to come and it was actually written in 1999, two years BEFORE the bear market actually started. It seemed to make such good sense and I decided I would try the seasonal strategy. Like many, I had gained and lost spectacularly over the past seven years. Im a really good stock picker, but I just had no guiding strategy. This book appeared to actually made some sense out of what I could do, with its seasonal strategy approach. The result: In 2002, a year when the average mutual fund lost -23%, I gained +17% on my portfolio. And I sold and BOOKED the 17% profit in May. Then, as Sy advises, I bought back in again, in November. My stocks are up +55% for the last six months----and---I am getting ready to SELL! What a far cry from before! True, I made some great picks this year. But I now have a strategy,learned from this book, that will allow me to KEEP my profits by knowing WHEN TO SELL!!

Sy, your book is a true revelation. You are a born teacher and a real spirit. And you are someone the word TRUST, such a rarity in the financial professions, can be bestowed upon without any reservation. Thanks for your gift and sharing it with us. In deepest appreciation.

And to any skeptics, buy this book. It IS amazing and simple and makes so much sense. IT will change your investment ability forever.

As a broker i have read many market books - this book has the most stunning insights into seasonal market behavior and risk avoidance i have ever come across. The author does not mention the cost of transactions in following his seasonal timing system - thats my only criticism. Overall its the best $11 I've ever spent. Well done Sy.

Written for the average investor (those with IRA, 401K, and perhaps some free cash for individual stocks), this is by far the best book I've ever read on investing. It is not only very entertaining, but is full of practical information. This book was published in 1999 and accurately foretold the stock market crash. (Those who followed his advice saved a lot of money).

After reading this book, you'll realize that most of the "experts" that you see on tv or read about in the paper are just shills for Wall Street. Their interest is in getting you to buy and sell stocks so that THEY can make money.

From a practical point, the author argues convincingly against the "buy and hold" approach, demonstrating with simple graphs and language how devastating this can be to your wealth. For example, the Nasdaq was at 5000 in March of 2000. It's now at 1500. While it may recover to 5000 one day, do you want to wait another 10 or 15 years merely to get back to even?

Finally, and most importantly, his research shows the average investor how to triple the returns of the S&P 500 by following the "seasonal" tendency of the stock market to rise strongly in the November to late April period and then to fall in the May through October period. The data is very, very convincing.

In a word, if you want a clear, simple, and straightforward understanding of the stock market and how to use that information to dramatically increase your returns while lowering your risk, this is the book for you. Those who read the book and follow his advice can look forward to a very comfortable retirement. Those who don't, well, good luck to you.

Sy Harding's "Riding The Bear" is nothing less than a great public service, and Mr. Harding a hero for writing this book and getting it to press and distribution quickly in early 1999 - before the inevitable crash of 2000.
I own a few copies of RTB, one of them covered in highlighter and notes, the other a backup that I carry around for ballast, the way some people carry worry beads or a crucifix. ... There is no book on playing the markets that even faintly compares to the spare, straightforward, eyepoppingly enlightening text of this deceptively slender, refreshingly irreverant classic.
Every public investor 'must' have a copy of RTB as a reference tool, guide and blanky. No question.
Spread the word.
Riding the Bear must make most Wall Streeters awfully nervous. And that is why I say again, Sy Harding, you are a hero.

This is a wonderful book which describes a system for entering and exiting the market based on seasonal patterns. It is an easy read, even for the beginning investor. Mr. Harding is known as a superb market timer. Much of his work is based on technical analysis, leading one to believe that this book could have been difficult to follow. Nothing could be further from the truth. A number of popular myths about investing are debunked. I expect that followers of the timing system proposed will do much better than buy and holders in the bear market that is sure to come.

While it might be nice if markets always went up, the truth is, there is a 'Bear Market" every three to four years on average. If you don't understand what bear markets are and how they can impact your investments, you should read this book. Using the old "Buy & Hold" mentality is great when stocks go up 50%. But, it is a lousy method when bear markets take 20% or 50% or 85% of your hard-earned gains away.

Even if you are not comfortable 'shorting' the market during downturns, knowing how to watch for bear markets so you can watch from the sidelines will definitely improve your investment returns. Sy Harding has been around long enough to have seen a number of bear markets, thus he has firsthand knowledge that is worth knowing. Just get the book and read it. It will make you a better investor.

The title says it all... most books only talk about the mechanics of how to trade and read signals. This one goes into great detail about not only how the stock market works, but how investor greed and fear drive it, and how professionals profit off of it. This book makes informative reading for casual investors (401k folks and the like), as well as professionals.