Customer Reviews

The New Science of Technical Analysis (Wiley Finance)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Most technical analysis books seem to fall into two broad categories. The first is marked by a lack of rigour in thought, lack of backtesting or any form of real verification, and sparse foundations in any form of mass psychology or mathematics. The second category is the antithesis of the first.

This book falls into the more lamentable category. The author's main handicap is an immense ego, which blinds him to the ridiculous claims he makes about his methods, without any real backup. (Nevermind that his editor must have been a total pushover, since its a very poorly edited book).

Second, his methods reveal feeble methodology. Want a good example? Lets look at his chapter on moving averages. He says one fault of simple moving averages is they don't discount the far past in relation to the near past. He mentions some other ones which have been addressed elsewhere. But there aren't any formulae! He then starts talking about his enhancements to moving averages. Half of it doesn't make too much sense, and he neglects to show any graphs.

There are a couple of nuggets in here. One in particular was TD Points, as he calls them. But all the useful things he says could have been summarized into 5-10 pages. He also doesn't really talk about futures, commodities, volatilities, and strategy.

In the end, I cannot figure out why Wiley would publish this book. It doesn't have the quality.

Unlike other technical analysis books, which focus on head-and-shoulders and other patterns and simple things like moving averages, DeMark's "New Science" book provides the reader two valuable things: 1) ready-to-implement technical indicators that can be programmed (assuming you have access to the necessary data), and 2) ideas for further research. My personal experience is that I haven't made any money using his indicators. For example, the Sequential indicator used to work but after the Internet bubble I've lost money with this indicator. But it did give me some ideas and made me look beyond things like double bottom which are even less reliable, not to mention difficult to implement.

If you are into trading system building and/or using formulas to create indicators, this is a must-read.

I heard the author speak a few years ago and was bowled over by all the information he covered. I concluded he was either a phenomenal salesman or he was truly an exceptional student of the market. i bought this book as well as one of his other two(?). I knew that if i truly wanted to digest what he presented I had to be committed to studying his techniques. Frustration reigned and interruptions only served to hamper my understanding. Fianlly, after losing countless dollars on sham techniques I learned at seminars and reading books by others I was determined to give the author a serious try. I have never regretted this decision. While nothing is perfect in the investment business I can certainly represent that the author's ideas are fresh, innovative, original and and have enhanced by trading performance markedly. Sure I still have losers and nothing is infallible but his techniques are the closest I have come to providing me with the knowledge and game plan to be a successful trader. Yes, I am making money, lots of it. No, I am not going to share what of his many tools have I found to be the most helpful. That is your job and if for no other reason, it is because some of the methods I may have found to be not to my liking may very well be suited to you and trading psyche. In any case, welcome to the world of a one of a kind trading mind. The author is special and so are his indicators.

I am here at the IFTA conference and the market trading models on Bloomberg are the talk of the seminar. These indicators are described in detail in this book as well as the author's other two books. These are not the typical tupe of trading tools that most all traders use and trade unsuccessfully. If our trading desk and portfolio managers had their preference they wish that nobody would use these trading models. That appears not to be the case since everyone seems to be using them. Since the techniques are designed to operate totally the opposite to all other trading devices they become a discipline that contols one's emeotiuons when oen trades. In that regard alone these methods are exceptional.

I recommend strongly this book as well as the author's other two books.

If you're an experiece trader, you must read this book! If you trade based on any type of Technical Methodology, then this book should be on your book shelf. Granted, it could get complicated for novice traders, but once you've grasped the basics of Technical Analysis, don't hesitate to purchase this classic. Anyone that sees this title in the used section, grab it quick, the price is a true disparity!!

I always want to learn new technical indicators. So I was very exciting to know DeMark created so many of them. Some of them were quite creative. But I found he did not explain his methods in detail. It seems you need to just take his words. The most important question is whether they are useful for trading. I know some people in a website created a number of trading systems based upon his methods. Most of them are not very profitable. After many tests, I think I will not use any of them in trading! Sigh!

TD suppy and demand lines. If I only knew before the rules for trendlines I would have save a lot of time and wasted effort. I can't comment on this book past chapter #1 as I've not gone any further. However, this book is worth the purchase many times over just for the proper explaination of trendlines. As this book was recommended to me for the first 2 chapters, I will also recomend it if only for the first. Before I could look at the same chart of a currency pair and "see" different trend lines. Oh, I think that is one. But now I will look at the same chart and see the same trendlines every time. This goes a long way to making trading a repeatable, measurable proccess... essential to success.

I read the other reviews before I wrote this. The negative reviews have one thing in common, they appear to be written by people who did not understand the book.

That is understandable. It is not an easy book. It is, however, the one single book on TA that I would recommend to anyone who was seriously interested in the subject. If you don't find it worth the money, then you stopped reading it before the last page. If you don't like it after you've read it, give it to your broker for Christmas. He'll thank you.

One trade costs fifty bucks. Take that fifty bucks and get this book instead of making one trade.

Have a dictionary, a pencil, a ruler, and some blank paper handy, and read the book.

Thomas DeMark is a genius.

My credentials? I am a professional stock trader, and I am very successful.

On my trading desk we have applied the tools described in this book to record trading success. Obviously, we use the translation provided on bloomberg, cqg and thomson. This simplifies the process enornmously. Nevetheless one must read the book to become informed.

Most all traders are trend follwoers. There is a distinct comfort factor hopping aboard an ongoing trend since the news usually suports one's attitude and other traders reeforce one's predilections. To go contrary to the trend is like betting with the casino--there is an 'edge'. Specialists and floor traders operate in this manner all the time. There a few specialists who go bust operating against the trend. This book identifies techniques that are designed to position one against the trend in the market. For us on the trading desks who use CQG, B;oomberg, and Thomson quote machines that have these indicators included, we certainly have an advnatage. An understanding of these methods is critical but once understood they become second nature because they are also intuitive and logical.