Customer Reviews

Stock Trader's Almanac 2011 (Almanac Investor Series)

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

 

 

The Stock Trader's Almanac is an indispensable tool for stock investors and traders. This book belongs on the desk of every serious investor, amateur and professional alike. It is full of statistics, facts, and history of stock market trends and anomalies. For example, 2011 is the "Third Year in a Presidential Term" which has not been a losing year in decades.

This calendar covers every trading day of the year, with the percentage of up and down days, options expirations, and a pithy quote about stock market investing on each day. On the facing pages are descriptions of certain calendar anomalies like the "January Indicator" the "Santa Claus Rally" and other trends. In the back of the book is a very interesting section with historical market data. For example, did you know that the week of October 10, 2008 was actually the worst week for the Dow Jones in HISTORY?

Some of the data here is so useful that several Wall Street firms blatantly copy it and include it in their own "proprietary" research.

My only complaint with this book is the price has risen quite rapidly through the years, but since it's worth it, I am hooked and will buy it every year.

This review is meant solely as a warning to iPad users tempted to download this to the Kindle App, may also equally apply to iPhone users, but I haven't tried it there and don't imagine it improves.

I give the Almanac itself 4+ Stars. The only reason I am not giving it 5 is that having a pitch and a hyperlink to subscribe to their newsletter on every other page is tiresome.

This is a rich book with a lot of facts, tables, interesting quotes, and a journal type calendar the majority of which do not render well on the Kindle for iPad. I have no idea how the book interacts on an Amazon Kindle.

I think this is a book that your money is better spent buying the spiral bound edition and keeping it on your trading desk. The quotes are nearly impossible to read, it is near impossible to put notes in it, and the valuable information in some of the tables is a challenge to zoom and still not very useable after.

Pay the full price, get the spiral bound edition, the original is still the way to go.

Invaluable wisdom of the ages directly from the trading floor.
Every serious investor needs to read through this once.
Enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for the experience.

I would highly recommend this product to anyone who is involved in the business of trading. It is filled with useful information and tidbits on the market that will install more confidence in your trading. It will also keep you abreast of the many interesting market anomalies that occur throughout the trading year.

Presented in a spiral bound format to make the turning and reading of the pages easy. It is well laid out and a must for anyone serious about the markets.

Monthly seasonality patterns keep changing. Both the 1977 and the 1978 Stock Trader's Almanacs (Yale Hirsch) told me that the most bullish trading days of the month are the last trading day plus the first four trading days of each month. The 2012 Stock Trader's Almanac (Jeffrey Hirsch) now tells me that the most bullish trading days of the month are the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, third-to-last, and second-to-last trading days of each month. Jeffrey Hirsch explains that people now receive their paychecks twice each month instead of just once and that many traders are anticipating the bullish days by buying 1 or 2 days earlier. Also, the ticker symbols and names of the 300 most actively traded ETFs are listed in the 2012 Stock Trader's Almanac. Also, the most bullish months of the year have not changed for many decades. They are November, December, January, March, and April. In my opinion (and not necessarily in the author's opinion), these 5 months tend to be bullish because God wants people to have enough money to enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the IRS income tax deadline. Also, people will need to pay off their Christmas debts in January. March is the least bullish of the 5 most bullish months. The 6th most bullish month, July, is just as bullish as March. All of the world's major and minor religions agree that 7 is the most sacred, perfect, lucky number and appears to be God's favorite number. Most Asian nations celebrate the 7th day of the 7th month very expensively. God wants these people to have enough money in July.

This book is a nice reference to have but most information in it isn't something that most would actually trade off of.

I've been using the Stock (and Commodity) Trader's Almanacs for four years now and wouldn't be without it. Not only is it a great daytimer/journal, it contains loads of useful and seasonal market information. One of my favorites and one that I have written a number of articles about myself is the election or presidential cycle which up until recent never-ending stimulus was the most powerful shorter term cycle impacting stocks (and commodities).

What would make it better for me is an easy-to-use electronic format but still haven't found a tablet I'd buy that works with all my applications and ebooks but hope to soon.

I also still refer to the Almanac Investor by Jeff Hirsch and J. Taylor published in 2006 and am looking forward to an updated version. It explains many of the trading concepts and cycles in more detail than the yearly Almanacs.
The Almanac Investor: Profit from Market History and Seasonal Trends

Disclosure - Received review copy from Wiley & Sons.

In stock market, If you look closer you will find many statistical facts supporting what you want to hear or believe. Note that Fisher is a bulltard who has been bullish during the entire collapse in 2008 and tech crash in 2001

The book is fun, if you like sarcasm !

The delivery was excellent - very quick response; The book was just what I ordered; arrived in very good condition. Thank you for prompt service.

Excellent desktop reference full of ideas on how to capitalize on seasonal trends in the market.
Provides good reference source for historical market data.