Customer Reviews

Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications

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4 star:		(1)
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This should be on every techie's bookshelf! Much better than the info in those $195 "get rich quick" mailings, for a lot less. If you are interested in learning technical basics, at a bargain price, this is the place to start. You will find yourself reviewing it over and over.

Murphy starts with a history of the futures markets and leads into charting, patterns, trendlines and on into some of the more common techincal indicators. This book should be the bible for traders who are just getting there feet wet and then used as a reference later. There is no technical jargon that gives the reader the impression that this book is too advanced. Clear and easy to follow historic charts illustrate all of the concepts mentioned. This book should be on every traders bookshelf.

Murphy has taken a very technical analysis of a "dry" subject and turned it into a readable, useful guide that should by read (and referred to often) by everyone who dares trade in the futures markets. It's a great first book on the subject, and a great book for experts alike.

This is a great book for someone who wants to learn technical analysis at home. It's written in a down to earth style, without excessive math formulas. The only thing missing is Candlestick Charting, which only became popular after the publication.

Murphy has collected, collated, condensed and presented just about every method of technically analysing the futures markets. His text, whether dissecting simple or abstruse concepts, is remarkably lucid. Comprehensive and comprehensible, this is a reference futures traders must own. All I would have asked for in addition would be more suggestions for implementing trading strategies, but that, in fact, might require another book. If Murphy were to write it, he might outsell all those fake futures promoters and their $195 "courses" combined.

The Best book you can ever find on Technical Analisys. For everybody that wants to starts with Commodities Trading I suggest this Book. Best thing that You can do is to read before all the Schwager on Futures series after pass to it and lately read another great book of john "Intermarket technical analisys", It is the best book ever written on trading. Like that you' re going to understand HOW THE MARKETS REALLY WORK. As a Member of IFTA(International Federation of Technical analisys) I suggest this book to whoever wants to start in Technical analisys. As a Professional Trader I still use John book. It is always on my desk as reference. You will find everything you need to know about Technical Analisys and something more. If you need some help do not hesitate to contact at my E-mail. In bocca al lupo per il trading!!!

Murphy has written a very good reference book, useful for brushing up on the finer points of charting, indicators and so forth. He also does a good job of going over the various technical theories with a straight face, neither endorsing favorites nor casting ridicule on the ones that are more logically suspect (ahem, cough, gann-elliott-fibonacci, cough cough).

The only thing I really took issue with was Murphy's habit of trying to predict the size and extent of price moves, rather than sticking with more general observations regarding momentum and overall movement.

Looking for something to happen before there is evidence of its arrival is a dangerous game for technical players, methinks. To devotees of the approach, a friendly warning -- be careful not to become a fundamentechnicalyst. Meaning, always keep in mind that effective technical analysis highlights probability rather than makes predictions.

Since I just made up the word for this review, I'll now throw in the definition: A "fundamentechnicalyst" is one who makes predictions, just like the run of the mill fundamental analyst does... except the fundamentechnicalyst is making predictions based on technicals -- chart patterns and various indicators, rather than supply and demand, weather, politics, etcetera.

In giving advance notice of how the movie is going to end, the approaches have similarity in their folly. The answer (in my opinion) is to not say, "aha! because of pattern ABC, result XYZ must now occur...."

Instead, `tis better to say, "aha! because of pattern ABC, there is a favorable probability that XYZ could occur. But I recognize this is an odds game which means 1) it is normal, reasonable and expected for me to be wrong a portion of the time (the odds say so), and B) I must have a risk point, just in case this is "one of those occurrences" where the outcome falls against me.

The difference in the thought process is subtle but critical. A hard prediction locks you in, creates a psychological commitment, brings your ego into the game, and threatens to screw up your mindset in general. Whereas if you recognize trading is essentially nothing but an odds game, then flexibility and peace of mind have a better shot of remaining intact.

One of the hidden gems of this book was an excellent outline of why the contrarian method works. I don't want to give away Murphy's goods here, so I will just say that he points out a few very interesting reasons why it is natural for the majority to be wrong at turning points, and it is not simply because the masses lack trading ability or intelligence (though that is a factor, of course; the lumbering beast called Crowd is known for strong back and weak mind.)

To sum up, buy this book if you are new to technicals, if you want to brush up on your knowledge, or if you just want a handy reference. But be wary of the prediction trap. Keep your understanding of probability and odds intact.

John Murphy's book is a modern day classic on the topic of technical analysis. His writing is precise and easy to understand- novice traders will especially appreciate this. Regardless of the title, the principles and techniques described in this book are applicable to not only the futures market, but to all markets, including stocks and forex. Highly recommended to all traders!

My satisfaction for this item purchase is great. The topic of this book is not exactly entertaining in the sense of a action or thriller novel. But instead is a book that is designed to educate and enlighten. The exciting part is understanding futures markets. Then realizing the potential to turn forecasting into monetary profits.

The book was in exactly the condition described and delivered promptly.

This book was recommended to me by a fellow trader who swore by the information included here. I have to say that this is by far the most inclusive book I own that covers technical analysis and chart patterns. The author does give nice explanations of why he thinks some of these patterns show up and the psychology behind them. I reference the book often during day trading when I notice a rare pattern that I remember seeing Murphy discuss but I don't remember the details. I guess this is the way I would promote this book, as a decent reference for chart patterns that should be in a traders library. I don't believe that it will help someone learn to trade as it does not give that type of instruction but it can give a bit of assistance to someone who has a system they are looking to improve with consistent technical analysis.