Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us: What Every Investor Needs to Know to Increase Income, Minimize Risk, and Archieve Capital Gains [Paperback]

Clifford Pistolese (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071467211 | ISBN-13: 978-0071467216 | Publication Date: February 22, 2006 | Edition: 1

A breakthrough explanation of how any investor, regardless of experience, can use technical analysis tools to significantly improve performance

You may consider technical analysis as beyond your expertise and of little tangible value. But evidence proves it can help you achieve your long-term investing goals more quickly. Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us clearly explains basic areas of technical analysis, such as price pattern interpretation and resistance/support levels, and focuses on those areas that are most useful and relevant to individual investors.

This book presents a four-step process for using technical analysis to evaluate your portfolio holdings, sell investments that don’t match your objectives, locate stocks that both meet your objectives and provide superior long-term potential, and reshape your portfolio to improve overall performance.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Easy-to-apply technical analysis strategies for improved capital gains, income, and wealth preservation

Technical analysis is one of the most effective methods for improving any investor's returns, regardless of their market knowledge or expertise. Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us shows you why as it describes the tools of technical analysis and explains how you can use each to improve your investment selection and performance in every type of market.

Focusing on basic chart patterns and how they forecast the timing, direction, and size of a price move, this technical analysis primer features:

• Graphs of more than 50 popular chart patterns, along with the buy, sell, or hold signals sent by each
• Specific charting strategies designed to fit the needs of aggressive, conservative, or balanced investors
• Dozens of review exercises you can use to apply lessons to realistic market environments and charting situations

Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us shows you how to use the predictive advantages of technical analysis in your own investing program to accurately forecast pending price moves and remove much of the guesswork from your decisions.

Use technical analysis to improve your investment selection--and success

Most investors see technical analysis as complex, time-consuming, and beyond their understanding. However, many of the strategies and tools of technical analysis are straightforward and easy to use, not to mention financially smart. From the head-and-shoulders pattern to double tops and more, charting can help you determine which investments seem poised to move either up or down, limit your risk exposure, and sharpen your instincts for consistently buying near price bottoms and selling near tops.

Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us tells you what you need to know to reap the benefits of technical analysis. Walking you through the most popular patterns and what they can indicate, this handy guidebook introduces you to specialized investments and activities that--when combined with technical analysis--can provide you with greater and more predictable returns.

Focusing on the less complicated charts that you can quickly understand and integrate into your investment program, Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us covers how you can use technical analysis to:

• Review your portfolio to determine which investments meet your current objectives and when is the best time to sell those that don't
• Analyze stock price patterns, volume, and moving averages to more accurately forecast pending price movements
• Improve your overall performance whether you are an active trader, buy-and-hold investor, or anything in between
• Identify bull and bear markets in their earliest stages to enhance or protect investment gains
• Profit from alternative investments including preferred stocks, closed end mutual funds, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us explains exactly what you need to know to make technical analysis a profitable part of your investment portfolio. Plain talking and accessible, it provides you with step-by-step directions for using charts and charting to reduce investment risk and replace it with the predictability of knowing how each investment has performed in the past and will most likely perform in the future.

About the Author

Clifford Pistolese is the bestselling author of Using Technical Analysis and Nerves of Steel: Mastering Your Emotions to Beat the Market. A successful trader, Pistolese has held executive positions with several Standard & Poor's 500 corporations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (February 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071467211
• ISBN-13: 978-0071467216
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another valuable contribution to the field of Technical Analysis by Cliff Pistolese, April 24, 2006

By 

Daniel L. Chesler (Wellington, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us: What Every Investor Needs to Know to Increase Income, Minimize Risk, and Archieve Capital Gains (Paperback)

I first became familiar with Clifford Pistolese's work through reading his second book, "Using Technical Analysis." I was so impressed, that I obtained both his first book "Nerves of Steel" and now his most recent book and the subject of this review, "Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us." Cliff is unique among authors of technical analysis books, in that he not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk as well. His own successful, long-term investing career is based largely on the concepts he has so generously shared with readers over the years. In his most recent book, "Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us," Cliff takes his readers through the most important, foundational concepts of technical pattern recognition. He does this through the use of copious and clearly labeled charts, as well as plain-spoken and easy to understand language. Cliff really gets straight to the heart of the matter with his latest book, while avoiding the more estoeric, complex theories and techniques that are often found in many books written on the subject of technical analysis. "Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us" is a superb book for any investor seeking to take more control over his or her investments, through the application of time-tested rules of chart pattern interpretation. More experienced and advanced users of technical analysis may wish to pick up Cliff's second book as well, "Using Technical Analysis," which is one of the most clearly written and informative books ever written on the subject. Daniel L. Chesler, CMT, CTA -- [...]

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Simple It Is Brilliant, June 22, 2006

By 

Ted Lachman (Lake Worth, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us: What Every Investor Needs to Know to Increase Income, Minimize Risk, and Archieve Capital Gains (Paperback)

Mr. Pistolese writes this book for the "average investor." I am a former stockbroker and have read many books related to the stock market. This is a very quick, easy read as one goes thru the book the first time in order to get a basic understanding of what the author is trying to convey. However, this book can serve as a resource reference for all of us who are passionate about investing in the market. It will never go out of "style." I frequently refer back to his principles when researching a stock I am considering for purchase.
Mr. Pistolese focuses, throughout the book, on various, basic chart patterns, and how these can be used to determine the probable direction and price move of the stocks we may be placing into our investment portfolio.
This book will assist every type of investor - the aggressive trader, the conservative long-range planner, as well as those of us who seek steady income from our investments.
Mr. Pistolese provides us with many graphs and charts - all of which are easily understood and interpreted via the author's very simplistic approach to technical analysis. He then, at the conclusion of each chapter, encourages us to complete "lessons" which serve to determine if we understood the material he presented - via review exercises.
He has truly thought of everything in his desire to help us to become better "money managers."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of paper., March 26, 2008

By 

Raoul "the consoler" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technical Analysis for the Rest of Us: What Every Investor Needs to Know to Increase Income, Minimize Risk, and Archieve Capital Gains (Paperback)

I had high hopes for this book even though its title steals the tag-line of a much better book, Technical Analysis for Dummies. Alas the concepts presented here are half-baked and incomplete. Many common TA concepts are barely mentioned. How to effectively use them is left out altogether. What really struck me is the wasted page space - literally squandering the paper. One example is the extensive reliance on oversimplified and over-inflated charts of the crudest, hand-sketched quality. There are also many pages containing only single sentences. These almost blank sheets are ostensibly given over for answers to self-test questions, where normally such answers would be collected in an appendix at the end of the book. Here the countless single-sentence answer-pages are meant solely to beef up the book's weight and thickness. The high frequency of self-tests makes them redundant repetitions of base spoon-feeding. I truly felt stupider and less prepared to trade after reading this book.