Customer Reviews

Trade What You See: How To Profit from Pattern Recognition (Wiley Trading)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've come to trust the reviews on amazon but i have to say that they are way off the mark for this particular book.
After trading for a few years, i've come to the belief that the simplest chart patterns are the best and you can find just about any pattern on a chart if you squint hard enough.
The authors would point out "ABCD" patterns after they have formed.
Perhaps the book was just poorly written but i just dont see the book helping any beginners and very few experienced traders.

"Trade What You See" is an excellent guide to help traders filter through market volatility and media hype. Jouflas' and Pesavento's latest offering is a concise overview of how to look at the markets and identify high probability, low risk trade opportunities. From Fibonacci ratios, AB=CD patterns, to trade management and trading plan, any trader can supplement their own trading style with the basic trade guidelines outlined in this book.

As another review of this book has pointed out, the section "Learning to Recognize Trend Days" is very valuable. This section can be helpful to any trader to take advantage of trend day opportunities. The section is invaluable for countertrend traders who have not yet developed a strategy to recognize and trade trend days. At the very least, simply identifying a trend day can keep a countertrend trader from getting caught in low probability trade situations. Jouflas takes you through multiple steps of a trend day enabling a trader to more easily assess what is happening.

Disclosure: I have followed both Leslie Jouflas and Larry Pesavento for several years. Even so, in reading this book, I found myself brushing up on some areas. Especially the "Trend" section.

"Trade What You See" provides an excellent overview for an individual who is interested in trading stock and commodity markets. Many books try and guarantee the perspective trader that the markets will provide you with riches and absurd returns. Instead the authors of this book are very careful to not provide the reader with wild exaggerations of potential market trading profits. The readers are provided with a clear and concise explanation of market patterns and the use of Fibonacci ratios in assisting a trader on when to enter and exit the market. Numerous pattern examples are given where the probability for a positive trade is significantly higher than 50% and how a trader should approach these situations.

"Trade What You See" covers in detail how to reduce the risk of losses through the use and placement of stops while minimizing the risk on any given trade. Throughout the book the writers are very careful to point out the pitfalls of trading and how to avoid large losses. The authors cover in detail a sound money management system and place it as the major key to becoming a successful trader. This is why this book is very well done.

There is no hype, just a pragmatic, objective approach to stock trading. Anyone who trades stocks or commodities needs a copy of this book. The book is very useful not just for "day" traders, but long term investors who want to know when to buy and sell stocks and avoid large losses. Even for a person who trades on fundamentals this book is an important guide.

If you purchase this book and follow the provided money management principles, you will certainly minimize your risk of incurring large losses in the stock market. This is why I found this book superior to other books I have read on stock trading.

"Trade What You See" is a thorough and professional revision of Pesavento's 1997 book "Fibonacci Ratios with Pattern Recognition". I have several of the authors' books, and believe this to be their best because they explain not just what to look for but provide different strategies (based upon sound money-management) for trading each pattern.

Although previous works provided more examples, the chart examples in "Trade What You See" include better notes and instructions for reducing subjectivity when trading patterns. Traders who use computer-generated signals, such as what oscillators provide, will be rewarded with insight into what the markets are really doing when those mechanical signals fail. I believe Chapter 10 "Learning to Recognize Trend Days" will be valuable for trading recent market volatility.

Pesavento and Jouflas are successful traders with web sites that offer mentoring. Jouflas' TradingLiveOnline.com also provides daily trades based upon these patterns. (Disclosure: I subscribe to her site.) The best review I can give "Trade What You See" is to simply quote John Hill's endorsement on the back cover: "Highly recommended."

"Trade What You See" is sure to become a classic and included on most 'Recommended Reading' lists for traders and investors. The price patterns work in multiple time frames. Chapter 8, "Retracement Entries and Multiple Time Frames" addresses this important subject well.

The clarity of the patterns, the step by step methodology for trading each pattern, the recommended money management and history of each pattern makes this book very unique and useful. Yes, Larry has presented these patterns in other books, but never with such detailed trading information. New information, such as Chapter 10 'Learning to Trade Trend Days' widens the scope far beyond the profitable trading pattern information.

There is a section at the end of the book addressing trading as a business including checklists of what traders should do before the market opens and after the close.

"Highly recommended," I concur.
(Disclosure: I have been a student of Larry Pesavento and Leslie Jouflas and subscribe to www.tradingliveonline.com. )

Respect to the author, but a lot of this material can be found on the internet already, such as the AB=CD and Gartley patterns. For a book about visual pattern recognitions, the b/w blurry charts were a disappointment. Authors take note, shell extra for some color and larger charts will convey more than words, it would become a bestseller fast. Still, I've timed some profitable options trades using the geometric patterns.
A Pesavento must have book is Astro Cycles...if you are ready for it

I've followed Pesavento for years, and his market calls are right on the money -- and he did it again calling the October 6th, 2008 week historic decline.

It's usually the soft spoken guys that really know what is going on in the market -- and when they speak you should listen. Was listening to a radio interview with another great market technician, Bennett McDowell - he wrote "The ART of Trading" The ART of Trading: Combining the Science of Technical Analysis with the Art of Reality-Based Trading (Wiley Trading) -- McDowell was on the "Financial Wisdom" radio show on [...] the other day because Gabriel Wisdom, the host, was so impressed by how McDowell called the same decline on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 -- also right on the money.

What Gabe Wisdom said in his interview with McDowell is that he also had Pesavento on his show earlier, calling the same decline, and Pesavento was hesitant to make the call on air -- since he didn't want to concern the listeners. And that is the challenge for these guys that make these calls -- they see what their analysis tells them, but don't want to overly alarm the general audience.

Pesavento uses Astrology and Pattern Recognition to make his market calls and McDowell uses Elliott Wave and his ART, Applied Reality Trading, software to make his calls. Both are based on technical analysis, which some folks still are afraid to embrace. But, now more than ever, the average trader AND investor must start to learn how to use these techniques. Now more than ever we all need as much ammunition as we can get to work through the existing economic downturn.

Best not to rely solely on your financial advisor and/or broker, and instead take your finances into your own hands. Pesavento's book and his approach to pattern recognition will teach you how to do just that. Recommended reading.

To those who would dismiss the author's writing, theories, etc. the proof is in the pudding. I have the opportunity to listen to this gentleman from time to time in radio interviews and he called the entire week of declines for the first week in October 6-10th AND last week he correctly predicted significant problems from the 24th through the 26th.

If his text helps you simply avoid entering a position, he has done you a service. His analysis and logic has been spot on and I look forward to his next book.

What a bargain this book is! If you're a beginning trader, it will shave years off your learning curve. As an 11 year vetran I found plenty of little gems to increase my edge on the market. This is without a doubt a very relevent book. It takes into account the advances in technology, has great examples, and a winning trading stratagy that works across most, if not all markets. It should, and probably will be, in every trader's library. It is an out of the park home run.

I found "Trade What You See" dense and too complex for me -- like I'd missed the 101 course level. I think I was expecting candle patterns, and this is something else entirely. Many of these patterns are based on Fibonaccis (which I am familiar with in the form of retracements and fans, neither of which is part of this) and harmonics (which I'd never even heard of before.) I certainly don't mind being introduced to new concepts, but I didn't feel like this was an introduction.