Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Lessons Every Trader Must Master [Hardcover]

Jason Alan Jankovsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471792160 | ISBN-13: 978-0471792161 | Publication Date: November 3, 2006 | Edition: 1

Trading Rules that Work introduces you to twenty-eight essential rules that can be shaped to fit any trading approach—whether you’re dealing in stocks, commodities, or currencies. Engaging and informative, Trading Rules that Work outlines the deeper psychology behind each of these accepted trading rules and provides you with a better understanding of how to make those rules work for you.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

As traders, virtually all of us develop a set of rules that govern our trading activities. Yet, all too often—for a variety of reasons—many of us selectively ignore or change those rules.?

Author Jason Alan Jankovsky has been a trader and market analyst for over twenty years. During this time the markets have taught him many things, but the most valuable lesson learned was the importance of following a set of trading rules that work for your style of trading, risk tolerance, and emotional make-up. Now, in Trading Rules that Work, Jankovsky wants to share his findings with you.

This comprehensive guide provides a blueprint for trading success by introducing you to 28 essential rules that can be shaped to fit any trading approach—whether you're dealing in stocks, commodities, or currencies. Straightforward and accessible, Trading Rules that Work outlines the deeper psychology behind each of these accepted trading rules and provides you with a better understanding of how to make those rules work for you. The rules, which are more accurately defined as flexible guidelines, fall under four parts within the book:

• Part One: Getting in the Game outlines the psychology of market price action, what that can mean as far as your trade selection is concerned, and how to begin from the point of a strong market presence
• Part Two: Cutting Losses shows you how to protect yourself in today's markets—even when it is emotionally difficult to do so—by developing a set of personal trading rules uniquely designed to your trading style
• Part Three: Letting Profits Run covers the few simple rules you should follow in order to remain in a winning trade until market potential has run out
• Part Four: Trader Maxims examines the most common rules, and how they have both nega-tive and positive psychological implications

Trading successfully takes discipline, desire, knowledge, and skill. By combining the various rules, insights, and guidelines found through-out this book, you'll be in the best position possible to achieve consistent success—no matter what markets you choose to trade.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Trading Rules that Work

"Excellent practical advice for every trader. Mr. Jankovsky's 28 rules are clear, well thought out, and most importantly, realistic. This book belongs next to your keyboard."
—Joseph Trevisani, Chief Market Analyst, FX Solutions

"Jankovsky's book, Trading Rules that Work, is one of the best new books on the financial scene. It is a must-have for any new trader looking to profit in the futures markets."
—Joseph O'Mara, President, Direct Trading Group

"Jankovsky's ability to distill the complex intricacies of trading to 28 comprehensible lessons is amazing. His partitioned approach to managing the trading process in perpetually moving markets is straightforward yet powerful. A must-read for serious traders planning on a long, prosperous career."
—Greg Sabatello, President, TransAct Futures

"Trading Rules that Work is an excellent resource that integrates daily market factors with personal and market psychology. Not only do you need to know how to react to the chart but you need to know how the chart reacts to you."
—James P. Cagnina Jr., Executive Vice President, Infinity Futures, Inc.

"In his easy-to-read book, Trading Rules that Work, Jankovsky does an excellent job describing 28 rules for trading. He takes the reader through step by step to explain the rules using his beliefs, insights, and experiences as a trader for many years."
—Daniel M. Gramza, President, Gramza Capital Management, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471792160
• ISBN-13: 978-0471792161
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Alan Jankovsky is a 20+ year veteran of leveraged transaction trading. Trading extensively in Futures, Options, and FOREX since 1986, first as a customer and then as a registered broker, he is self-taught and self-educated. Working in almost all facets of the trading business, he has authored several trading systems, trained other successful traders and has been published in many industry periodicals; his numerous articles on global cash FOREX have appeared in "Traders Savvy", "The Perspective", "SFO Magazine", "Futures Magazine" and other industry publications. He is a regular guest on FOREX TV and the Jack Bouroudjian Show as well as other business radio and television shows. He is the author of "Trading Rules that Work: The 28 essential lessons every trader must master" (John Wiley & Sons, October 2006), a regular Amazon top-100 best seller in the category of "Futures". His second book "The Art of The Trade: what I learned (and lost) trading the Chicago futures markets" (John Wiley & Sons, October, 2008) is an autobiography of his education as a trader and is also a regular Amazon top-100 bestseller in the category of "biography/business". His latest book titled "Time Compression Trading: exploiting multiple time frames in zero-sum markets" is due for release from John Wiley & Sons in October, 2010. He has focused on the psychology of trading as the key component to a successful trading methodology and teaches a six-week course on trading psychology every quarter to traders around the world. He appears regularly as a guest speaker at many public and private trading forums and has been invited to speak at round table discussions offered by events such as "The Orlando MoneyShow" and "The New York Trader's Expo" He provides daily trade coaching and analysis for customers of Core Financial Group, INC. working directly with traders of all skill levels. He trades his own accounts every day and provides a regular weekly wrap-up of his personal performance every Friday afternoon for interested customers and guests. Born and raised in Chicago, IL. He is an avid Sailor and Private Pilot.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Book On Trading Principles, December 26, 2006

By 

L. Masonson (Monroe, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Lessons Every Trader Must Master (Hardcover)

The author, a 20-year trader and market analyst, provides 28 concrete trading rules in this 192-page book that will aid the newbie or experienced futures and FX trader control their inner self when trading. It is also useful for traders of equities and other investment vehicles.

According to the author there are three keys to successful trading:
1. A trader understands their his own psychology
2. A trader masters the psychology of his personal trading rules, and
3. A trader understands and masters the market's psychology

The book is equally divided into four parts: getting in the game, cutting losses, letting profits run, and trader maxims. Jankovsky devotes one chapter to each of the 28 rules. A number of the rules are well known such as have a trading plan, cut losses and let profits run, don't overtrade, and never add to a loser. Others are not as well known such as keep good records and review them, don't second-guess your winners, and all markets are bearish.

In all cases, the author provides excellent insights, a thorough discussion, and good advice on how to implement each rule. Jankovsky notes that traders who consistently make money have a trading plan with specific rules, while losing traders typically have no plan. He believes that it is critical for the trader to keep accurate and comprehensive records of all trades, especially recording what you were feeling and thinking while making the trade.

The author suggests that those interested in trading read books by great traders and focus on how they think and leverage their experience into your own. Also provided is a list of recommended reading, which includes eighteen books focusing on psychology, contrary thinking, and crowd behavior. It is important how a trader creates the market in his/her head, since trading success will depend upon how you see and interpret the market's input.

The book has only a few tables and charts. Unfortunately, a few of the charts are only one-third of a page in size, and the small-boxed comments are hard to read. Half-page charts would have been clearer.

In summary, anyone considering trading for a living, whether using futures or equities, can glean very useful, practical and implemental trading rules that will provide a basis for trading success. This book is a welcome addition to the field. As the author of Day Trading on the Edge: A Look-Before-You-Leap-Guide to Investing published in November 2000, and a voracious reader of over 500 trading and investing books, I found Jankovsky's book easy-to-read and very worthwhile.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good overall concepts, just not very useful in some areas, August 2, 2008

By 

Haritasha "haritasha" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Lessons Every Trader Must Master (Hardcover)

First, let me say that I do recommend this book to any trader no matter what level they are at.

I did like what Mr. Jankovsky is trying to point out to traders out there - that there is more to trading than just a trade "strategy". There are some things in this book that a trader needs to really think about ie their trade plan, thinking thru your exit strategy, really think about your own psychology, etc, which is where the 2 stars came from in my review of this book.

However, the book falls short of really giving the reader something useful in other areas. For example, 80% or so of market movement are traders getting out of their positions. That's great to know - but how do I trade with that knowledge? If I look at a chart now with that knowledge will I see where to get in and to short now or go long? No, because he doesn't explain how to actually use that knowledge. Another concept from the book: you have to ask yourself where is the loser? Well, again, how does that help me? He doesn't point out how to see where the losers are. That's like saying "You really need to go long when price hits the bottom." Ok, but how do I know where the bottom is? The ideas like that he presents is about as useful as "Buy low, sell high."

He seems to be little negative about technical analysis and how that doesn't work and that the real question is where is the crowd going to panick and figure out that their long is no longer valid and decide to bail out. But again, he doesn't tell us how to determine that. HELLO!!! You don't need to sit there and try to get into trader's minds that you can't even see or know because there is this thing called "technical analysis" that incorporates all the emotions and strengths and weaknesses! For example, if I see a big spiked rejection hammer at the top of a run, I don't have to take 15 minutes and talk to myself trying to evaluate what all the traders were thinking when that happened - a hammer at the top of a run shows huge weakness. Period. Done. If there is another way to determine what the bulk of traders are thinking, then I wish Mr. Jankovsky would have shared it with us. If there was, then why didn't he simply tell us how? He wrote this entire book, but then didn't really tell us anything about how to determine things like that. It's like writing a book on the cure for cancer, but never actually giving out the formula for the drug. Very frustrating to read this book in that regard.

But the other things mentioned in the begininng of my review do make this book worthwhile to read.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like having a personal mentor, July 29, 2007

By 

Wayne Bryant (chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Lessons Every Trader Must Master (Hardcover)

After 4 and half years of very little monetary success, this book has revolutionized my thought processes into the nature of price movement. Some say trading is a science. Others say it's an art. Being a mathematician by trade, I was partial to the physical science side. Now, I firmly believe it's a combination of physical and behavioral science with a dash of art. Repetitive human nature and the ability to plot that behavior graphically are the behavior and physical sciences in concert. To manipulate those graphs over varying time frames for profit utilizing these 28 trading rules is truly an art form made possible by the aforementioned sciences.

I found Mr. Jankovsky's use of phrases and concepts ("net order flow") to be refreshing and provocative.

Mr. Jankovsky has given me a renewed energy and zest to pursue the most challenging undertaking of my life. With the economic times we're facing, trading may become the last profession for the average person like me to attain any type of financial security. No other job on earth allows the flexibility of hours and workplace to say nothing of the breath-taking profits that can be achieved. The market will reward you for your efforts in understanding the nature of price movements. As a lot us can attest to - there is no guaranteed direct correlation between hard work and rewards in the corporate world. Trading is truly a blessing but it is hard work. Trading is as stable a profession as there is on earth.
If something were to happen to the stock market, we would all have biggest fish to fry at that point!

All I can say is thank God I didn't give up before reading this book!!

Don't surrender at the dawn of success!!!