96 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book. Didn't deserve the slam from Elder, February 25, 2009
This review is from: Trend Trading for a Living: Learn the Skills and Gain the Confidence to Trade for a Living (Hardcover)
I find it very regrettable that Dr. Elder has seen fit to slam this author's book in the public venue of Amazon.com book reviews. I've only been involved in learning the stock market since September of 08, and while there are innumerable books on the subject and countless web pages devoted to it, most of them only serve to increase the sense of mystification in the mind of the newbie.
"Trend Trading for a Living", is quite exceptional amongst the available titles in that it does a much better job of making the subject matter digestible to people who aren't already experts. I would recommend starting with an abject beginner's book first, and then read this book to really clear up any confusion you may still have. While I have found nothing new in it (I haven't seen anything so far that I haven't seen before...), I do find that I'm actually UNDERSTANDING and RETAINING what I'm reading, which is new. It may be covering the same old material, but it's done well and comprehensively, and doesn't leave out little critical bits here and there (a frustrating habit of most market books) and does not presume a prior, deeper understanding on the part of your reader, and that makes all the difference. It is not enough for a writer to understand the material themselves, they must be able to teach it, and Dr. Carr does that very well, and very clearly.
And when Dr. Carr says he's going step by step, he really is. He doesn't casually mention some term or idea or indicator setting you've never heard of because you're new, in some vague, unclear manner in passing, and then move on leaving you befuddled. He actually explains things to a useful level of detail. AND he responds if you write him.
It does sometimes happen that he doesn't fully explain a term the very first time he references it. Given the scope of the subject matter and it's complex inter-references, this is quite understandable. If you don't get something, just keep going, it'll come out in the wash. This also suggests that reading this book two times through is a good idea, yellow-lining the second time.
Dr. Carr is quite explicit and unambiguous in giving credit where credit is due, not only to Dr. Elder but to the many other pioneers whose material he references. There's absolutely not the slightest hint or suggestion of his co-opting credit or attempting to "capitalize" anything from anyone else. Expressly the opposite. If Elder had actually READ the book before being such a presumptive jerk, he would have read the NUMEROUS times Dr. Carr gives him full credit, without ANY obfuscation WHATSOEVER.
This book is a work of exceptionally high value and use, and Dr. Elder's reaction was completely inappropriate, giving as it does the general impression that this work is somehow illegitimate.
Reading and understanding Dr. Elders primary early works is absolutely critical to the rank and file trader. They are too foundational to ignore. I have his books on my shelf and will continue to use them. But he's done some serious damage to his credibility in my mind with his casual, flippant denigrations. Dr. Carr, for this very clear and approachable work, deserved MUCH better, ESPECIALLY in view of the fact that anyone reading this book is strongly encouraged by Dr. Carr to read Dr. Elder's books, quite ironic given the circumstances.
I don't know Dr. Carr from Adam, but it seriously annoys me to see someone trying so hard to produce a work actually usable for beginners get shot on the tarmac by a giant in the field in what LOOKS like a needless, unjustified and ill-mannered attempt to protect his turf. Dr. Elder could EASILY have afforded to be more gracious.
This book is a keeper, no doubt about it.
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125 of 135 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most Clearly Written and Systematic Trading Book I've Read, January 29, 2008
This review is from: Trend Trading for a Living: Learn the Skills and Gain the Confidence to Trade for a Living (Hardcover)
I've read a lot of the "how to" trading books aimed at the novice to intermediate level trader, including Elder's books (good but outdated), Toni Turner's books (ok but too pedantic at places), and Alan Farley's "Master Swing Trader" (the most sophisticated but overly complicated) and this book by Carr is by far the best. "Trend Trading for a Living" gave me exactly what I was looking for: a simple system to determine general market direction, and 10 complete, easy-to-follow, fully explained and illustrated systems for trading stocks both long and short.
Does it work? Well, let's just say that his market direction system would have told me to sell my longs in early December and start shorting the market. I wish this book had come out about 2 months ago!
EDIT (03/16/10): UPDATE ON THE 10 T.T.F.A.L. SYSTEMS IN THE BOOK...AFTER 13 MONTHS OF TRADING
Let me add here that TC is very helpful for newbies trying to put his systems into practice. I've emailed him several times with questions and he always gets back with helpful answers.
[Yes there are periods of losses when the markets get choppy, as they are now. Any trading system's real test is how it performs over a variety of market conditions]
**Total trade taken: 152
**Total Winners: 91
**Total Losers: 61
**Total Gain on Account: +71.1%
Yes, I highly recommend this book (and his "Trend Trade Letter", excellent if you don't have the time to find the stocks yourself).
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's good...ideal for creating a watchlist and a trading plan, March 5, 2008
This review is from: Trend Trading for a Living: Learn the Skills and Gain the Confidence to Trade for a Living (Hardcover)
Positives: Specific set-ups and the formulas to scan for them using stockcharts.com.
How to create a watchlist of trending momentum stocks and finding a potentially low-risk time to enter them.
It's one of the few books that discusses different methods of actually taking profits, which anyone who's tried to trade for a living knows that's far more important than entries.
A discussion of trading options in a very clear and simple manner.
Negatives: No backtesting provided to give the probabilities of success, drawdowns, etc for the set-ups provided.
It could have been better had the author spent a few pages discussing position sizing and money management of one's account instead of the last chapter about his "utopia" world of future trading.
The constant referencing of his website/newsletter gets annoying, but I guess one has the right to advertise in their own book as much as they can.
It's a good book but I can't say if it's worth the $40 since I got it for free...Obviously the biggest factor leading to the success of these set-ups is recognizing the trend and having the discipline to stick with it.
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