Customer Reviews

Using Technical Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Applying Stock Market Charting Techniques, Revised Edition

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This is a practical book about Technical Analysis written by an investor with over 30 years of experience who has "been there and done it". The book has a section with exercises. If I had a complaint, it would be that the patterns shown in the example charts are too clear; things are not that crystal clear in real life. Anyone who reads this book should also read "Trading The Plan" by Robert Deel. Both are very practical.

I really like this book as it covers the basics and has examples where you have to use what you've learned to do the exercises. The reading is pretty dry but I still refer back to the book often when I'm trying to remember what a "double bottom" means or what an "ascending triangle" helps you predict.

If you have never read a technical analysis book then I highly recommend this above everything else. For startes it's barely over 200 pages short, with more than half those pages dedicated to charts. Simply put you only read about 100 pages.

The beauty is those 100 pages are powerful and geared perfectly for the beginner. After reading this book I was bitting at the bit to apply my new knowledge, and no longer regard picking stocks as a crap-shoot.

You CAN educate yourself to financial freedom, and this book will help you do that.

Do not overlook this book because it was published in 1994.It contains features that are useful for beginners in technical analysis.The book contains many example charts in bar form that are realistic in nature showing different buy and sell chart pattern setups. The author also tests the readers grasp of the material by asking them to decide whether a stock is a buy or sell based on the chart presented with answers provided at the end of the book.Another important aspect is the dedication of a separate chapter to volume .The author presents many example charts showing the behavior of volume during chart pattern formation and breakouts. In this chapter he also tests the readers knowledge with many excercises.
As another reviewer mentions , this book is a light read with many charts but in my opinion is well worth it for a beginner who wants to get his first exposure to technical analysis.

Using Technical Analysis is an outstanding book that will simply explain the patterns and shapes of commonly used technical names such as double top, triple top, ascending triangle, continuation, and head and shoulders formations. The other best part of the book is the quizzes that aren't that hard at all. Don't be surprised to be right in your answers more often than not. However, this brings up a big problem. Translating the lessons to real time stock charts is no easy matter. In fact, I found more questions than answers. Obviously, for one, what patterns should I be focusing on and what portion of the pattern should I isolate from? Should I look at it through daily charts? Or weekly charts? How about how long the pattern should last? The book doesn't address those problems; so in short, Using Technical Analysis is too simplistic. I don't want to say that I am disappointed, but it was an enlightening experience for me. All in all, Using Technical Analysis is a great book to look at when understanding the chart patterns, most especially the correct timing of buy and sell points.