Customer Reviews

When to Sell: Inside Strategies for Stock-Market Profits (Fraser Publishing Library)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Investors in general and beginning investors in particular are largely ignorant of the works of perhaps the most important men they could read, one of whom is Justin Mamis (another is Richard Wyckoff). This is due at least in part to the fact that most of the works of these two men have been out of print for so long. But three of Mamis' works are now back (cross your fingers for When To Buy, the only one still out of print) and increased profits are a virtual guarantee for anyone who takes advantage of this opportunity to obtain these foundation works and commit their lessons in strategy to his own plan for trading and investment.

Very highly recommended and cheap at the price.

If you invest, wish you had a mentor on the trading floor, but don't know anyone who works on the exchange, you should read this book. Mamis discusses not only market indicators so you can better time buys and sells, but explains what happens on the trading floor and how the professionals -- the "they" many investors refer to grudgingly -- benefit from herd psychology. After reading this you will better understand why the "average investor" is more likely to lose than win, and why many people, in fact, subconsciously prefer to lose. Mamis has an easy style which reflects his many years of investing experience -- it is not a dry, academic discusson of the market.

Along with "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" and a couple of others, this is one of the best and most informative books I've read about the market.

I have been an investment professional for over 20 years. I have read dozens of books--most long before the flood of "you to can be a super trader" trash of the 1990s. This is the best one. Mamis is an original and independent thinker. The book deals with psychology, tactics, technical indicators. His "How to Buy" is not nearly as good.

That's the big question. Sell too soon to lock in a small profit and you watch the market go on in your direction without you. That hurts because if you only waited you could have that bigger profit. Or maybe the market turns and you look like a genius?

Sell too soon and you end up with a small loss that prevents you from a much bigger loss. Or does the market turn and your small loss would have turned into a big winner?

This book goes into detail about when you should sell and when you should sell short. I have read many books on trading and this one covers those points in more detail, with more clarity, than all of the others combined. The large majority of books only talk about buying, usually in a bull market. They almost never tell you specifically when to get out of those positions, or if they do, they give a generic profit target like "2 or 3 times your initial risk". How is that good advice? They have no idea of the market that day or of your entry point. I consider myself to be pretty good at entries, almost surgical in precision, so I can use a smaller stop loss to know if the position is going to work. I would go broke if I stuck to "2 or 3 times my initial risk", my winning trades usually go much further and my initial risk is usually very small.

Justin Mamis goes into the psychology of holding positions. He talks about how one professional trader told him "The public is most comfortable when they are sitting with losses". I read that and instantly knew he was correct. I have seen it in the past in my trading. I would be sitting there with a huge profit and I was nervous as hell. Then the next day I was sitting there with a big loss, and I was not nearly as nervous. How is that even possible? To me the loss was easier to accept because I rationalized it as a loss without giving thought to the size of the loss. Holding the winner is tougher because I was focusing on the size of the winner and did not want to close the position at a profit and leave money on the table. Leaving money on the table would turn that huge winner into a loser for me because I was not getting all of it. This is a tough business. Taking profits should not be so draining on your emotions.

Justin explains his thoughts about how the stock market is an ideal arena for ones emotions. You have all the elements of reward and punishment, and many people carry lots of guilt on their shoulders, so losing money in the markets is therapeutic for them. It's sad, but it's probably closer to being true than to being false.

The author goes into detail on market analysis and technical indicators and how to use them. He focuses on price action, but shows you how to use indicators if you need them. Justin talks about news items at tops and bottoms and tells you how to recognize when you are near tops or bottoms. That information alone is easily understandable and more than covers the low price of this important book.

Read the authors other books too, The Nature of Risk (Contrary Opinion Library) and How to Buy: An Insider's Guide to Making Money in the Stock Market.

I've read many investment books, both on technical and fundamental anaylsis. This is by far the best. Most books if followed will cause you to lose significant money; not this book. I highly recommend this book. Also Justin's book "The Nature is Risk" is the seconded best investment book I've read.

When I started reading this book I was disappointed. The background chapters that attempt to teach Technical Analysis for example are covered somewhat better in other books (see John Murphy).

But the treasure of this awesome book is in the examples and stories in the later chapters. I wish I had read this book a couple of years ago. From a number of books that I have read, it talks quite a bit about short selling and risk. In my opinion .. it is a five star book ..

This book has a lot of good information. Should have bought it some years ago and saved myself a lot of money and worry at the market.

Even though it was written some time ago, the methodology and tools it helps one creates are very current. For example, the Overbought/Oversold oscillator it helps one develop is the exactly the same as Helene Meisler from Realmoney.com uses to help readers out at that subscription site.

Easily worth the money and will make anyone a better participant in the market.

It was nice to see what I would call a simplified technical approach to knowing when to sell. With all the publications today focusing on when to buy and how to pick stocks, it was refreshing to read a book on preservation. Good solid basics with simple strategies that made sense. Well worth the price when considering the exposure to losses if one chooses to not manage the downside risk of of investing.

I was fortunate to come across Justin Mamis' book early in my career on Wall Street. Because of his book, I learned a lot about investor psychology and the art of selling which makes this book unique. It is just not charts and a bunch of "mumble jumbo"- it's learning through Justin's stories how investors behave in a given situation and what happens. I guaranteed it will help you become a better investor because it helped me. I started as a stockbroker but later became a portfolio manager at a major brokerage firm; chief investment officer for a money manager firm; a market strategist; and research director.

Yes, I like this book so 14 years after reading this book I was fortunate to be able hire Justin as my market technician when I became research director for a major regional firm. After working with him on a daily basis for a number of years, I can understand why institutions today are willing to pay a minimum of $20,000/yr. for his services.

One last note: I own a lot of investment books but "When to Sell" is the only book that has even been stolen out of my office. Not once but multiple times. In fact, I got so sick of having to replace it that I quit keeping it at work.

This is one of the best books I have ever read on trading. The title implies Selling but I gained a lot of knowledge on all aspects of trading such as when to recognize trends, analyze the market, recognize false tops and bottoms and so much more. Any trader both novice and pro should read this book!