The ETF Trend Following Playbook: Profiting from Trends in Bull or Bear Markets with Exchange Traded Funds (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Master the Low-Risk ETF-Based Investing Strategy That Gives You the Chance to Make Money in Any Market Climate "Tom Lydon has been a leader in the ETF business for many years. His new book walks through the basics of ETFs investing and shows why professionals--and increasingly, individuals--are turning to ETFs." --Bob Pisani, CNBC Reporter "Our complex and global financial system has created a powerful need for guideposts for investors and traders alike. Tom Lydon provides an excellent tool to help navigate the current economic environment in a clear, concise, easy-to-understand way." --John L. Jacobs, EVP and CMO, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. "There are hundreds of writers, speakers, and advisers clamoring to get a seat aboard the ETF bandwagon. However, if you're looking for genuine insight from a real pioneer, then read Tom Lydon. Not only is Tom's The ETF Trend Following Playbook a principled how-to guide for individual investors, it is requisite reading for money managers." --Gary Gordon, Editor of ETFExpert.com "Tom Lydon has put together a concise handbook for the active ETF trader outlining the key drivers of successful trend investing. The ETF Trend Following Playbook provides sound advice for traders as well as a comprehensive and up-to-date tour of all the ETF world has to offer." --Scott Burns, Director of ETF Analysis at Morningstar

From the Back Cover

Millions of investors have been left to pick up the pieces and figure out where it all went wrong over the last couple of years. They're furious with the "professionals," and determined to regain control of their own investments. This book gives them the easy-to-use tools they need to do just that: simple tools based on techniques that have earned a 26.1% positive return over the past decade, while the S+P 500 was plummeting by 37.4%. For the first time, Thomas F. Lydon, Jr. brings together two of this generation's most well-proven investment approaches: low-cost, flexible ETFs and powerful trend following strategies, along with basic technical analysis tools. You'll learn how to quickly identify markets that are about to plummet, get out of the way, and how to identify markets that are headed up, and capture all the profit they're getting ready to deliver. Lydon shows how to systematically remove the emotion from investing, and replace it with simple mathematical tools that work consistently well: tools like the 200-day and 50-day moving average, which are easy enough for any investor to utilize. By the time they finish this book, investors will know how to make a plan that works, stick to that plan, and reap the rewards, even as others are mourning their lost assets.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (August 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137029012
• ISBN-13: 978-0137029013
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,465 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Convincing Case for Trend Following, September 12, 2009

By	John M. Lowe (Knoxville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The secret to "trend following" success is no longer a secret. Tom Lydon has spilled the beans. Not that trend following is such a closely guarded secret. As a matter of record, the majority of people who are aware of trend following strategies have either ignored them or rejected them. But now the time is ripe for consideration by the ignorant and reconsideration by the learned.

The ETF Trend Following Playbook (2010) by Tom Lydon will be a boon to investors, especially those who got burned by the 2007-2009 bear market. If, like me, you were hurt by adherence to a buy-and-hold strategy, you might be ready, as I was, for the switch from fundamental investing for the long haul to technical trading for the intermediate or short term.

Tom Lydon's Playbook answers practically any question I can propose, such as: (1) what is "trend following," (2) who can benefit from trend following, (3) how can I put trend following strategies into practice, (4) where can I do my trading, (5) what equities should I be trading, (6) how can I clearly identify the beginnings of bullish and bearish trends, (7) how can I protect my portfolio from trend reversals, (8) when should I buy, (9) when should I sell, (10) why make the switch to trend following strategies now?

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are the object of Lydon's affections. He likes them because of their diversity, their easy trading, their openness, their low fees, their index tracking, their relatively low risk, and their tax friendly performance.

This book has what a trader needs for navigating the marketplace. There is a detailed table of contents, a helpful glossary of technical terms, a comprehensive list of references and resources, numerous charts, tables, and illustrations, punctuated by a topical index of subjects, people, and funds.

What's missing? Sadly, explanations of stop-loss strategies are missing. Stop-loss orders will protect your assets by generating an automatic sell when your ETF gets hit by a sudden downturn in the market. Stop-loss is defined in the glossary, but how can a trader take advantage of it? On his website, Lydon suggests a stop-loss setting of 8%. I sleep better at night when I have limited my loss of capital to the level of risk I am willing to bear.

My Favorite Chapter: I especially like Chapter 3 on Spotting Trends. This is the chapter where Lydon teaches the tools of the trade. There are only three rules to follow: (1) buy when the price moves above the 200-day moving average, (2) sell when the price moves below the 200-day moving average, and (3) leave fear and greed out of it.

Lydon operates a website, [...] that serves as a dynamic extension of this Playbook.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars intro to etf, not a playbook, October 7, 2009

By	Michael L. Loren (Kansas City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This book is packed full of descriptions of various ETF's, however there is almost no suggestion on putting various portfolios together or how to use the selected portfolio other than based on your investing likes or dislikes. It makes a strong point to get out of the mindset of buy and hold and gives an brief intro to 200 d moving averages, but using the 200d average is not clearly gone into with much detail or examples.

The most useful suggestion is placing a stop or picking an exact point to get out of a position. You rarely see this in typical books promoting individual stocks and certainly never with mutual funds. This is frequently overlooked in stock investing and makes tremendous sense when following Lyon's strategy of trend investing with ETF's.

I think almost all the info from this book can be obtained by reading Lyon's interesting insights on his website and as listed in the above reviews. I was expecting more strategies in using ETF's. The author is an obvious knowledgeable proponent of ETF's, but this book fails as a playbook. I can imagine future versions of this book with chapters dealing with specific situations such as economic depression, inflation, weakened dollar, retirement portfolio, etc.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good basic overview, October 14, 2009

By	Doug Nashif "kujarri" (phoenix) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Easy reading, good basic coverage of all types of ETF's, the timing model can be explained in a paragraph. That's not to say it isn't effective.