Customer Reviews

Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

A thousand extra words were used for each "concept". I was suckered into trying out her service after being deferred to her website for all the "good stuff". I paid [$$$] for a quarter for what I now see is false advertising and I honestly have never seen someone make so many bad observations and be so wrong over any 3 month time frame. I've seen amateurs make more consistent calls at yahoo.

A total shame that she holds back all the stuff that she claims works best, but clearly can't even analyze the markets in real time. A pitiful fleecing of the public with outrageous claims in the book and at her site.

After reading this, I came away with nothing useful; except perhaps a reminder that I need to conserve my time better than reading something like this. It's extremely verbose with some off-the-wall pseudo-scientific meanderings, and left me wondering why she could not have condensed everything she had to say in this book into a very short pamphlet instead of a book. Also, much of it appears anecdotal and extremely subjective with little proof that her "discoveries" work in general. To me, most of the book appears to be an example of fallacious, "the part equals the whole" type of reasoning. In particular, I was extremely disappointed in her supposed "new" ways of viewing indicators. I found nothing new there. And, IMHO, it's unsconscionable for an author to tell you she has one technique that she values above all others, and then tell you that she refuses to tell you that technique. It made me wonder whether the purpose of the book was to inform, or was an advertising teaser to subscribe to her web site and expensive seminars.

Considering the many great Traders and authors out there who spill their guts to you for $50 bucks a book, it's disappointing to see an author so enamored with WD Gann's veiled secrecy that she would include way too many pages that say something like, 'I will not give this information [the beginnings of the information just introduced] to the public' after leading this same Public into believing they will get those same secrets.

That means you and me. You know - those of us who thought we were buying useful information from someone of "Repute." And I am not just referring to the infamous Oscillator.

If you are a VERY experienced Trader, you may find some things of interest here. OR you may have your curiosity challenged to do some deep digging on your own. Maybe that is the idea of the book. I did some very deep digging on the Internet after my second (recent) reading. But don't expect to find straight-forward answers to the author's greatest questions - make that, TEASES - here, little Grasshopper. Not until you are worthy to peak behind the Beaded Curtin, (the author's web site and expensive fees) and snatch the Pebble from the Masters hand.

Nope. YOU are the "Public" this author so obviously distains.

In my opinion, it's extremely rude to tell your students you will not give them what they paid for. If an author has Secrets, fine. Let that fact remain a secret, as well. But don't brag about what you are refusing to divulge to those who pay you.

I should note that I bought this book several years ago, and tossed it into the Black Hole of my library. I was recently reminded of it again, so I thought I would give another look, since I was "older and wiser."

Nope. This author's attitude still turns me off cold.

This is one of the most useful books on technical analysis available. It is a combination of theories and methods which are immediately applicable to practical analysis and trading as well as conceptual views which stimulate further investigation and development. This book added perspective to my development of new systems and analysis and I have returned to it over and over when I need to step back and recapture perspective when developing new tools. Definitely not a "how to trade" manual in any sense but worth it for a serious student of the market.

Hands down, this is my best trading literature VALUE. Just one chapter supported a significant increase in my trading.

Its deep, but so was the first 2 calculus courses in engineering school. If its too advanced for you now, better buy it while its still available. The better trading books seem to go out of print quickly (?).

Constance reveals more of her successful trading than most authors that show how to trade from the middle of the chart. I also appreciate the most robust trading software ever made was used with coding examples, TS2000i.

Thanks Connie!

I have been trading for the past 5 years. I am always looking for new ways to look at the market and hone my technical skills. This book is designed to help you think outside the box and look at what the market is telling us in new ways. She disects the RSI & Stochastics like noone else. Shows the reader how to produce fibonacci price projection and retracement clusters and how to use both RSI and Stochastics to do this also. The Elliott Wave Chapter is a real time day-by-day analysis over the summer of '98 using RSI & Stoch oscillators. She introduces the reader to Gann. And talks about cycles. I could go on. Just get the book if you're serious about trading.

As stated by many others, new traders will not have a clue what she is talking about and experienced traders may already be aware of most of these methods. However, if you have not been exposed to some of her so called "breakthroughs", this may jump start you into further research on your own. This book is explained with a "nagging woman" tone - excessively verbose wording of dozens of pages to sum up something that could have easily been explained with two lines and a chart example. To summarize some methods to see if it may be useful to you: Fib price projections, trendlines on oscillators, Elliot Wave on oscillators to confirm price, hidden or reverse divergences, filtering out spikes when doing Fib projections or retracements, Gann Wheel theory, volatility bands and curve fitting workable moving averages and oscillators through variable time frames. Certainly there are a lot of ideas in this book, though terribly explained in most instances. Whether or not they are even going to make a noticeable difference on your trading is up to you.

It took me 3 attempts and 2 weeks to finish this book. It is a difficult book to read.

1. It has lots of materials buried within paragraphs. Some are nicely elaborated and some are not. Many tips are buried within paragraphs explaining various parts of a chart a few pages before. I found myself flipping back and forth throughout this book and have to mark extensively across the book because of the scattered points. Don't be surprised if some of the points were raised but not explained. It doesn't happen often (otherwise, I wouldn't recommend a buy). I am not referring to the teaser Composite Indicator or the Gann price projection.

She must have written this book in a hurry or the editor didn't do a very good job to organize and revise some of the chapters and the materials within chapters. If this book makes it to the 2nd edition and she takes the time to read it again back to back, I bet she would have rewritten many of the chapters.

2. There is enough information in this book for me to recommend a buy, not a strong buy because of the organizational problems. It would have been an easier read if more time was devoted to organize and revise the materials. For now, it is only for those who are mentally prepared for it. Those who want the composite indicator can ask her now she doesn't manage the fund anymore. There is a fee ... for downloading that formula. Actually, it is not that difficult to figure that out if you know your indicators. There were plenty of subtle clues in the book as well.

3. You don't need to know Tradestation/EasyLanguage to read this book. Just don't let it scare you. There is very little of it anyway. If you know your TS/EL, you don't need it. If you don't know EL, she explained it out in the text or you can follow the EL code just like math formula.

If you like crossword puzzles, this would be your book.

Having just read some of the reviews for this book I felt compelled to write in defense of this work.
From reading previous reveiws it would appear that most of you miss the point of this book in a big way.

First, let's be clear, this book is not for the neophyte trader infact anyone not familliar with Tradestation and Easylanguage may find it very frustrating. One presumes that is why it is titled "for the Technical Professional"
Secondly if you buy this book thinking you are going to get some "holy grail" system and go out and knock the markets flat then good luck!
Thirdly if you just want a recipe book some kind of mindless "plug and play" there are thousands out there all promising the dream....this is not that kind of book!

On the other hand, this book is for "serious" students of technical analysis.
Does it mess with your mind? absolutely and that is precisely the point! As far as I can tell the hole purpose of this book is not to promote seminars or sell indicators ...it is, to get you, the reader, to think about what you are looking at. Take those indicators, play with them, deconstruct them, twist them, turn them upside down, rebuild them in your own image if you like...but understand how they work and how they can be applied to your trading.

You may not agree with everything the author has to say, that's fine, the point is to open discussion...open your mind!
As for not giving out the code of the CMB...she does! it's there....Yes it took a couple of readings, but it is there! and I do not consider myself the sharpest pencil in the box. Is it a valuable indicator? I would certainly call it a valuable tool I have been using it for a little over a year and will continue to do so.

One final point. The fact that the CMT has made this book required reading for their final exam should be evidence of the regard with which Ms Brown, her concepts and this book is held within the industry.
As for the rest, well there will always be some who just don't get it!

This book is highly recomended for anyone seriously wanting to improve and understand their technical trading

Excellent work on RSI, bull and bear range, price projection techniques, use of Elliott wih oscillators, truly revelational...