Rating:  Summary: A Good Beginners Book like myself Review: I was surprised at the information. It was an eye opener. But..I can't seem to find A broker that will accept Limit Trades at $10. This is crusial as Mr. Farrell explains. It seems that the industry is going to take us for a ride on commisions. I can only find firms that charge $25 for transactions + another .005 per share for listed stocks. Now I'm no genius but 2*$25 + 2*1000*.005 (for Super dot routing) = $60 for a buy and sell ( not even a limit order) UMMMMMM.... If I make 1/16 on 1000 shares thats only $62.5 - $60 = $2.5 profit!!! not to mention their software charges etc. My feeling is that the small guy is not wanted in this market, also many are geared towards Nasdaq market. I wish Mr. Farrell could have left his email somewhere in the book so that we can ask him these questions. But I did like the flow and content in his book. If anyone can recommend a good online trading firm that allows us to make a reasonable profit with Farrell's strategy, please email me. For now I'm going to stay on the sidelines until price competition allows the small guy to make some money as well.
Rating:  Summary: Noone ever made me angrier! Review: A pamphlet would have accomplished what this guy said in the entire book! I wanted to strangle him! Repetitive, condescending, overly simplified and so BOOOoorrring!!! Here is the nuts of it all: Pick a stable stock with a narrow spread between bid and ask. Buy 2000 shares and then sell it 1/16 higher right away. Everything else is simply preamble... over and over and over. Hope I saved you 20 bucks.
Rating:  Summary: ''Excellent Primer'' Review: Even though this book might be dated(1999) it contains excellent ideas on day trading and tells about the author strategies on pecking away at the Specialist & Market Makers. It's very simple read,It tell's you to stick to a game plan to keep your profits ahead. Good Read
Rating:  Summary: Would like to see a follow-up volume, but much slimmer Review: Wish the author had shown us his trading history and provided more information on which broker he uses! Ameritrade has been very reluctant in filling some of my limit orders, some have lingered for weeks as GTCs. Although Ameritrade offers an unlimited number of shares for a $12 GTC limit -- able to be filled through the day in increments of partial fills, it sometimes seems as if Ameritrade will only fill at the bid if they want to, ie. the stock is going down...has anyone had better luck with another broker? Email me or post here. Calling Ameritrade doesn't help: the brokers actually INSIST buying on the bid can't be done! Even when it happens once in a while. The book is often shallow and obscenely repetitive, but worth it...since as far as I know it's about the only book describing scalping -- which might only be possible if you have a willing broker or are unwittingly taking risks with fills your broker would otherwise sell at the ask just to dump the stock. Does anyone know of a book explictly describing Market Maker/Specialist strategies in dealing with daytraders and the general public? It would seem as if there should be texts as concise as those written for chess, go, poker, etc. Finally, if a trade goes against you make sure it just isn't an intra-day swing or temporary downturn before you sell at a loss. Or something like that.... P.S. This is THE most boring method of continuing your existence on this planet as a living thinking human being. Congratulations! You've just figured out a way to stare at a monitor and watch that know-it-all fathead in the mornings on CNBC for the rest of your life! Oh what a creative feature of existence you are. Good luck.
Rating:  Summary: Very informative book. Review: This book was quite a suprise for me. After reading many other books on day trading, I was very suprised to find a book that was written strickly for those trading through an online broker rather than a direct access system. Mr. Farrell is very honest about the risks and realities of day trading and, contrary to a couple of the previous reviews, he never once tries to sell a course, seminar, software, or trading services like many of the other books on the market. The only thing I found lacking was an in depth dicussion of deciding when you are wrong on a trade and what to do if you receive partial fills. Much of his strategy involves trading in 2,000 share lots in order to make a profit on a 1/16th move in the stock. If you are only filled in 500 share lots, your profit won't cover your commissions. Overall, I found it to be a more realistic look at day trading for those who have a moderate amount of capital and want to avoid paying for expensive seminars to learn how to lose their money in the more volatile NASDAQ stocks with direct access trading. Even if you don't day trade, the discussion of how the specialist trades and how to exploit the bid/ask is worth the price of the book.
Rating:  Summary: Might have been a good book but now obsolete Review: A few ideas in this book that aren't in other books. Unfortunately, the market system changed significantly since. NYSE shares can trade off the floor. There's before market and after market trading. Decimalization also is a major change. Some of the ideas are still useful in today's market so it might be worth a read just for that. But to blindly follow the advice here and assuming you can make a living on it is a receipt for disaster. Author mentioned it isn't uncommon for a trader to make 100% returns in one year and compares it with the market doing 20% in a good year. HHHmmm...100% is halved because he mentions using using 100% margin. Even without the leverage, the risk isn't the same as buying and holding a portfolio of stocks. Author understates the risks involved in his strategy--the downside risk in buying for the 1/16 is still the price of the entire investment--bad things can happen even to low volitility stock when the broader market tumbles--the downside risk certainly is not just 1/16 mentioned in the book. Plus 20% is a _good_ return on the market but certainly not the best--returns of 40% isn't that rare and if you're speaking of picking 10 or so stocks, returns of 50% isn't that uncommon. In any case, the idea is to make day trading a part time or full time job. If that's the objective, you need to average the returns out and only the amount of money you make in excess of buying and holding an inexpensive no-load mutual fund should be considered your average return for your work. Not too many people have that much risk capital to make that work--the only reasonable option seems to be to start a hedge fund like the author did and charge the client for managing money. But a lay person probably won't attract too many clients because of zero professional trading experience factor--the author was a professional trader at a few major firms. The author's own hedge fund only did 65% in the first year. I wonder how well he's doing now?
Rating:  Summary: Not Very Helpful Book Review: This book is based on the authors opinions instead of a book that gives crucial innformation. No technical analysis help and barely any fundamental help. Horrible book
Rating:  Summary: Overall, a powerful book Review: Overall, this book was the impetus behind me getting into Day Trading full-time. Lots can be learned from this book, about what really goes on with the NYSE and Specialists. The downside of the book, however, is that it is very dated. It does not touch the decimalization issue nor does it talk about the available NYSE Open Book data feed, which didn't exist at the time of publishing. Read the book, learn from it, and then understand how it is (and is not) applicable to today's market. A must read, IMO.
Rating:  Summary: The definition of monotonous. Review: This book could have probably been published in under 25 pages. Yet he repeats himself 3 times for each point he makes, he stretches it to 231 pages. Keep in mind that the strategies discussed have no relevence in today's markets (2003). I highly doubt they would work even in the boom market of the late 90's. He does not even mention the downside risk if a trade goes against you. Risking $50,000 -$200,000 to try and make $125 all while paying $10 in commissions is the quickest way to the poorhouse. And it is laughable for him to suggest that you stand a chance trading though online brokers like Etrade & Ameritrade.
Rating:  Summary: Don't be a fool! The system has changed!!!! Review: With the advent of decimalization, the technique Farrell uses no longer works anymore, not for him and not for anyone!! It was a great idea for a while but Wall Street put a stop to it because Day Traders were taking too much of their money. Don't waste your money buying this book!!!! It should not even be allowed to be sold!!!
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