Description:
The literati of the day-trader universe, George West and Mark Friedfertig helped to popularize day trading with their bestseller, The Electronic Day Trader. Their second book, Electronic Day Trader's Secrets, written with Jonathan Burton, is a collection of interviews with 13 successful day traders. Whereas their previous book looked at the mechanics of day trading, this book considers the people who trade. And what's most striking about the traders interviewed is not their various trading philosophies, but what they have in common: male gender (young men--half under 30); similar backgrounds (most were either brokers or floor traders before they became day traders); the stocks they trade (NASDAQ high flyers: Intel, Cisco, Amazon.com, Yahoo, Dell); the money they lost when they started (lots--Eric Fromen is typical: he lost $53,000 in his first six months of trading); and their current success (why else would they be interviewed?). With chestnuts such as "Flexibility is a key to successful day trading" and "Controlling your losses is key to not digging yourself into a hole," the book may ring hollow to those seasoned in the art of speculation (consider Edwin Lefevre's classic Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, instead). But if you're looking for a major course correction to your current day-trading tack, you should find useful guidance here. However, those uninitiated to day trading should watch for sandbars. This book dangles the possibility of lucrative careers for successful day traders, which for many is simply an oxymoron: matching wits with Wall Street's best (not to mention these guys) can be the quickest way to the poorhouse. But if you fit the profile above, have money to burn, want a fast and exciting career, or are just simply curious, Electronic Day Trader's Secrets is a tantalizing glimpse into what interviewee Jim Shaw describes as "the church of what's happening now." --Harry C. Edwards
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