Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 112
 It's the Market Internals, Stupid February 20, 2006
G. R. Mason (Chicago, IL USA)
107 out of 117 found this review helpful
It's the Market Internals, Stupid
Trading books, they're a dime a dozen. If only their cover prices reflected that reality. Mastering The Trade, by John F. Carter, Published by Mcgraw-Hill Trader's Edge is an example of the exception that proves the rule.
Carter, who is a CTA, trader, writer and trading educator, effectively communicates his strategies, methods and insights in this 400 page book.
The book is divided into Three parts:
In Part One, Carter explains hardware requirements, market mechanics, general market theory, trading psychology and finally, the all-important subject of interpretation of market internals. Begining traders will find all of these sections to be of value. While even experienced traders will greatly benefit from Carter's discussions of trading psychology and market internals.
Part Two examines Carter's specific set-ups for futures, equities, forex and options. Clear directions coupled with informative diagrams leave little question as to how he trades his set-ups. Carter coveys the reasons he pulls the trigger, and perhaps more importantly, the reasons he may let a set-up pass.
Part Three covers preparation for the trading day, creating and executing a trading business plan, thoughts on how to fine tune your trading and even a self-evaluation tool helping traders to hone in on the best markets to trade for their own personalities.
This trader/reviewer wishes that he had the knowledge that Carter imparts regarding reading and interpretation of market internals when he began trading. Carter lucidly explains use of the Tick, the Trin, the TICKI the Premium and other indicators which allow the trader to interpret the health of the market, and make decisions based on fact rather than feeling. Carter's set-ups are simple and effective when evaluated in the context of market internals which he explains clearly. Finally, the author's advice on market psychology is sterling.
This book covers new ground, offering both new and experienced traders the opportunity to add effective weapons to their informational arsenals that can help them win in their daily assaults on the market.
One of the best!!! September 24, 2006
Jaronimo (NJ, the garden state)
77 out of 83 found this review helpful
There are at least 10,000 trading books out there. I know because I have probably read half of them. I also believe I have learned something from every one of them. Most of the books are like Doctors, they specialize in one area or another. This book, "Mastering The Trade" is different. Its the "General Practioner" that really knows what he is doing.
John Carter really covers enough ground to help a trader get profitable. He covers all areas of trading - hardware, software, psychology, basic mechanics of markets, and most importantly a traders business plan. Just those items alone more than cover the cost of this book, but then he also adds about a dozen market set-ups. Mr Carter does not just show one or two of each set-up like most books, he shows dozens of each example. Some more profitable than others, but enough to give you a good feeling of what he is trying to explain.
While I do believe this book alone will not make you a great trader, I know it will help you in your journey. This is not an absolute beginner book, you need some market knowledge to get through this comfortably. With that said, I think this is one of the best books out there on trading. I am giving it to my son who has recently become interested in trading after he learned about compound interest. Watch out world, because he is only 14 and is going to start much better prepared then the rest of us!
One last note about this book, you will not read it and become a better trader. Learning to trade is like learning to drive a car. You can't read a book and then go out and drive successfully. You have to practice. You have to see whats working and do more of it, and you have to see whats not working and do less of that. And most importantly you have to do it enough so you get to the point where you feel comfortable with anything the road (or market) throws at you.
Good luck.
Mastering The Trade December 22, 2005
Alan Biddinger (Troy, Michigan)
145 out of 166 found this review helpful
After spending over $20,000 on Trading Books, Gann-related materials, software and systems, I wish that John had published this book about 10 years earlier! As a "Newbie" I assumed that the Ultimate Trading Edge could be found "just around the corner" in the next book, newsletter, Gann-course, Seminar, etc. Unfortunately for me, there were plenty of folks willing to accommodate my ignorance. John accurately captures this demand-supply reality in his book and describes how our own desires can get in the way of profitable thinking and action. As an experienced Trader, John further describes how juxtaposing trading tools, markets and psychology can either lead to a consistent positive cash flow or a financial hemorrhage. His descriptions are brilliant-you come away with a complete understanding of all the essential trading elements: demand-supply reality, trading psychology, hardware / software, varied markets and multiple time-frames, indicators, order entry / exit strategies, and the steps required to integrate these components into a complete trading methodology. In each chapter John adroitly builds on the basics of trading and reveals the advanced methods of experienced traders. By Chapter 17, you'll have seen over 10 proven methods for consistently making money in the markets and you'll feel confident applying these methods to your own trading. The remaining chapters provide the momentum and methods for developing your own Business Plan and (more importantly) trading that plan! In summary, I would gladly exchange all of the materials on my Trading Shelf for a single copy of Mastering the Trade.
great book November 3, 2006
Linus 71 (Germany)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
Well, Amazon invited me to write a review about this book.
I must give it 5 stars because I gave other books on trading which were not that good 5 stars as well.
I bought this book based on the reviews already written here.
And yes, I was quite delighted. I liked the chapters on psychology very much. I'd like to cut these chapters and paste them into Vadim Graifer's book "Techniques of Tape Reading", and delete his chapters about his losing experiences as a beginner. That would be the perfect trading book for me.
The setups, they're okay. But I'm using none of them since I got my own pair of setups. But they're a great starting point for someone who's traded with no setups at all.
There is one reviewer who's concerned that Mr. Carter might be blabbing away too many secrets. Don't you worry about that. Like William Gann said: a chemist's biggest secret won't make the carpenter any wiser.
You shouldn't take over Carter's writing one-to-one. I didn't like what he said about Moving Averages and Stop levels. If you use a technical stop be sure that you really want to lose that much money. As a scalper for years now, and quite successful, his suggestions were beyond my comfort level. You gotta find out for yourself how to fine tune your system. I've found out for myself that I am not the kind of a trader who goes for the big moves. Use Carter's suggestions to create your own trading system. This book will definitely help you. Actually there were some ideas that I could use to improve my trading.
All in all, Mr Carter is very (!) generous in sharing information and knowledge with the reader/trader. There's sure something for everyone which can be used to make money right away.
But only experience will make you a better trader.
One of the most comprehensive book on day trading February 24, 2006
Steven (Singapore)
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
As a small collector of Trading books, owning a hundred and read another 50, Mastering The Trade comes right at the top with Darvas and Douglas, my favorites, way ahead in front of all the others.
Most books out there are simply outdated, and seldom have I seen some many useful advice in a single book. Simply said, I can't put it down and am implementing as much as I can.
I particularly like the advice on software, hardware and trading setups. And I am working hard now to correlate efficiently TRIN and TICK which is finally starting to show results.
Anyway, congratulations again for this excellent book, which must have taken a lot of time to write, making it certainly one of the best and the most generous on the subject of these last few years.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 112
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