Topics Covered:

* Triple Screen Trading Approach

* Individual and Mass Psychology

* Basic Charting Tools and Patterns

* Using and understanding the basic indicators

* Introduction of some newer and lesser known indicators

* Risk Management and Basic Trading Systems

Review

This has been around for a while now (published back around 1992 I think) and has stood the test of time as one of the better books on trading. Even today it is still one of the most popular books and there is a reason for this. The book is well rounded and is not just another book about all the indicators.

Elder starts out by investigating the individual psychology of traders and reasons why we trade and how our natural habits and instincts may work against us in trading. The most interesting section is perhaps when he discusses the insight that "Alcoholics Anonymous" gave him in to trading when he attended with a friend. The book then moves in to the psychology of the crowd and market as a whole. This is an excellent section and understanding this part of trading is an important part of understanding charts.

The book then moves in to discussing the basic charting tools and patterns and covers the major points well without getting bogged down with excesss detail. This is important as too many times when can get caught up in the details. Finally the book moves to discussing the basic indicators and then introduces the use of a few lesser known and newer indicators.

Towards the end of the book Elder discusses his "Triple Screen Trading Approach" which can form a solid foundation for further system development. I note that many traders I see follow this type of trading system in one way or another and it is easy to understand from Elders description. He also covers a parabolic trading approach and a channel trading approach.

Finally as with all books this one discusses risk management and understanding probability. However as is the case with the rest of the book, this section is well thought out and possibly more beneficial to traders than other attempts I have seen.

All in all this is an excellent book and as we are currently putting together our top ten books - we would suggest this is most likely to be one of them.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY THE STARTRADER REPORT.

Rating