Mastering the Trade (McGraw-Hill Trader's Edge) | 
 enlarge | Author: John F. Carter
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $59.95
Buy New: $30.99
You Save: $28.96 (48%)
New (42) Used (16) from $29.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 10335
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 388
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0071459588
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.63228
EAN: 9780071459587
ASIN: 0071459588
Publication Date: December 7, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Expert tactics to become make the most of every swing trade In Mastering the Trade, veteran trader and educator John Carter shares his hard-won five-point technique for successful swing trading. In addition, Carter helps you move to the next level of confidence by explaining how markets really work and detailing behind-the-scenes market mechanics.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 92 more reviews...
 Techniques mentioned in this book are not backtested January 3, 2009
As a systematic trader, I don't judge the book by how most people have been reviewing it, I judge by how the ideas mentioned in the book have been proving themselves in real market. It is in this sense that I found the book very shallow, skin-deep. Yes, the author talked about a dozen of trading setups in this book, but none is backtested in a systematic manner. And I have to say, after backtesting, ( it does not take much time as all the setups are simple enough, less than 10 lines of codes) these setups show little edge and consistency.
 Trading with a plan December 30, 2008
Glad I bought this book, even though a couple of reviewers suggested that you need to buy John Carter's indicators or you might as well not bother with the book (that was the impression I got anyways). They would make life easier, but you dont need to buy them, he tells you what he is using to set his charts up. There are lots of nuggets of wisdom throughout the book. It isnt the end-all of investment books, but should definitely be one that you have read (more than once) and keep handy to reference back to. Wish I would have read it when it first came out!
 Good book, but not great December 30, 2008
I can't say I haven't gotten anything out of the book (using mid pivot points, and switching to YM from NQ) However, there are chapters that rely on indicators that you have to find on your own, or buy them from Carter. I would definitely recommend the chapters on pivots, market internals and gaps (although gaps are still a hairy subject that is not covered very well in most books) As far as psychology goes, Carter does a decent job, but The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes is the holy grail as far as trader psychology goes. If you trade futures actively, it won't hurt to pick up Carter's book.
 Good Book -- But Lacks Money Management Techniques November 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Always looking for more information, I got this book since it is so popular. I already use the "Applied Reality Trading" software, so wasn't really needing Carter's set-ups, but found them informative. And, the rest of the book has much valuable information also, but is lacking in a key area of educating the reader about the importance of risk control and money management.
The areas that were my favorite were:
1) Ways that Carter takes the pulse of market emotions - a) Dive, Captain, Dive - he writes about how when "newbie" traders on a free trial in his trading room press the "submarine dive" noise - the more experienced traders know that it is time to cover their shorts and go long. b) What does your mother think? Another way he uses sentiment from "non-traders" to gauge when the market is topping or bottoming -- is by listening them interpret news headlines.
2) His drawdown rules and profit rules are useful for formulating your own personal rules. For example if Carter is down by 20% for the month he will stop trading for the rest of the month, and, if he hits a 30% total drawdown on his account, he takes a six week break from trading.
3) The profit rules are equally useful. Love his "euphoria" rule where if he has a day in which he makes $5,000 per $100,000 (or 5% return on his money in one day), he will "...take the next day off to escape those feelings of euphoria that cause traders to do stupid things...". And then, he says he will withdraw 50% of his trading profits at the end of each quarter.
The areas of the book that were weak were the following:
1) Risk control is weak, although he briefly mentions at the end of the book to not risk more than 2% of your account equity on any one trade, which is helpful. What has been profitable for me, is using the risk of ruin tables and the optimal f formula to be more precise with exactly how much to risk. You can get some easy formulas on this approach from McDowell's book "A Trader's Money Management System" A Trader's Money Management System: How to Ensure Profit and Avoid the Risk of Ruin (Wiley Trading) and you may find at times it is better to risk 1% or 2.5% or maybe even higher. The percent risked is based on what your pay off ratio and win ratio -- so it is not a shot in the dark with a flat 2% risk.
2) Paper trading has helped me refine my skills and, in my opinion, one weakness in Carter's book and philosophy is that he says "...paper trading it's more worthless than an iraqui dinar...". It will be hard for readers to dive right into the markets trying his set ups and be profitable if they don't test them in a safe environment (like paper trading), to at least see if they hold merit for their personal trading style and psychology. Maybe I'm more cautious than Carter, but I'd rather test the waters before jumping in.
Overall, this book will get you started, but you'll need a few other tools and books to round out your tool kit before entering the markets.
Must read October 9, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a MUST read. I have read a lot of books on trading and this book is really the only one that had helped me. That is an understatement. This book had changed my trading life forever!! Read all the other reviews and let me add this. Read the book cover to cover twice. Go to his website and sign up for his newsletter. Get the 4 day seminar on dvd. Buy the 5 indicator package. And finally start making some money. Yes all of this is expensive. It is worth every cent.. I paid for all of this in one day of trading using the indicators and his techniques!! Trading for me now is no stress, no yelling at the screen. And finally I have stopped buying the guy on the other side of the trade dinner or worse. No, I am not affiliated with TTM, this stuff just works and I wanted to share the news.
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