Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians

This is an excellent book for the novice to intermediate technical analyst. It contains a comprehensive and logical discussion of a variety of techniques. The book is required reading for the CMT designation and a good addition to any technicians library.

Al momento della recensione sono presidente del'associazione italiana di analisi tecnica SIAT.org e posso testimoniare che come indicato dall'autore questo è un ottimo testo di formazione.

I am a 30 year "buy and hold" sytle investor who is entering the world of short term trading. This is the third book I've read on technical analysis, and the best. This book provides an easy to understand overview of most technical analysis techniques. It took me about 4 months (at about an hour per day) to read the book. This included a significant amount of time spent comparing the information in the book to other popular sources of technical trading information and reviewing some of the references provided in the book. While this is an excellent book, it does have several deficiencies, some probably related to the fact that it was written as a college textbook. First, it has some complex charts that are not well explained. Including an explanation with each chart, as is done in Edwards and Magee, would have been helpful. Second, for many technical analysis techniques, they provide information on the success rate of the technique. For other techniques, they don't. It would be valuable to get their opinion on the value of every technique discussed. Third, they don't provide data sources for some the technical analysis techniques discussed. Some of the data sources they do provide are very expensive, or only available to institutional investors. Fourth, It would be nice to have access to the correct answers at the end of each chapter. For obvious reasons, they couldn't do this. Despite some deficiencies, this is an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn the basic concepts of technical analysis. I hope you find this helpful.

I really like Mr. Kirkpatrick's work. I own this book as well as his newer book (which is excellent), so perhaps I'm a little biased. But, as a reviewer who doesn't just give any investment book 5 stars, I can say this one really earns it. This book provides an excellent overall view of the field of Technical Analysis. The book is written in a textbook fashion, with a short conclusion/summary at the end of each chapter and review questions. It provides a great overall survey into most of the important and more well known topics in technical analysis, is very well cited, makes use of a large amount of graphs and REAL WORLD examples, and uses a wealth of different research sources. The index is very functional and the appendix gives a great overview into some of the statistical concepts used in stock research. If you are looking for an in depth view into any one area, this book is not for you. If you are looking for a book that gives you a specific trading system pioneered by the author, this book is not for you (however Mr. Kirkpatrick's other book may be). If you are looking for a great overall survey of Technical Analysis written in a very clear manner that can function as a reference, this is a good place to start.

Because of the amount of money that flows around the financial markets these days a lot of publishers and/or writers have seen the opportunity to try and sell the secret or reveal the truth . Trying to find a decent book in the field of finance really is like searching for a needle in a haystack; perhaps this is because the best wisdom in the industry is generally found on the job and not in the book! There is an exception though: Technical Analysis - this is an academic discipline in its own right and deserves your attention if you cared at all about the financial markets and why/how they move. There are two general approaches to financial markets: (1) Fundamental (2) Technical - the tricky bit is that they are not both independent of each other. These books on technical analysis draw out the distinctions and then home in on why technical analysis is king. In a nutshell: The price is the price!.... It doesn't matter how much all your models tell you that Gold (or whatever asset is/isn't should/shouldn't be in vogue now) if the market is buying/selling then you have to respect the flow of the river - and that is what technical analysis does; look at the flow, or more appropriately look for the TRENDS. It's just like following fashion. One key thing to learn about financial markets is that markets are not rational beings and the market does not follow the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) - this is great news though, because with Technical Analysis you are armed with a toolbox to identify the flow of the river, jump in at the right time and then get out before the water runs dry. This book gives you the toolbox - experience and wisdom will only help you with identifying which tools to use in which places. Kirkpatrick & Dahlquist is layed out as follows: Part I (Introduction) (1) Introduction to Technical Analysis (2) The Basis Principle of Technical Analysis - The Trend (3) History of Technical Analysis (4) The Technical Analysis Controversy Part II (Markets and Market Indicators) (5) An Overview of Markets (6) Dow Theory (7) Sentiment (8) Measuring Market Strength (9) Temporal Patterns and Cycles (10) Flow of Funds Part III (Trend Analysis) (11) History and Construction of Charts (12) Trends - The Basics (13) Breakouts, Stops, and Retracements (14) Moving Averages Part IV (Chart Pattern Analysis) (15) Bar Chart Patterns (16) Point and Figure Chart Patterns (17) Short-Term Patterns Part V (Trend Confirmation) (18) Confirmation Part VI (Other Technical Methods and Rules) (19) Cycles (20) Elliott, Fibonacci and Gann Part VII (Selection) (21) Selection of Markets and Issues Part VIII (System Testing and Management) (22) System Design and Testing (23) Money and Risk Management Whilst this book covers all the major areas of technical analysis (even some of the quirky point and figure and gann analysis) it does not necessarily explain the subject as well or concisely as some other books. I have listed below some other important reads in the subject - if i had to get just one book I would choose the Murphy "bible" as it is known. There is also alot of irrelevant material in this book in my opinion i.e. (what type of markets / market breadth / flow of funds / point and figure / Gann The key (most current) areas to focus on: Dow Theory / Trend / Sentiment / Patterns - Supports and Resistances / Fibonacci / Money Management Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications: Study Guide (New York Institute of Finance) - For the best of the basics - the oldest and most successful Cloud Charts: Trading Success with the Ichimoku Technique - To get a better feel for trend following Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master - A legend Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders / Hedge Fund Market Wizards - And trading wisdom