I like to trade commodities and trading based on chart patterns keeps me out of the market until a market is ready to move.

If there were only one book to reference in this industry, "Getting Started in Chart Patterns" would be the one I would choose to be that one. I've studied Turner, Kirkpatrick/DahlQuist, Monte/Swope, and several others -- informative, reliable authors, yes, but not as on-point for me as this one has been.

It unfolds the trader's best practices entertainingly. Every paragraph shares insight. Even the overall context and tone reveal the author's advised trade preferences and recommendations.

For months now, the book's paper and print have stood up robustly to my high-humidity "home library" readings like none of my other references can. (LOL; but I think we all find ripped, tissue-thin pages, smudged print, and dissolved bindings disappointingly annoying, so I'm just saying here that the book's solid physical integrity has been a welcome surprise for me.)

The low price encourages buying an additional electronic version for quick lookups at the trader's workstation.

The only thing I'd change is its title. From the title, I initially assumed the content probably superficially narrow. That assumption was wrong and I do wish I had studied the book and this author sooner.

I humbly recommend to all of us traders that we flow with his work, starting with a well invested web search on "Bulkowski thepatternsite".

This is an excellent beginning book which, after learning its contents, will give the novice trader a solid basis in identifying potential trades. It is not a trading system, but rather a part of the broader, overall perspective a trader must have to become successful.

Have been trading options based on fundamentals for 6months without much success until i got these book...

Its my toolbox for Entry/Exit and projection of potential gains...i recommend it to all day,swing,position traders..
There is no other book that does it like Bulswokis...five star *****

Pattern reading and trading with it beats mechanical, mathematical indicators any day. The indicators do not provide for particular characters of one equity vs other. After trading with indicators for ten years, I am switching over to pattern reading. Thomas Bulkowski's books offer detailed analysis of chart patterns and clear rules for trading using these patterns. That is more than you will get out of many investment books out there. Most are very enthusiastic but vague and nebulous, leaving you with a swollen head and no rules to guide you in actual trading. Sure, you can use indicators as adjunct to pattern reading but most of the time they will contribute little to your actual trading experience. Buy this book and look at least 500 charts to be able to spot various patterns on your own and you will gain confidence and a rule-based system of trading. And this book is the perfect vehicle to start with because it gives a lot for the price. I wouldn't set my sail by the profit projections of various patterns though, emotions and reality always intervene to defeat that.

I have only been trading for 10 months. One of the first things I did was join a reputable room where someone promptly recommended Mr. Bulkowski's website. After visiting the website, I bought Mr. Bulkowski's book. I have since bought all of his other books. I find the information he offers to be clear and easy to understand. I keep the encyclopedia of chart patterns close at hand during the day so i can look up chart patterns. Although the "Getting Started in Chart Patterns" book was sort of simplistic I liked it because it was easy for a me, a beginner, to understand. I like the way the books and website are setup because I can learn at my own pace and choose which information I want to focus on. Mr. Bulkowski gets five stars from me!

Bulkowski makes a dry topic interesting and often entertaining. Great book for a person just getting started in chart patterns.

this is a course in itself. The holy grail can be found in a summarized version.

First, this book does include plenty of examples and the reader is certainly exposed to a wide range of chart patterns. That's a strength of this book. There isn't necessarily much depth here (I'll comment on that later), but if you're just looking for an inexpensive way to see different chart patterns play out this book seems as good as any.

Unfortunately, the book does not make for a good reading experience. It is not well-designed; figures are often a page turn or two away from where they are actually referenced in the text. You may find yourself spending more time flipping back and forth between pages than actually reading the author's words. And then there is 'Jake,' an unlikable and unbelievable fictional character who only seems to fill up space in this book and break up the flow of actual content with terrible jokes.

The content of the book left much to be desired. I thought Bulkowski's research would be a strength of this book, but it actually serves as more of a distraction to anyone with a rudimentary understanding of statistics. A an average of 3% price difference over a small sample of cases is not meaningful. That's not to say there isn't helpful research in the book. There is. But he doesn't do a good job of explaining how most of it is inconclusive.

Perhaps the worst part of the book is that it lacks depth in many places where an extra page or two would be helpful to the novice reader. In these places, the author simply directs readers to his own books and books that have been published by his publisher. Other helpful books on technical analysis are not mentioned. Basically, this book is so affordable because it's little more than an advertisement for other books published by Wiley and Sons.

The faults of this book are nicely exemplified on page 27. Here, the author shares a method for detecting trend change. But as it turns out, this method is supported by very weak statistical evidence. Then he claims you can do better than the method he proposes, but only if you buy a 1991 book by Victor Sperendeo. Sperendeo's book is published by John Wiley and Sons, of course.

In sum, there are plenty of examples and a nice index of chart patterns in the back of the book. But the book seems purposefully incomplete and designed to get you to buy some other books. I recommend skipping this book; save yourself a little money and just purchase one of the more complete books that are out there.

First, this book does include plenty of examples and the reader is certainly exposed to a wide range of chart patterns. That's a strength of this book. There isn't necessarily much depth here (I'll comment on that later), but if you're just looking for an inexpensive way to see different chart patterns play out this book seems as good as any.

Unfortunately, the book does not make for a good reading experience. It is not well-designed; figures are often a page turn or two away from where they are actually referenced in the text. You may find yourself spending more time flipping back and forth between pages than actually reading the author's words. And then there is 'Jake,' an unlikable and unbelievable fictional character who only seems to fill up space in this book and break up the flow of actual content with terrible jokes.

The content of the book left much to be desired. I thought Bulkowski's research would be a strength of this book, but it actually serves as more of a distraction to anyone with a rudimentary understanding of statistics. A an average of 3% price difference over a small sample of cases is not meaningful. That's not to say there isn't helpful research in the book. There is. But he doesn't do a good job of explaining how most of it is inconclusive.

Perhaps the worst part of the book is that it lacks depth in many places where an extra page or two would be helpful to the novice reader. In these places, the author simply directs readers to his own books and books that have been published by his publisher. Other helpful books on technical analysis are not mentioned. Basically, this book is so affordable because it's little more than an advertisement for other books published by Wiley and Sons.

The faults of this book are nicely exemplified on page 27. Here, the author shares a method for detecting trend change. But as it turns out, this method is supported by very weak statistical evidence. Then he claims you can do better than the method he proposes, but only if you buy a 1991 book by Victor Sperendeo. Sperendeo's book is published by John Wiley and Sons, of course.

In sum, there are plenty of examples and a nice index of chart patterns in the back of the book. But the book seems purposefully incomplete and designed to get you to buy some other books. I recommend skipping this book; save yourself a little money and just purchase one of the more complete books that are out there.

This book explains the essential technical patterns that every trader should know. One must read this book very carefully as there are many subtle clues that can be missed.

This book will help you make money. Let me say that there are a lot traders looking for an easy to make money. There is no easy way. There will be times when the patterns in this book don't work. Does that make the book/pattern invalid? No. There is no pattern that will work everytime. You are trading these patterns based on probablities. If these patterns work for you half of the time, you should be in good shape. The rest is money management. That is one area of the book where there isn't enough focus. I would also suggest reading Edwards and Magee along with Murphy.

Edwards and Magee wrote the first book on technical analysis over seventy years ago, and since that time Bulkowski appears to be the only person who has ever sat down and tried to systematize and test the hypotheses of technical analysis, and that's to his credit. The problem is that he spends an inordinate amount of time testing and identifying perfectly useless technical formtions that nobody in their right mind would try to trade. Take a look at the chart on page 60, which is a stock in a "broadening top." He lists a buy point at around $10.25 and a sell point about two months later at around $12, after the stock had peaked at $14. That's not a bad return, but take a look at the chart and ask yourself if there's any identifiable reason to buy at $10.25 or sell at $12. The fact that the stock forms a "broadening top" may be interesting in retrospect, but you can't trade stocks in retrospect. Or consider the "diamond" formation, which is treated beginning on page 138. Here is my question: how or why would you trade a diamond pattern? Because the "diamond" is often so large, the resulting "breakout" will often just bump right into the old resistance or support. The fact that it's a "diamond" pattern may be interesting, but identifying the formation alone is not enough. Identifying a pattern and successfully trading it are not the same thing. To be fair to the author, this is not a how-to trading book but a digest of a larger reference work on trading patterns. Even so, it would make sense to focus on tradable patterns instead of providing an exhaustive catalog of every pattern under the sun. The style is also jokey and informal, which just makes it easier for Bulkowksi to avoid the most important question, so what? What good is this information? Is it tradable, and how?

Edwards and Magee wrote the first book on technical analysis over seventy years ago, and since that time Bulkowski appears to be the only person who has ever sat down and tried to systematize and test the hypotheses of technical analysis, and that's to his credit. The problem is that he spends an inordinate amount of time testing and identifying perfectly useless technical formtions that nobody in their right mind would try to trade. Take a look at the chart on page 60, which is a stock in a "broadening top." He lists a buy point at around $10.25 and a sell point about two months later at around $12, after the stock had peaked at $14. That's not a bad return, but take a look at the chart and ask yourself if there's any identifiable reason to buy at $10.25 or sell at $12. The fact that the stock forms a "broadening top" may be interesting in retrospect, but you can't trade stocks in retrospect. Or consider the "diamond" formation, which is treated beginning on page 138. Here is my question: how or why would you trade a diamond pattern? Because the "diamond" is often so large, the resulting "breakout" will often just bump right into the old resistance or support. The fact that it's a "diamond" pattern may be interesting, but identifying the formation alone is not enough. Identifying a pattern and successfully trading it are not the same thing. To be fair to the author, this is not a how-to trading book but a digest of a larger reference work on trading patterns. Even so, it would make sense to focus on tradable patterns instead of providing an exhaustive catalog of every pattern under the sun. The style is also jokey and informal, which just makes it easier for Bulkowksi to avoid the most important question, so what? What good is this information? Is it tradable, and how?

I don't think this is a good starting book to learn chart patterns. There is a a lot of good information in the book no doubt, but I found it difficult to read, filled with endless stats about how certain patterns perform, etc. I'm giving it one star because the title doesn't deliver. This is not a good book for getting STARTED in chart patterns. For the BEGINNER, I recommend Stikky Stock Charts--it will get you up and running quickly on the basics and then you can move on to this book perhaps.

I don't think this is a good starting book to learn chart patterns. There is a a lot of good information in the book no doubt, but I found it difficult to read, filled with endless stats about how certain patterns perform, etc. I'm giving it one star because the title doesn't deliver. This is not a good book for getting STARTED in chart patterns. For the BEGINNER, I recommend Stikky Stock Charts--it will get you up and running quickly on the basics and then you can move on to this book perhaps.

"Getting Started in Chart Patterns" is an excellent reference guide and one of the few books on the market which reports the performance of individual chart patterns (based on Tom's extensive testing). Certainly it is a good leader to Tom's mothership book, "Encyclopedia of Chart patterns" and is a bargain at $20 (even more so at the $13 Amazon is offering the book).

One of my pet peeves when I first got interested in Technical Analysis was the cost of many of the books and it was hard to find cheap books which provide a feeler as to what Technical Analysis is all about. Other than the "Encyclopedia" there is no other book out there of its type and is worth having on this merit alone.

The book is not without its faults. First and foremost was the irritating use of "Jake" as the protagonist of the real-world trades offered as examples throughout. The conversational style employed to describe the trades didn't fit with the cold facts offered by the rest of the book and came across as too high school, if the author had stuck to the style of his chapter on "More Trades - Putting it all Together" then this would have been more appropriate. It's a small gripe and others may disagree with me - but the real world trades nicely support the cold statistics on offer for each pattern.

The book has a handy chapter on The Top 10 Performing Bottoms, ranking them from 1-10 including flags, pipe bottoms, rounding bottoms, triangles, wedges, eve-eve double bottoms and the ever popular head-and-shoulder pattern. It would have been good to see the same treatment given to tops (there is a section on tops, but it is more haphazard in its composition), something for the next edition perhaps?

I did like the section on Busted Patterns as well as a cheat sheet index of chart patterns and a table showing a list of chart pattern performance and ranking which can be photocopied and stuck on a wall.

The book is best used as an accompaniment to a more introduction style book on Technical Analysis - it provides the performance data necessary to help develop your own scans for selecting stocks eg. For my own research, when is it important to include volume as a component of a scan.

Again, for the price you can't go wrong.

"Getting Started in Chart Patterns" is an excellent reference guide and one of the few books on the market which reports the performance of individual chart patterns (based on Tom's extensive testing). Certainly it is a good leader to Tom's mothership book, "Encyclopedia of Chart patterns" and is a bargain at $20 (even more so at the $13 Amazon is offering the book).

One of my pet peeves when I first got interested in Technical Analysis was the cost of many of the books and it was hard to find cheap books which provide a feeler as to what Technical Analysis is all about. Other than the "Encyclopedia" there is no other book out there of its type and is worth having on this merit alone.

The book is not without its faults. First and foremost was the irritating use of "Jake" as the protagonist of the real-world trades offered as examples throughout. The conversational style employed to describe the trades didn't fit with the cold facts offered by the rest of the book and came across as too high school, if the author had stuck to the style of his chapter on "More Trades - Putting it all Together" then this would have been more appropriate. It's a small gripe and others may disagree with me - but the real world trades nicely support the cold statistics on offer for each pattern.

The book has a handy chapter on The Top 10 Performing Bottoms, ranking them from 1-10 including flags, pipe bottoms, rounding bottoms, triangles, wedges, eve-eve double bottoms and the ever popular head-and-shoulder pattern. It would have been good to see the same treatment given to tops (there is a section on tops, but it is more haphazard in its composition), something for the next edition perhaps?

I did like the section on Busted Patterns as well as a cheat sheet index of chart patterns and a table showing a list of chart pattern performance and ranking which can be photocopied and stuck on a wall.

The book is best used as an accompaniment to a more introduction style book on Technical Analysis - it provides the performance data necessary to help develop your own scans for selecting stocks eg. For my own research, when is it important to include volume as a component of a scan.

Again, for the price you can't go wrong.

I have been interested in stock market trading for a long time. Mr. Bulkowski is the first author I have encountered who is extremely realistic about the risks involved in trading. He is frank about the reality that you will most likely lose money in trading. I appreciate that honesty. That said, he gives one tools about how to maximize profits and minimize losses, so that one can come out ahead overall.

This is an extremely readable book, artfully crafted with his fictional character to keep the reader engaged while learning important points about trading. This is a very helpful book to one who is beginning, yet is a book for advanced traders to keep close for constant reference. I have read it cover to cover, and still refer to it frequently.

I have found very useful information on Mr. Bulkowski's website, to which another reviewer refers. That review spoke volumes about his website, so there is no need to expound further on it here.

I have been interested in stock market trading for a long time. Mr. Bulkowski is the first author I have encountered who is extremely realistic about the risks involved in trading. He is frank about the reality that you will most likely lose money in trading. I appreciate that honesty. That said, he gives one tools about how to maximize profits and minimize losses, so that one can come out ahead overall.

This is an extremely readable book, artfully crafted with his fictional character to keep the reader engaged while learning important points about trading. This is a very helpful book to one who is beginning, yet is a book for advanced traders to keep close for constant reference. I have read it cover to cover, and still refer to it frequently.

I have found very useful information on Mr. Bulkowski's website, to which another reviewer refers. That review spoke volumes about his website, so there is no need to expound further on it here.

I thought this book is a skimmed version of the author's more expensive and extensive book "Trading Classic Chart Patterns". Yet whatever is the reason, the author invents a fictional character "Jake Murphy" to conversate throughout this book. This character really disconcentrate the reader through the content of the book. If you want to suffer peeling off "Jake" while reading this book for sake of saving a few dollars, go ahead and buy this book. If not, the book "Trading Classic Chart Patterns" is a much better choice for a few dollars more and it is "Jake free", it seems.

Tom Bulkowski is the Man! As a novice, I found Bulkowski's rules of acquisition and disposition to be clear and concise. Chapter 11 "The Art of Trading - Checklists" is a reference bible that you can use religiously before trading. This book holds a wealth of knowledge for the beginner. I can't pretend to go in depth more than reviewer Mark Dankowski or Daniel J. Grill did. But, I would like to mention the one thing that they did not mention

When I first started reading the book I was looking at dozens of charts online in an effort to see the patterns that Tom refers to. During the first three days in reading his book I was actually using my bookmarker to trace trend lines on my notebook screen. Then I remembered reading that Tom has a web site listed in the Acknowledgements section at the beginning of the book. I never thought to go to the web site until the pain of holding my bookmarker kicked in. Tom's web site offers a bevy of informational bonanzas.

Bonanza number one: Patternz
This is FREE Chart Pattern Recognition Software. Put the bookmarker down and download historical prices free from Yahoo finance and Patternz will display the chart plus all of the chart patterns of your choosing. WOW! This software is worth ten times the price of the book. I paid retail. $19.95.

Bonanza number two: Patterns, patterns, and more patterns to study.

Bonanza number three: Pattern Rankings, based on percentage of success.

Bonanza number four: Trading Help: Rules of acquisition & disposition. Measure rule.

Bonanza number five: Join the Quiz! This is a self help test of your skills. Tom emails you a chart to see if you can identify all of the patterns therein. Are you seeing all of the patterns that Tom sees? This is a measure of how ready you are to start trading for real.

Bonanza number six: Stop placements. Rules on where to place them.

Bonanza number seven: Trading Spreadsheet. Keeping track of your successes and failures.

Bonanza number eight: Definitions of terms.

Bonanza number nine: Studies in trading.

Plus, many more.

Bulkowski's "Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns" is the next must buy.

This book is very clearly written and should appeal to both novices as well as those who would like to test their knowledge of technical analysis. Lots of examples with detailed explanations. A minimum of jargon. Entry & exit advice is excellent. Worth the price.

I've been looking for the book like this for over a year. The knowledge of an expert presented in a simple, clear and brilliant way.It contains everything a novice trader needs to set up a trade. In addition the price is incredibly low. "Getting Started In Chart Patterns" is really a Gift for new and motivated trader.

Price of the financial instruments exists in two states: dynamic up or down move ( trend ) or congestion ( more or less horizontal move ). Chart patterns are nothing but these congested areas. Patterns start where trend ends. Unlike other TA tools, chart patterns contain information. But to be able to derive it from the pattern you need to be able to read them. This book is a nice introduction on the patterns from the World-class expert in the field.

I gave this book five stars because no more stars are available. Otherwise I would give it ten or twenty. Why would I buy this book? First off, this is a cheap way of learning about the chart patterns from the expert. Secondly, the book presents very nice section on failing patterns ( busted ). Thirdly, while there is some literature out there on the patterns, I believe Tom Bulkowski was the first in the history of TA who actually conducted so thorough research on pattern performance.

Bulkowski won't give you some B.S. promises about you becoming millioner overnight. The book provides realistic account on the dangers associated with trading patterns. But he also provides you with tools. If you are interested in trading in stocks I really do not see how you can get by without this volume. I would certainly buy it. Ten or so buck you going to spend on it will turn into thousands if you are attentive enough to what Tom says in the book.

I have been trading the markets since 1998 and as an engineer by trade, am a very visual thinker. In my first years of trading, I read and reread Martin Pring's "Technical Analysis Explained" and Dr. Elder's book "Trading for a Living". Both are excellent and caused me to fall in love with TA.

I bought Bulkowski's book both as a refresher course and out of curiosity for the statistics he provides. It did not disappoint. His extensive research is more than obvious and his writing style hit the mark. It is clear and carries the voice of experience.

According to an independent biography I found on Global Investor, Thomas Bulkowski did in fat quit his day job at age 36 by earning enough from his investments. That says a lot right there. Although the main theme of the book is to present chart patterns with their historical success and failure rates, it offers much more.

For instance, Mr. Bulkowski bares his soul on many occaisions by revealing actual losing trades he's made. These detailed discussions of his thought process in entering and exiting the trade brought back many memories for me; ones I'd like to, but shouldn't, forget. New traders will find these accounts interesting and should pay heed to them. Making money in the markets is not nearly as easy as other books will have you believe. You need to put in the time in research and, if you are a technical trader like me, look at thousands of charts over the course of years.

To punctuate this point, Mr. Bulkowski provides a great chapter called "The Art of Trading - Checklists". In it he throws down his list of "to do" items for preparing and maintaing his trades. Even if you don't follow his routine (you should have your own), you will get a feel for the kind of effort and commitment required to do this business.

As a literary device, the book uses an imaginary trader named Jake. He provides conversation with Bulkowski throughout the book and is definitely the voice of the new trader. The "teacher/student" dialog works well and is very often humorous. Imagine what a challenge it is to write a book on technical analysis with humor. This book succeeds.

As for the meat of the book, statistical analysis of chart patterns, Bulkowski's book has no rivals. I have read many other books on TA, and the pure chart pattern discussion here is the best by far. Refreshingly, very little mention of other indicators is made, although RSI and CCI crop up a couple times. I've used all the indicators at one time or another, and finally realized that they are all based on either price or volume anyway. I'm still not convinced they add value.

As an example of the chart pattern discussions, imagine you were considering trading a double top pattern. When is the right time to get in? What kind of double top is it, anyway? What are the chances of success or a reversal to the breakout line? How does the double top pattern compare to, or rank among, other patterns you could trade? What happens after the breakout, typically? Very good questions, and very good answers provided.

Although I read the book cover to cover, you may find it just as useful to use as a reference. However, I did order Bulkowski's "Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, 2nd Edition" on the strength of this book.

Summary
If you are an experienced trader looking for a review of chart patterns or a novice trader curious what all those funny pattern names mean, this is your book. It is worth double the price Amazon is selling it for.

Good luck and good trading.