Back in 1980, I came across a copy of the original version of this book in a used book store. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it. I had been floundering around in the stock market for a year or two, and suddenly, after reading this book, I knew what I was up against, and why it was so hard.

This book is one of my favorite books of all time, on any subject. It's an absolute must read for anyone interested in stock trading. William O'Neill's methods as used in Investors Business Daily, is mostly based on Darvas' method, and Jesse Livermore's.

I'm not going to repeat all the details that can be found in other reviews, but I would like to add a few things.

The first one is this quote by Darvas, that was the culmination of all the trials and tribulations that had gone on before:

"The only sound reason for my buying a stock is that it is rising in price. If that is happening, no other reason is necessary. If that is not happening, no other reason is worth considering."

I point this out because anybody who has ever bought an IBD 100 stock knows that all of the stocks at the top of the list are stocks that have been rising in the immediate past. I also point this quote out, because of my next point.

Two, the Darvas method, like the IBD method ONLY works in rising markets. In sideways or down markets, you can get creamed. In my 30+ years of trading, I've tended to use this method MUCH LESS than other methods, for the simple reason that it doesn't work year in and year out, and that one tends to buy stocks at the top so that you're forced to keep selling stocks you just boought.

Sure, when it works, man is it great. I guess if a person only used it at the right times it would be wonderful, but year in and year out you are constantly faced with times when it doesn't work very well.

Even Darvas lost huge amounts of money after writing this book, and the next one in 1964. By time he wrote "You can still make millions in the market" in 1977 you could tell he was a beaten man when he ventured back into the market.

C.C. Hazard (pseudonymn), in his book "Confessions of a Wall Street Insider" {1972} talks about how no method really works all that well over time. As a life long stock broker, he saw it all. One time (around the time of the writing of his book) he had a broker friend of his check on Darvas' account balance. He wasn't surprised to find that Darvas had lost most of his money that he made in the 60s.

Also, I was amazed to see that Darvas' estate (or whoever owns the rights to the story) has published so many other books recently. Why would they need to do that? I would think they would be using his method to make millions in the stock market, wouldn't you?

So, BEWARE of this method and the IBD method. Over the long run you will find that they work less often than they don't.

Dravas is one of the best speculator. He is able to keep his profit and he has his own style. The method of trading is capable for any, if not too stupid, investor. Buy this one, don't buy other books because they're unaudited and no difference from How I Made $2,000,000.

I do not know why some people write to much about their openions on this book or any other books. Hey Friends, we do not have time to reade all your opinions. Please write all your opinion in short sentences.
Thanks

Kind of antiquated now, but still a good story. The author tells the story of how he made a fortune in the markets - $2 million in his time is probably more like $10-$15 million now. He started by investing based on tips, then on fundamentals, and finally by combining technicals and fundamentals. It's educational and very readable. The amazing thing is how little Wall Street and the investing world have changed since Darvas made his fortune in the 50s.

In review of How I Made 2,000,000 In the Stock Market, I found the book to be overall worth the read. The story is about a young professional dancer who happens to begin trading in the stock market during the early part of the twentieth century. The book goes over a lot of the lessons he learns, some of which are applicable today and some of which are not.

A few key items to keep in mind are:

1. Learn to take a profit
2. Minimize your losses
3. Think about utilizing Stop Loss Orders when you purchase a stock.
4. Buy only appreciating stocks, never depreciating.

The author develops what I call "box theory" throughout the book. This translates to the author following a stock for a given period of time and drawing a high and a low point in which he expects the stock to trade inside. Once the stock breaks the top of a box (into the low of a new box) he will buy the stock.

If anything, I would recommend this book for the very begining person who is interested in making trades inside of the market. It's a fun read and very short. It might be a little dated where as the Internet has GREATLY changed the way we trade and the extension of how many people can obtain information quickly compared to the author, but most of his thinking still holds true today.

This is one of the absolute "must-read" books for people who want to start trading. Do not expect to get a guideline how to get rich quickly when buying this book! The value of this book is the openness in which Darvas describes his way from a bloody beginner to a successfull trader, covering not only the sunny side but also in the faults he made when buying stocks and the mental aspects which impact traders when the market is against them.

How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market is one of those titles that comes up quite often in discussions of what books traders should read. Given how long its been in print, that probably should come as no surprise. While I won't personally go so far as to call it a must read, I definitely found it worthwhile.

First, be aware that this book - at least this particular edition - is quite short. It's only a bit over 100 pages, and a healthy portion of that is editorial addition tagged on to help further explain the author's story, along with some Q&A with Darvas tossed in. You should easily be able to get through it in one sitting.

Second, this book - again, at least this edition - was very poorly copyedited. There are formatting issues all over the place. It's not necessarily the easiest book in the world to read to start with, as the author's narrative leaves something to be desired. The formatting issues, don't help make for a particularly enjoyable reading experience.

Thirdly, you will note that I have used "story" and "narrative" in describing the text. That's exactly what it is. Nicolas Darvas was a professional dancer who performed all around the world. The book describes how he somewhat randomly got into the stock market, and then the progression he made to building a $2 million portfolio for himself. All of it takes place during the 1950s, so be prepared for the author to talk about cables and things that modern readers will have little to no point of reference on.

At it's core, How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market is a trading diary. The bulk of the book is a discussion of the various trades the author made over about a 6 year timeframe. Some readers will find that interesting, others will yawn. But that's not what you read this book for, fortunately.

It is the developmental path Darvas takes from newbie to multi-million dollar trader - which the author interweaves with the discussion of his trades - that is the read value to be had from How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market. Anyone who has gone through that developmental process as a market participant will immediately be able to relate, and those who haven't yet (or are just starting to do so) will see that even wildly successful traders went through their struggles.

In parallel with the author's discussion of his personal trading development is also the construction and refinement of his trading strategy. As is the case with most traders, he started on one path, but shifted course several times until he finally found the methodology which suited him best.

Darvas employed a combined fundamental and technical approach which is the core of the popular CANSLIM methodology outlined in How to Make Money in Stocks. It's not an exact thing in terms of application, as Darvas developed an entry/exit strategy based on what he called boxes, but a great deal of the preliminary set-up elements are very, very close. That philosophy is definitely something that works. I can personally attest to it myself, though I have never employed Darvas Boxes or anything like that.

The issue a reader might have, though, is that the outlining of this methodology isn't concisely presented. Rather, it's spread out over the course of the narrative, presented in bits and pieces over the timeline as Darvas refined his approach to trading. It would probably take a couple of readings to really get a handle on things.

Overall, I definitely think there's value to be had in How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market. If nothing else, it proves that part-time trading can be extremely rewarding. As I commented above, it's not a great read as books go, but there are quite a few good nuggets in the text if you can fight through.

Nicolas Darvas says he used a techno-fundamentalist method based on the long term growth of a certain industry group and, specifically, the strongest stock in that group to make two million dollars in the stock market ( see page 117 of the book). But the book failed to provide satisfactory evidence of any fundamental analysis and his box theory lacks sufficient explanation. It all seemed a bit "airy - fairy " and judging by the questions and answers in the appendix so did a lot of other people.

One of the biggest take away one can take from this book is that stocks
in a strong group goes up together or goes down together. A very recent example and one repeated so many times is that in aug 2007 when shipping stocks were going up Dry bulk shipping, excel meritime, diana made good gains, when they went south in Dec 2007 they all tanked together. Another example is the solar stocks in 2007 a very strong group considering the energy other group was performing the best and FSLR, STP, and many other solar companies made the strongest gain. FSLR went up by 710% since its IPO in 2006.
We may see similar ones in future one of them may be the Visa IPO (ticker symbol V) will it repeat the same feet as master card, well time will tell but I am positive on it.

An amusing little read - - but buy O'Neil's book on how to make money in the stock market if you really want to get into the detail.

When I first looked at the title, my thought was "Yeah right..." I started reading nonetheless, and read the book in one sitting. It was a page-turner, if that's possible with a book about investing. The book is concisely written, entertaining, and inspirational. One of the lessons in this book I immediately applied to my trading was to eliminate "noise". So bye bye to CNBC and TV/Internet gossipping of markets and stocks. It seems to work so far.

I recommend reading this book and William O'Neil's book "How to Make Money in Stock Market".

I made the mistake of buying this book. It is outdated (telegrams) and the examples or actual buying and selling do not and cannot match today's market requirements. The writing is awful and the ideas presented are unrealistic. A book from 1952 cannot be used as a guide for making money in today's market. There are some classic books (Graham) that will remain fundamental, but this one is not such a book. Save your money and this book goes in the trash.

I found this book very informing. I am using some of the approaches to filter stocks for our large subsciber base. But using marketspath expertise in market timing to enter and exit trades. www.marketspath.com

To become a great stock investor, I believe one must incorporate both fundamental and technical approach when picking a company to invest in. I came to this belief after reading this book. Mr. Darvas's failures in reaping profit in the stock market when employing only the fundamental or technical approach is clearly evident in the book. He later finds out the cause of his failures and makes millions after the great realization of the importance of both approaches. He terms it "techno-fundamentalist method."

He also used volume(trade) and price to find the potential stock. He would ask for the price of a stock from a broker when there was a sudden significant increase in the volume(trade) or price of a stock. A sudden increase in the volume(trade)implies that many investors are dumping and trading their stocks which Darvas saw as a key to exponential price increase. Seeing this as an advantage, he jumps in and buys the stock after couple days of price increase. A smart move, as he made a huge profit. Another useful approach he used to make profit in the stock market was his "Box-Theory." He employed this approach primarily to control his fear of losing alot of money in the stock market. A clever idea as it turned out to be. There are more information you can find from this book so read it or regret it!!

This was an easy and interesting read. Darvas' story clearly shows the validity of technical analysis. I found it a fascinating story because it was done by a layman, and not by a professional trader. It gave me some good ideas and the confidence that I can make it as a trader as well.

It is clear to me that many reviewers just don't understand how valuable this book can be to some readers. I read the fifth printing of the original book in 1961. It introduced me to many good, simple trading techniques that are still valid four and a half decades later. Of course, new on-line brokers and data services have gone far beyond what Darvas had to work with. However, all the bells and whistles of the internet that people can get hooked on, and I certainly am, can make one lose sight of the simple basics.

Darvas introduces buying strong stocks on the way up and then setting stop losses, although maybe tighter than I do. He introduces box trading that some traders might look at as "just" breakouts from support and supply areas. It is similar to what I now think of as cluster analysis in my trading. He introduces the importance of volume and volume breakouts and how confusing it can be when letting profits ride.

After I recently saw that some seminar guru recommended it as an important stock market book, I reread for maybe the fourth time and I agree that important is the correct assessment. It was also still an enjoyable read. This reading gave me a slightly different perspective of my cluster analysis and it really hit me how valuable it is to not have to depend on a "live" broker as well as the high commissions of my earlier days.

For someone who understands all of these basics and doesn't want the benefit of a review or different view, I guess maybe the book is not all that important. But why would they want to downgrade a five star book and mislead people who are seriously interested in learning from it? For an experienced investor, the book should just be an enjoyable one night read about a different era that still has meaning today.

For someone who is reading it because they want to gain the knowledge, it is a classic. I recommend it highly even after four and a half decades. It is a great read that you can always get something from. Just seeing how Darvas had to reinvent himself several times as an investor is valuable, I certainly had to do it several times.

From reading the cover, this book sounds like the very key to winning a fortune in the financial markets. The Holy Grail maybe? I would not count on that.

Let's look at two of the book's principal tactics:

1. Very tight stops (a fraction of a point)

Mr. Darvas acknowledges that his method will stop you out very frequently. In fact, a reader sends in a comment (back of the book) that this tactic will stop you out more than 90% of the time. The reader calls it "useless"

2. Stocks must be trading at an all-time high and be growth stocks that have suddenly made an "unusual" move.

Mr. Darvas acknowledges that this eliminates more than 90% of all stocks as trading candidates.


Let's look at how Nicolas Darvas turned $36,000 into $2,000,000:

Jones & Laughlin: Bet the farm on this stock, plus used full margin. After two weeks sold out at a loss of 25% of his account. It took Darvas TWO YEARS to recoup his 25% loss. Not good.

E.L. Bruce: Bet the farm on this stock, plus full margin. This stock rose 250% in a couple of months. $300K profit

Universal Products: Bet half of his account on this one, plus full margin. Held for a few months. Stock rose 300%. $400k profit

Thiokol Chemical: Bet half of his account on this stock, plus full margin. Held for a few months. Stock rose 300%. $900K profit.

As you can see, Nicolas Darvas was betting the farm on his trades and using margin to the fullest. The VAST MAJORITY of his $2 million profit came from just the above three winning trades. But he made hundreds of trades during this time. There is surely an element of luck here...

Darvas had read up on the stock market extensively and had years of experience by the time he hit his three big winners. He was not trading on ignorance at this point. The market was at the tail end of a bear market when he figured out that the volatile growth stocks are bound to rocket early in the recovery. He acted on this.

Does the Darvas method sound like the answer to making a speculating fortune? Well, at least it sounds simple enough. Pick stocks that are gonna rise 300% in just a few months and then shoot the works. That's all! You'll either make a killing or be killed.

If you want to be motivated or if the market is down and discouraging you. This book will inspire you to get back in the world of trading and teach you basic trading techniques that are still applicable today.

If your buying this book to learn how to buy stocks save your money. Nicolas Darvas isn't all that clear on his strategy and there are better books out there on the subject. On the other hand its a nice quick read if you like to read true success stories.

This book is boring- repeating the same experiences that didn't work with all the details on every one. What's good about it (there is some) is of limited value in today's marketplace, and you have to sort it out of all the filler. Overall, if you are trying to learn how to invest wisely- it provides more confusion that it clears up, and thus is a waste of time.

I've been managing my own investments for 7 years, and typically make about 20% annual. Neither novice nor expert, I read to learn more.. but like stocks- some books sound a lot better than they are. I can't see this book as being of much value at any experience level.