If you invest at anytime or think about trading this is required reading. Guaranteed to give you a fresh perspective on how the markets work. Very beginner friendly. Also read How To Make Money In Stocks.

William O'Neil, who started a successful financial paper known as Investors Business Daily, wrote How to Make Money in Stocks. Decade of research and critical thinking has helped O'Neil to create some very powerful ways of investing successfully.

O'Neil's ideas aren't about getting rich quick. It takes time, study diligence and patience coupled with controlling ones emotions to become an excellent investor. The Successful Investor melds both the technical and fundamental aspects of investing with common sense. O'Neil uses a great number of charts throughout the book to explain concepts in detail.

The Successful Investor provides strong basics to help the intermediate investor as well as the experienced investor. This book may not be right for a novice.

Topics include Managing Your Portfolio: How to Buy the Very Best Stocks, When to Sell and Nail Down Your Big Profit While You Still Have It, Time-Proven Methods to Maximize Results and Minimize Losses and much more.

I have read many books, magazines and articles on investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more over the years. O'Neil's ideas are some of the most solid and consistent I have found to apply to the stock market. They are easy to read and understand the basic...but like anything worth while...it takes years to be good. I have read three of O'Neil's books and have found great ideas in all of them.

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

For once someone who knows what he is talking about. If you are serious about investing buy this book, you won't regret. In fact, it can be your only investment book. What I like is that the book clearly shows that there is no such thing as buy-and-hold investor. To me investor is a just trader who trades in a weekly timeframe.

I think IBD is worth every penny. You can do everything that the author says without using IBD (by using MSN, Yahoo etc) but if you don;t have time for that IBD is the way to go. I have been following many (not all, i don't like the idea of buying at market price) of the advices in this book and have bagged 30% return in the last year despite two nasty corrections. If you want to take one lesson from this book, it would be

Buy high and sell higher in a bull market.

William O' Neal has done an excellent job laying out for investors and stock traders the 5 steps to take for outstanding results. I have read Oneal's other books but this one really laid out his strategies in a very easy to understand format. Here are the 5 steps he puts forth:



#1 Which way is the general market going? Only invest in bull markets, if the market is continually going down and has rallies that fail and fall again into lows. Stay away and safely in cash. Wait to enter when the market is clearly in an uptrend.



#2 Use a simple 3 to 1 profit and loss percentage plan. By setting a 7% stop loss on all stocks, and capturing a 20% gain when you are right, you can be right on 33% of your stock picks and still be a profitable investor/trader. Of course this is the worst case scenario. The important thing is taking losses quickly and letting profits run to a reasonable place and then take them.



#3 How to buy the very best stocks at the very best times. Buy stocks using the CAN-SLIM method for the fundamental value. (With current and 5 year earnings increases being the #1 measurement of valuation). Then buy them after they have reached there 52 week high, pulled back and resumed upwards after coming off new support levels.(Cup and handle chart pattern).



#4 When to nail down your big profit. Sell a stock that has run up to a ridiculous price while it is still heading up. Do not try to call the top, these stocks pull back tremendously when they run out of buyers. The signs to sell include when it closes at the low for the day or fails to make new highs for a few days. (Railroad tracks on a chart).



#5 Managing your portfolio for maximum gains and minimum losses. When it is time to realign your portfolio sell your losers and keep your winners. Diversifying is for people who do not know what they are doing, successful investors buy 4 to 10 stocks they are experts on and watch them closely. Only add a new one after you sell your biggest loser. Never buy more of a stock that is going down only increase position sizes on winners. Only buy the best stocks in an industry, stay away from stocks under $15 to $20 a share.



Excellent book that belongs in every investors/traders library. William O'Neal belongs with other legendary traders he has done a great job of building on what others have learned. I predict it will be a classic one day.

William O' Neal has done an excellent job laying out for investors and stock traders the 5 steps to take for outstanding results. I have read Oneal's other books but this one really laid out his strategies in a very easy to understand format. Here are the 5 steps he puts forth:

#1 Which way is the general market going? Only invest in bull markets, if the market is continually going down and has rallies that fail and fall again into lows. Stay away and safely in cash. Wait to enter when the market is clearly in an uptrend.

#2 Use a simple 3 to 1 profit and loss percentage plan. By setting a 7% stop loss on all stocks, and capturing a 20% gain when you are right, you can be right on 33% of your stock picks and still be a profitable investor/trader. Of course this is the worst case scenario. The important thing is taking losses quickly and letting profits run to a reasonable place and then take them.

#3 How to buy the very best stocks at the very best times. Buy stocks using the CAN-SLIM method for the fundamental value. (With current and 5 year earnings increases being the #1 measurement of valuation). Then buy them after they have reached there 52 week high, pulled back and resumed upwards after coming off new support levels.(Cup and handle chart pattern).

#4 When to nail down your big profit. Sell a stock that has run up to a ridiculous price while it is still heading up. Do not try to call the top, these stocks pull back tremendously when they run out of buyers. The signs to sell include when it closes at the low for the day or fails to make new highs for a few days. (Railroad tracks on a chart).

#5 Managing your portfolio for maximum gains and minimum losses. When it is time to realign your portfolio sell your losers and keep your winners. Diversifying is for people who do not know what they are doing, successful investors buy 4 to 10 stocks they are experts on and watch them closely. Only add a new one after you sell your biggest loser. Never buy more of a stock that is going down only increase position sizes on winners. Only buy the best stocks in an industry, stay away from stocks under $15 to $20 a share.

Excellent book that belongs in every investors/traders library. William O'Neal belongs with other legendary traders he has done a great job of building on what others have learned. I predict it will be a classic one day.

I believe every investor ought to read this book before putting any money in the market. If O'Neil's CANSLIM system is followed, it is IMPOSSIBLE to to lose money in the stock market!

I believe every investor ought to read this book before putting any money in the market. If O'Neil's CANSLIM system is followed, it is IMPOSSIBLE to to lose money in the stock market!

I knew a little bit about charts going into reading this book, and good thing I did, or you would be completely lost.

He has some wacky theories that I guess work for him, but when I read that he only recommends using a Market Order instead of a Limit order, I put the book down and quit reading.

This is an especially helpful book if you are the kind of investor who spends at least 1 - 3 hours each day tracking the market. The author provides sound strategies for taking the emotion out of investing. But if you are an investor who prefers mutual funds, or prefers to have an investment counselor or broker guide your investments while you do other things, then this book is not for you.

This is an especially helpful book if you are the kind of investor who spends at least 1 - 3 hours each day tracking the market. The author provides sound strategies for taking the emotion out of investing. But if you are an investor who prefers mutual funds, or prefers to have an investment counselor or broker guide your investments while you do other things, then this book is not for you.

Much of the material in this book (2003) seems to be a repetition of the previous book titled "How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition" (2002). It is hard to believe that so much changed in a year that the author needed to write a completely new book.

The section on pattern faults in Step 3 is sometimes vague and it is not always clear whether the fault being discussed applies to a specific pattern or to all patterns in general.

In his earlier book (How to Make Money in Stocks, 2002 edition, page 115) the author recommended that individual investors should not own more than 6-7 stocks. But in this book (page 98) he talks casually about owning up to 10 stocks. So, which one is correct; 6-7 or 10?

The section on pattern faults in Step 3 is sometimes vague and it is not always clear whether the fault being discussed applies to a specific pattern or to all patterns in general.

In his earlier book (How to Make Money in Stocks, 2002 edition, page 115) the author recommended that individual investors should not own more than 6-7 stocks. But in this book (page 98) he talks casually about owning up to 10 stocks. So, which one is correct; 6-7 or 10?

Overall, this book is worth reading and owning. He gives some valuable advice about cutting your losses when a stock you buy starts to tank. Do NOT "buy and hold." His stock investing strategy is the opposite of most other analysts. Most of the big names such as Buffet, Graham, and Fisher suggest looking for currently undervalued, low P/E stocks. Many statistical studies have shown that, on average, so-called "value" stocks will outperform the market in the long run. In contrast, O'Neill believes that P/E ratio doesn't matter. Many of the best growth stocks have high P/E ratios, he argues, because they deserve such ratios. He suggests looking for stocks that show accelerating earnings growth relative to the market. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes this can be a great recipe for buying the stocks that did great LAST year, but will do mediocre or worse this year. I've had success with both value and growth stocks. Personally, I believe there are no sure-fire methods for stock picking, except for knowledge, experience, and intelligence. Each company has to be evaluated carefully on its own merits and in light of market conditions. Some of my best stocks were low P/E stocks, and I've done well with stocks that went down over 7% (O'Neill's "sell point") but then rallied fabulously.

One problem I had with this book is the plethora of graphs. Graphs do not tell you anything about the future performance of a stock. There is no significant statistical relationship between past movements of a stock and future performance. Technical analysis is a fool's game. O'Neill combines fundamental analysis with technical analysis, but his reliance on charts is extremely foolish. These graphs are all so ambiguous! Where one analyst finds a "cup and handle" another might find a "dead cat," and a third might find Homer Simpson. It's like finding shapes in the clouds.

If you've ever read Bill O'Neil's "How to Make Money in Stocks" you've already been exposed to every single bit of information in this book. There really is nothing new, sadly--in fact, this book is more or less just a condensed version of the earlier book, with a few things updated. Since O'Neil claims his method has worked for 50 years and will continue to work forever, though, there really was no need to update.

On the other hand, this book was a decent refresher course for me. Repetition is good, though you could acheive the same result from reading "How to Make Money in Stocks" again. Like that book, this one is more or less a plug for IBD--it explains the premise behind the IBD way of investing but tells you over and over that you won't be able to apply O'Neil's precepts without a subscription to the site or the paper. It's also tiresome that O'Neil thinks his is the ONLY method of investing that works (he even insists that, when choosing a broker, you find one that has attended IBD's paid workshops and subscribes to their paper).

To really understand the IBD philosophy you must read one of his books. I see no reason why it should be this one, though, and can't help think this recycled material was just brought to market in order to capitalize on the success of the first book. I really like the IBD way of investing, and use it often, but I would recommend "How to Make Money in Stocks" over this book any day. In fact, if you have that book you don't even need this one.

As with O'Neil's other book, How to Make Money in Stocks, I give his books the highest of ratings for anyone who wants to learn about the stock market or, in some cases, improve performance. In my opinion, his claim to fame is not only that he does a great job of giving basics, but he does it all in understandable English. When I began to study the stock market years ago, my major complaint was that I could hardly understand what I was reading. I spent much of my time looking up words and expressions in an investment dictionary! You will not spend your time doing that with O'Neill's book. Plus he will give you a great foundational education in market investing. I not only reread this book occasionally, but it is one of my favorite books to give as gifts to young and/or potential investors who want to know more about wise investing. Arlean

This book describes a system for picking stocks that has for many investors proved very useful. In fact for many years I used a similar method to make my bets on the market. If you have the time and courage to follow the system you will achieve market returns in my humble opinion.

I would suggest to the individual investor to read a little about investing in index mutual funds and exchange traded funds.

The book I recommend is titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission Easy to read packed with precise directions for success. A cookbook for the investor - just follow directions. I enjoyed this book a great deal for its sound advice.

It shows how indexing and diversification strategies work and why they are so important to investing success. Unlike many other books, this one is not only informative, but useful. There should be no question as how to implement Eade's strategy and measure your progress. He skillfully addresses asset allocation, and shows how to minimize tax consequences by assigning securities to tax deferred accounts. The author does not dwell on lengthy longwinded discussions but cuts to the quick with useful recommendation and directions for the novice and experienced investor as well. I recommend both books for all investors. You can't go wrong following the advice of these two excellent authors on the subject.xxooxx

Mr O'Neil gives sound advice to every novice trader, CUT YOUR LOSSES BEFORE YOU GET WIPED OUT! Following simple advice is very difficult to do and takes great discipline. If you follow Mr O'Neil's advice you should make money in stocks. Good book.

Nothing is clear in this book, it is not organized and not well writing. Filled with charts that are dispersed wherever and not easy to understand.
Frankly it is an advertising of the Investor Business Daily, IBD, please subscribe and you will make money, I lost my respect to Mr. O'Neils when he ended the book by the testimonials from Investors.
He even wrote if you deal with a broker who didn't attend his class!! It is a worst investor.

This book offers sound advise for those who believe that they can compete with all of the professional portfolio managers working in the field.Many investors believe however that the optimum strategy is to obtain the market return with their portfolios and concentrate on those items that one can control.I recommend this book for those who want to get up to speed on selecting stocks for their portfolios.

I also recommend a little book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission by Gordon L. Eade If you are familiar with the basics of investing (e.g., understand stocks and bonds, know how mutual funds work), then this is an ideal book for you to learn how to implement these superior strategies. Eade tells you why you should stop paying attention to Wall Street, the media, and almost everyone else, and follow a proven investment method that is the most likely to lead you to success in the long run. These are proven strategies.

The book promotes Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), which use new Wall Street products such as index funds and exchange traded funds to obtain excellent returns with minimum risk. Exchange traded funds are remarkably sophisticated investment vehicles and they are used to portfolios of stocks to maximize returns and minimize risk. He shows you how to mix various asset classes. The author explains the theory's underpinnings in ordinary clear language making it easy to understand its applications in the real world. Model portfolios are provided to achieve planned results with a minimum degree of risk.

motivational qualities. Investing in marketable securities is indeed a risky activity for the individual investor and requires a conviction that you have conquered your fear of losing your hard earned money. Many of the readers who have commented on this book have echoed this point. Stocks and bond investments are what we call passive investments but many investors become impatient with their investments and become active constantly changing their portfolios seeking to gain immediate profits. This shows a lack of understanding of the history of stock prices. It is the volatility of the market that will cause the average investor to liquidate his portfolio at market lows and it is the hope for profits that causes the investor to purchase securities at market highs.

This trait is clearly evident to those of use who have studied the market.I recommend a little book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission by Gordon L. Eade for those who want to learn how to invest in the market.

This book is a gem and I rate it among the top 25 books written for its coverage of modern investing strategies. The author makes many startling statements backed by reference to the authors and books listed in the appendix. For the novice investor Gordon gives you specific instructions on how to structure your portfolio and how to measure your progress toward your objective.

Other books tell you why you should use passive investing strategies, Gordon's book show you how to implement your selected retirement plan. Think of this book as a cook book for the investor. The model portfolios are the recipes, what index funds to buy. The instruction are where to buy your funds. And most important how to evaluate your progress toward your objective.

Mr. Eade has had 50 years experience as an investor and has spent the last year writing this book as a service to the public. Take a look at the other reviews to see opinions of other readers of this great little book.

This book is one big advertisement for IBD. The author makes it clear that he is the founder of Investor's Business Daily (it's in big letters on the cover) and mentions it throughout the book many many times. The extent to which he pushes a subscription to IBD is almost comical and unless you can afford it's hefty annual pricetag you're out of luck on many of his suggestions. I know the pricetag on the book is cheap, but do you really want to pay anything for the ability to be advertised to, heck they should be paying me to advertise to me. My suggestion is to stay away from this one. I would strongly suggest Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor. It's by far the best investing book I've read.

This is one of my "desert island" books on investing. Once again, O'Neil treats readers to a dose of stock market reality and a dose of common sense. There is a good reason why the American Association of Individual Investors ("AAII") rates the CANSLIM system as one of the best-performing systems in its portfolio rating system (which includes growth, value, high dividend payers, etc.). This book is excellent value for the money. I highly recommend it!

One can not go wrong with this book that describes methods and techniques used by active investors that believe that it is possible for the average investor to out smart all of the investors out there with time and resources far greater than their own.

I also recommend a little book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission by Gordon L. Eade. Easy to read packed with precise directions for success. A cookbook for the investor just follow directions. I enjoyed this book a great deal. It shows how indexing and diversification strategies work and why they are so important to investing success. Unlike many other books, this one is not only informative, but also useful. There should be no question as how to implement Eade's strategy and measure your progress. He skillfully addresses asset allocation, and shows how to minimize tax consequences by assigning securities to tax deferred accounts. The author does not dwell on lengthy longwinded discussions but cuts to the quick with useful recommendation and directions for the novice and experienced investor as well. I recommend this book for all investors

This book is excellent to start getting familiar with the basic techniques that help you avoid big losses. I have been more effective with my own investments since I bought the book. It is definitely one of the best -if not the only- in its class.

Well, it's pretty much the same material as in 'How to make money in stocks'.

The same momentum strategy. It seems, that author is trying to explain everything in different, easier way.

But it's still too complicated for beginers I think. Good for advanced investors.

Anyway, the book is worth money I spent on it.

N.B. It's about US stock market.

I was excited to read this book, as I have often thought about subscribing to the IBD (I've picked it up & read it several times at the library).

So I bought this book to try it out. I've lost all respect for this author & the IBD. Here are just a few of the problems:

(1) Frankly, it doesn't work: I picked 10 stocks & applied the CAN SLIM formula, and the portfolio did worse than my S&P 500 index fund.

(2) The method is deeply flawed: First he gives the steps to CAN SLIM, which is mostly common sense. "Increased trading activity indicates a stock may go up or down in the near future." Duh. Next, he says the formula might not work in a Bull or Bear Market (which explains why my portfolio didn't work). Then, if you follow a footnote, you will read that it might not work in a Flat market either. !!! THEN he lists all these other caveats where the formula might not work. Excuse me? Just under what circumstance will this formula work? Full moon, on an even numbered month & odd numbered day, while sitting under a Sycamore tree? This is very fuzzy logic.

(3) It's terribly complicated: even if it did work, the daily research and effort to make your picks is not worth the payoff. There are much better books & newsletters out there, that make quarterly & annual recommendations that require much less research AND they pay off better. Try Bob Brinker's Marketimer, the book Dividends Don't Lie, or Adding to Your Financial Portfolio... by Christensen, et al.

(4) It's politically motivated (and naive): This guy actually thinks that Bush's economic policy is solid? It's difficult to find even a single Republican in the Congress who sincerely believes that a $6 trillion debt is a good idea. But William O'Neil not only believes Bush's overspending is a terrific idea, he applauds him for it & lobbies for Bush's economic policies. Amazing.

And, if you follow this advice, you too may one day be in debt by $6 trillion.

Bottom line: look elsewhere. I had thought Investors Business Daily was a reputable publication, but now I know better. I don't know how the IBD manages to stay in business with this horribly simplistic advise.

I was excited to read this book, as I have often thought about subscribing to the IBD (I've picked it up & read it several times at the library).

So I bought this book to try it out. I've lost all respect for this author & the IBD. Here are just a few of the problems:

(1) Frankly, it doesn't work: I picked 10 stocks & applied the CAN SLIM formula, and the portfolio did worse than my S&P 500 index fund.

(2) The method is deeply flawed: First he gives the steps to CAN SLIM, which is mostly common sense. "Increased trading activity indicates a stock may go up or down in the near future." Duh. Next, he says the formula might not work in a Bull or Bear Market (which explains why my portfolio didn't work). Then, if you follow a footnote, you will read that it might not work in a Flat market either. !!! THEN he lists all these other caveats where the formula might not work. Excuse me? Just under what circumstance will this formula work? Full moon, on an even numbered month & odd numbered day, while sitting under a Sycamore tree? This is very fuzzy logic.

(3) It's terribly complicated: even if it did work, the daily research and effort to make your picks is not worth the payoff. There are much better books & newsletters out there, that make quarterly & annual recommendations that require much less research AND they pay off better. Try Bob Brinker's Marketimer, the book Dividends Don't Lie, or Adding to Your Financial Portfolio... by Christensen, et al.

(4) It's politically motivated (and naive): This guy actually thinks that Bush's economic policy is solid? It's difficult to find even a single Republican in the Congress who sincerely believes that a $6 trillion debt is a good idea. But William O'Neil not only believes Bush's overspending is a terrific idea, he applauds him for it & lobbies for Bush's economic policies. Amazing.

And, if you follow this advice, you too may one day be in debt by $6 trillion.

Bottom line: look elsewhere. I had thought Investors Business Daily was a reputable publication, but now I know better. I don't know how the IBD manages to stay in business with this horribly simplistic advise.

This book was written for those who want to learn more about the operation of the daily stock market. The book is definitely not light reading. Charts and technical aspects abound. If you are a novice, you must actually study the material to fully understand it. This book along with "How to make money in stocks",and 'The Successful Investor" both by O'Neil should be used as text books for anyone who is serious about the stock market

By following O'Neils advice in this and all his other books, people would have avoided devastating losses in what became the biggest crash since 1929. Need I say more? This IS the best system in bull markets and keeps you safe in bear.

Not a very well written book IMO. It could have been 33% shorter as 1/3 of the book is filled with Charts (that are hard to follow and lacks in depth explaination) and pointless fluff. For example last 32 pages of the 170 page book are Appendixes including pages of testimonials from Investors who benefited using IBD.

The concepts discussed in the book seems secondary to O'Neils constant pumping of Investor Business Daily. He will tease you with intersting idea but fails to go in depth with any explaination. Instead, he brings up what sections of IBD you can find the certain information in. Basically this book is a one big informecial for IBD which is heavily promoted throughout the book. There is even a free subscription offer on the front cover.

This should be a free give away book for subscribers of IBD because it's more of a how to use IBD book than a stand alone investment book.

I have to agree with L. Schneiderman's review. The information in the book is very good, but it does spend alot of time marketing Investor's Business Daily. Even worse is it tells you you can get the IBD Top 10 groups from the print version or the electronic version of the IBD's site Investor.com. But in truth, under the online version, the Groups are provided by a sister company that requires you to subscribe to it. So not only do you have to subscribe to IBD, but also their sister company Daily Graphs Onlineý. I didn't really appreciate that and am considering cancelling my membership to Investor.com.

I purchased the book after a known acquintance of mine made a million bucks in stocks AFTER 911. When I inquired how he could beat the market by such a big margin, he said he used the inputs from the book -Called CANSLIM(among several other inputs) . and sugggested this book as a basis for his investing .He is also a subscriber of IBD

And it was true.. This book should be rated as one of the best books on stock markets in recent times.There are two approaches to investing
1. Buy and hold ( Warren buffet's value investing)
2. Buy /Hold and Sell

If you buy and Hold, more than likely u will retire in peace..but forget being rich..How successful you are in the buy /hold / sell strategy could mean the difference between living in Trump towers or in the subways of New York. But for most of us, we will fit somewhere in between . I can guarantee this book is one major asset in finding our way in the stockmarkets(and eventually to Trump towers)..and could take some of us into financial independence .

The book is all about 'Scientiic Speculation'..Little confused ?
- Companies that have high quarterly earnings ( scientific analysis)
- Companies that have acceleared earnings( scientific analysis)
- 3/4 companies follow the market trend(emotions)
-New Product line ( scientific analysis)
- Institutional support(emotions)
- Relative strength of the industry ( scientific analysis)

While the high level philosophy looks simple, execution is the key. the book goes thro a perfect blend of market sentiments and technical analysis ...The book goes thro bench marks on each criteria ( ex :relative strength should be 85). The book is also well written (ex :Bubbles come in different size, shape, color, time and place. That makes spotting one difficult.
Once upon a time it came as Tulip flowers in Holland; Cotton Mills in UK; Gold in Alaska; deregulation in India; technology breakthru on Nasdaq and now as Real Estate in some parts of US. It is a repeat charade of human emotions.)

After reading this , have kept a portion of my investments in vanguard ( risk aversion) and sold all my stocks that i had purchased without the knowledge and wisdom acquired after reading the book (ex : Wiating for Oracle stock to go up for past 4 years). Cut the losses and go on..My first round of CANSLIM approach has worked very well... HANS, SNHY etc was purchased, held and sold exactly as in the book ..Irrespective of whether i am successful and disciplined in stock market in the long run, this book has been a valuable insight.subscribed to online IBD and is also working well

I suggest..Do yourself a favor..Buy this book !also buy another great book from john murphy (technical analysis of the financial markets)..that one is also very good...but lacks the feeling of reading a 'thriller' like ""The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses""

I have read this book of O'Neil as well as his previous book - "How to make money in stocks". I liked O'Neil explanation of his investment methodology (CANSLIM + trading rules), which sounds very level headed and employs combination of fundamental and technical criteria. Since this book was published in a "post-bubble" time, there are some good pointers on how to try and identify stock and market tops. That I also liked.

What I found to ellicit a negative "knee-jerk" response from me is a constant attempt of O'Neil's to sell his IBD newspaper and services. One typical quote:"It should help if you know for certain your broker has attended one or more of IBD's paid workshops". "Telemarketing" and "infomercials" like that are sprinkled all over the book and in my view significantly cheapen the effect of this book. One can't help but wonder if the whole point of the book is to just sell IBD newspaper. Also, I felt like O'Neil ran out of enough content to fill up this book (it is small as it is). So, O'Neil then goes on a tangent on how he thinks the US economy should be run and on what a good buddy he is with George W. Bush (and prints his letter to the President). These negative factors translate for me into -2 and perhaps even -3 stars, giving a total of 2-3 stars.

O'Neils data analysis is the best I've ever seen available to the public. If you want to know what a stock that's acting right looks like, then buy this book, because those are the kinds of stocks you want to buy, the stocks that don't you want to sell. Timing is everything, and O'Neil has this down to a science. And like any good science, he presents a lot of historical data to back it up, both technical and fundamental. Such enlightenment may help you develop a successful style, as it has me. O'Neil provides a big picture view of things, with respect to the general market and individual stocks. Such understanding is essential. He's basically compiled a way of looking at the market that the greatest stock market operators throughout history have seen it. Such vision, from my point of view, has provided me with a sense of empowerment I never thought I'd ever possess. I always thought I'd have to be a professional athlete to feel this way, but no more. It took me about 5 years, many failures and continued study to see the kind of results I now see. Such material benefit though, I discovered, only came after a conversion of sorts, as they say, going broke is an efficient educational agency, but I've learned that failure is only temporary.

If you are a new subscriber to Investors Business Daily (IBD) then you are well aware of all the wonderful details to investing the IBD way. This book is the perfect compliment to those new to IBD and or investing. Concepts that you use daily in IBD are explained in-depth and with examples. For those that do not subscribe to the paper, yet are looking to gain a better understanding of our stock market, then this book is for you.

At times the book can get so technical that your head may spin. Don't fret, go back and read the page(s) again and it will come to you. This is not a book that you read once and then let it collect dust. This is a guide for all investors.

The most important thing you can learn from this book. Sell any investment if it falls 7-8% below your initial purchase price. What money saving advice!!!!

I have never read any of O'neils previous books but after reading this one i see no reason to. The Successful Investor by Willaim J. O'Neil is such an easy read even a child could grasp the concepts given by CANSLIM. I loved the many chart patterns this book presented as well as a brief overview on shorting which O'neil has never really given any helpful hints on how to do correctly. Everything offered in this book has given the reader no excuse to fail in investing. Stick with the CANSLIM methedology given by O'neil and also pick up "Way of Warrior Trader" by Richard D. McCall which further goes into the mastery of pyschology in trading. I highly recommend this book for any active investor!

I have read many books on investing but O'Niel hits a home run with The Successful Investor. Following the CANSLIM method, I have become a successful investor. I also read IBB every day. Yhank you Mr. O'Niel.

While there are many books on investing, this book by O'Niel is one of the very best. I read this book and read IBD everyday. Following his CANSLIM formula I have been making money inthe market while others have lost or are just treading water.

O'NIELS advice has also saved me money. I almost bought a under $15 stock LU @ $4.25 based on a brokers opinion but elected not to. LU tanked and is now trading at around $3. Thank you Mr. O'Niel!