I ordered this book since February 9, 2010. Today is April 9. I haven't receive it yet. This is an unknown book to me for now.

This is a must book if you are a daytrader or a swing trader. Tom's insights into how the market works is invaluable - his techniques of using time and key numbers are unique and give a different perspective to active trading.

If you are a novice trader, I would strongly recommend you read this book early on. If you are experienced, it gives you additinal tools and techniques.

This is the type of book that should be mandatory at every trading course. No matter how much experience you have in trading (stocks, futures,...) by reading this book you'll get a second chance to effectively understand the fundamental principles (such as key numbers) involved in trading. It is just amazing how Tom Busby details his strategies and talks about his trading experience in simple terms. It is quite unfortunate that nobody told me to read this fantactic book a few years ago.

This is a must read for any one who trades. No matter your status as a trader whether you are a novice, or have been trading for 30 years, there is something in this book for everyone. The ideas and concepts presented are profound and one of kind. It is also nice to see a successful, professional trader and how our particular career choice effects every day life. He makes it personal and is easy to relate to. I love the fact that he takes us into his past with illustrations and analogies and explains why he now runs his own educational firm instead of keeping this priceless information to himself. Busby makes himself vunerable and shows how to bounce back from a horrendous defeat. This is the VERY BEST book on trading I have read... True Story!!!!

Worth far more than the cover price if you only take away one of the many nuggets within its pages. Tom's introduction to the markets, how he joined the business, & how he recovered from the crash of '87, provides a reality check & hope to any trader. His system, constant references to risk control & never trading without stops provide a solid foundation for any trading plan, regardless of the market chosen. His preparation method, 3ts of trading and recognition of market moves that indicate when any trade is wrong, separates his approach from many others that offer theirs as the path to success. Tom story telling mixed with systematic approach, along with addressing psychological aspects of trading make it nearly a complete package. Learn to read the tape, use decision T & wait for the proper time to trade. It is worth keeping near your trading desk, I find more each time I read it.

This book is where anyone should start when trading anything in the markets. It puts a complex topic and shapes it into an easy to read and understand guide on the markets and how to trade them. I've ready many books that teach you a system on trading, this one teaches a method. I've always been hesitant on any book that claims to help with day trading, a term that many investors balk at. However, this book teaches you how to trade the day markets while using the global markets to time major moves in the big trend. YOU SHOULD NOT TRADE WITHOUT READING THIS BOOK. PERIOD. I recommend this book to everyone out there looking for a way to improve your accuracy.

This is a great book for a beginner on the basic principles of the game. The principle of always limiting your risk first and worry about taking profits second is worth the price of the book alone. The book is correct, if you honor your stops and control your risk the profits will come. Oddly enough that has always been my biggest weakness, I hated admitting I was wrong when I day traded. This lesson has cost me thousands in the market, but you can skip this tuition if you follow the author's guidelines. The author gives excellent advice on understanding support and resistance along with key numbers when you place trades. He gives the advice to buy into strength and sell short into weakness, this is truly the only way to trade successfully over the long term. You will see the proper times frames to trade in where there is enough volume to cause price movement and trends but not at volatile time periods when the markets have not settled down. You have to set realistic goals and not over trade. You must trade the proper position size with a clear head and a professional attitude. Stay out of the market when important news or reports are due, you can not predict how the market will react to the planned news, you are just gambling when you try to predict this. I believe beginners interested in getting started in day trading will enjoy and learn a lot from this book. For intermediate and advanced traders I would say look into Alexander Elder's books or Brett Steenbarger's for a mental and technical edge, this book is probably to basic for the experienced trader.

worth reading and keeping, alot of good advice, not alot of noise.

john clark

Not a book I would recommend to either a beginner or a more advanced student of trading. The author preaches some obvious truths which you can get way better explained in dozens of other books, and he shares some nuggets of his trading methodology. Some of my favorites were the key numbers you need to watch while trading the S&P futures contract (28 numbers from the range of 0 to 99 - what a treat indeed, as much as 72% of the numbers are not "key" - obviously not a word on why these numbers are the "key numbers"), and a three Ts methodology of trading, whereas the author enters the market with large position and then liquidates 1/3 at a nominal profit, another 1/3 at another very small profit, and lets the profit on the balance of 1/3 of the position run. By doing so, he apparently has a sure way of minimizing risk since he immediately locks in the profit on 2/3 of his position. Quite impressive but somehow he forgets to explain how he makes sure that his position is always on the right side of the market and he never ends up with an immediate loss on his initial huge position. Incidentally, his methodology is the exact opposite of what Mr. Livermore had recommended, while the author considers him his guru. If you have about $30-40 to spend and like a good laugh, by all means buy this book. If you have significantly more than that to spare, the author also offers trading seminars -- I am sure these are amusing -- and the usual $2,950 software. Enjoy!

Not a book I would recommend to either a beginner or a more advanced student of trading. The author preaches some obvious truths which you can get way better explained in dozens of other books, and he shares some nuggets of his trading methodology. Some of my favorites were the key numbers you need to watch while trading the S&P futures contract (28 numbers from the range of 0 to 99 - what a treat indeed, as much as 72% of the numbers are not "key" - obviously not a word on why these numbers are the "key numbers"), and a three Ts methodology of trading, whereas the author enters the market with large position and then liquidates 1/3 at a nominal profit, another 1/3 at another very small profit, and lets the profit on the balance of 1/3 of the position run. By doing so, he apparently has a sure way of minimizing risk since he immediately locks in the profit on 2/3 of his position. Quite impressive but somehow he forgets to explain how he makes sure that his position is always on the right side of the market and he never ends up with an immediate loss on his initial huge position. Incidentally, his methodology is the exact opposite of what Mr. Livermore had recommended, while the author considers him his guru. If you have about $30-40 to spend and like a good laugh, by all means buy this book. If you have significantly more than that to spare, the author also offers trading seminars -- I am sure these are amusing -- and the usual $2,950 software. Enjoy!

Consistently making money as a day trader is exceedingly difficult. I can verify that fact, as a former day trader, and as the author of a comprehensive book on day trading. Every trader would like to become a millionaire trading the markets a few hours a day. Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream for the vast majority of traders. Most traders are neither well disciplined nor have a rule-based buy and sell strategy. Moreover, they are usually too emotional, and they don't properly manage risk to protect their capital. The end result is usually a change in profession.

Busby's begins his 13-chapter book with a retrospective on how he got started in trading. Early in his career, he was as a broker at Merrill Lynch while earning his law degree. He then migrated to trading S&P 500 futures in 1982 when they first became available. Busby enjoyed had much success until devastating losses on Black Monday, a day that impacted him for many years to come. After taking a big hit on October 19, 1987, due to an unhedged futures position, Busby spent years trying to regain his self-confidence. His trading results tended to be mediocre. He was searching for his future direction.

After coming to grips with this situation, Busby decided to look forward instead of backward. He embarked on a path to develop a systematic approach to trading futures that offered consistent profits and minimal risk. After developing and successfully trading his methodology, he decided to found the Day Trading Institute in 1996 to teach new and experienced traders his approach. In 2001, I attended Busby's two-day seminar on futures trading. The book's contents closely parallel the seminar. As I read the book, I remembered many of the key points taught by Busby and his associate Geoff Smith.

Busby certainly has the experience and expertise to educate potential and existing traders with over 25 years of trading futures and teaching about futures in his firm's workshops since 1996. For those individuals looking for a time-tested approach method to trading the S&P 500 futures, he provides a realistic, informative, highly-structured and workable approach that will put the odds of success in your favor, as long as you do your homework, apply yourself, learn from your mistakes every day, and always use protective stop loss orders.

Throughout the book, Busby continually hammers home the point of using protective stops on all trades to limit risk. He believes that trading without stops can potentially lead to big losses that will prematurely end your trading career. This protective stop insurance policy certainly paid off on September 11, 2001 when the market fell precipitously. Busby and his clients were automatically taken out of the market by their stops, before the big drop accelerated which, Busby's career had some bumps along the way.

The futures trading methodology that Busby developed and espoused in his book consists of adhering to three main elements:
· Key Numbers
· Time of Day
· Road Map

Key numbers represent critical support and resistance levels that are often tested, as well as the opening price for the day, and week, month and year for the S&P 500 futures contract, for example. Busby believes that there are three trading times during the day that offer better odds of making money. These include one morning and two afternoon sessions of 30 minute to 75 minute each. Lastly, he reviews a few key market indicators that he calls his "Road Map" to assess the market's condition that include the S&P and Nasdaq futures, NYSE and NASDAQ TICK and TRIN, foreign futures, and two proprietary indicators. Busby uses his electronic real-time "Road Map" as those before him used the ticker tape to read the market's pulse. Knowing the direction of the various market components and whether or not they are synchronized provides critical information as to whether a trade will be entered, and whether it will be a long or short.

In one chapter, Busby recaps the key points that have him years to learn and put in practice. At the end of the book, Busby writes, "The markets will crash again. Be prepared." That's what trading is all about, being prepared. Busby provides a sound approach to a challenging and rewarding profession. A more precise title for this book would have been Winning the Futures Day Trading Game because the contents are almost exclusively focused on futures trading. However, the basic trading advice that he provides is well suited for day traders of other investment vehicles. Although some readers may not feel that his trading approach fully fits their needs or personality, there are numerous insights that will shorten their learning curve and reduce their losses. Education is the key to successful trading. Busby certainly provides a realistic educational experience that readers will benefit from and hopefully become better traders.

Nice read and good tips as well. But a few charts. A good begining. I'm satisfied with the book. I Recommend.

There are several reasons for my positive rating of this book. First, the author dared tell his dire trading failure in 1987 and the consequent financial and emotional trouble from then till 1992. Second, he emphasized repetitively on the need for one's own trading journal, protective stops and preparaton before any trade. Third, he elaborated plainly his past unsuccessful day trading routine. Fourth, he preached detailedly the importance of special dates and key numbers. Fifth, he respected Jesse Livermore much. I do, too. Finally, I had read four of his seven suggested readings beforehand. Our thoughts should be close. Perhaps the major weakness I can tell of it is that he had talked very little on TA tools, or at least the importance of them on day trading. In short, readable! But not on the top priority list.

When I read this book it reminded me of a seminar that Tom did in Las Vegas. He is full of himself and it is not a secret that he makes money selling books and training, not trading. If you want to learn how to trade read up on Toby Crabel, Linda Rascke, find it used on Ebay or whatever, just read up on the real traders, not on the entertainers.

This book provided the general steps in trade preperation. You won't get the nuts and bolts into money management, trade setup, position sizing... etc. But it gives you a blueprint of how you should prepare yourself to trade. Some say there's nothing new in the book, yeah, everything can be found on the net, but can you piece it all together. The author did, so THAT's where the 5 star came from. Read the book and give a honest review.

This book offers sound advice for every level of trader, from novice to market veteran.

As a professional who has seen it come and seen it go, Busby has found a way to relay everyting a prospective trader would need to know to get started and become a success. As a newcomer to the markets I found this book to be extremely helpful and use it daily as a constant reminder when in the markets.

I highly recommend it to all who wish to continue their education in the financial markets and wish to profit from experience.

Busby's book starts out with a story of defeat from his losses suffered on Black Monday 1987. From there he gives a wonderful tale of how he went from the top to the bottom then back to the top of his profession. With many great stories of his life as a broker and then a full-time trader, he paints a real-life portrait of the ups and downs that come in a trader's career. I have only been trading for 5 years but I refer to this book on a regular basis to remind me of the discipline it takes to succeed in this game they call the stock market.

The book has a catchy title but do NOT expect to find anything of value inside. Just the usual comments like "always use a stop", "don't overtrade", "use a sound money management", "stay disciplined" and blah blah blah...

This book is a total joke, save your money and run !

I read this among a few other books, well worth reading.
here are the pros and cons.

Pros:
- written based on a real life story
- Reader friendly and you'll definetly understand it

Cons:

- lays down a few techniques but don't expect much
- not so much about technical analysis, charting or indicators
- author tends to be brief sometimes and limited info is given

If you are new to trading, read it and do so only if you will read a few other books on technical analysis and charting as well as fundamentals.
A bit expensive for its listed price of $60 but you can get at amazon for much less, especially since it's a small book.

remeber there is a lot to this game "trading" so educate yourself before you put your $$$ on the line and remember
" The trend is your friend except at the end"
good luck and happy trading.

Great book!

Successfully trading futures contracts, stocks, and commodities is a real challenge.

Tom's book has helped me to focus on detailed preparation, accurate analysis, trade execution, and above all, money management.

I now do better job of keeping my `eye' on the ball and ignoring the market noise

I consider this book a `must read' for all day, swing and longer term traders

I think this book is good enough but one needs more updated strategies to make in this game

These days it's really hard to find trading books that are practical and simple to understand. Most of the info outhere is full of the same thecnical analysis jargon that makes you lose a lot of times. Basically most tehcnical trading books tell you the same story but organized in different chapters using different words and charts as examples.

Some places on the web have pretty practical information. One site that I recommend is StressFreeTraders com. They have a pretty clear way for trading stocks with momentum using easy to understand strategies. This is also one place where you can understand why the use of a Level 2 system is critical for trading the rally.

Understanding how to trade a rally is one of the most important aspects of trading, since for us traders the rally is where we make our money.

I cannot for the life of me understand all the 5-star reviews.

Nor can I understand who this book is aimed at:

For the beginner it provides just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Sweeping generalisations and banal observations without any concrete 'how to' advice. For example - sure, we should always employ money management, but what systems? - not one is suggested!!! There are far, far better books out there (check out Alexander Elder or Marcel Link for example).

For the experienced trader, there is nothing new here.

I read this cover to cover in a couple of hours and learned absolutely nothing new. Sorry, but it is going back.

Well written, easy read packed with usefull trading information. A must read for anyone serious about trading.

I have read all the classics and new books on investing and trading techniques. This is the first time a book, by reading only the first chapter, convinced me I needed to go meet the author. This author, Tom Busby, is unlike so many other authors in that he practices what he teaches on his trading school's Web site daily. I'm a skeptic. When I listen to their chat and see EXACTLY what they recommend trading, then I look at Busby's track record which is online for ALL TO SEE at the end of each day, I knew this wasn't a guy who hid but one who made public every trade he tells the world to do in his trading school's daily chat session. The chat session USES THE TECHNIQUES HE TEACHES IN THIS BOOK. Once I read the first chapter, I called to learn more about their school. Once I sat in the free 3-day chat session trial, I finished the book. Once I finished the book I immediately signed up for a course at his trading school. It's because he truly does teach the "art" of trading as promised, but that art is based on more than a decade of knowing how (and when) to approach each trading situation and read it like a pro. If all you do is read this book, you will be a better trader. I challenge you to stop there though. I didn't. I have nothing to gain by trying to convince you to get this book. I'd say, buy this book if you are a skeptic and only buy traders who not only practice what they teach but are open to telling others each and every technique they do. Tom Busby bares all here. I'm a better trader - and more profitable - because of Tom Busby. And I never knew about his trading school or techniques until Chapter 1 hooked me into finishing this now-classic text.

Thomas Busby offers great insigh into managing the risk of trading. A must for beginners and a great review for vets.

...but most everything is, isn't it? Reading other trader's thoughts and ideas is what helps us keep on top of our game. Even some little obscure paragraph buried somewhere in a trading book has the potential to be the acorn that grows into an oak tree. That's why we all keep reading all the books!

I took away some valuable nuggets from this book. Nothing that I didn't really know already, but sometimes things you already know get presented in a different manner and that's what finally turns the light bulb on for you. As a stock daytrader I am always looking for ways to improve. There wasn't much in the way of stock-trading specifics in this book, as Mr. Busby trades the market direction itself, stock indices. But winning principles are winning principles in any kind of trading.

For me, the emphasis on scaling out of winning positions was a valuable insight. I have since incorporated this tactic in afternoon reversal plays that I like to make - and doing so, along with finessing my tape reading skills to get into the position (another point stressed in the book), has made all the difference in the consistency of my results with this setup.

I also have adapted Mr. Busby's mantra of controlling the risk and profits will come, as drilling this through my head was just what the doctor ordered for my trading mindset at the time that I read this book.

Materials like this book written by professional traders offer the opportunity to mine out the stuff that you can use in your own trading and help you improve. The author himself admits that his style is not for everyone and that a winning trader must formulate his own methodology. Reading stuff like this is very benficial towards that goal; therefore I recommend it.

[...]

...but most everything is, isn't it? Reading other trader's thoughts and ideas is what helps us keep on top of our game. Even some little obscure paragraph buried somewhere in a trading book has the potential to be the acorn that grows into an oak tree. That's why we all keep reading all the books!

I took away some valuable nuggets from this book. Nothing that I didn't really know already, but sometimes things you already know get presented in a different manner and that's what finally turns the light bulb on for you. As a stock daytrader I am always looking for ways to improve. There wasn't much in the way of stock-trading specifics in this book, as Mr. Busby trades the market direction itself, stock indices. But winning principles are winning principles in any kind of trading.

For me, the emphasis on scaling out of winning positions was a valuable insight. I have since incorporated this tactic in afternoon reversal plays that I like to make - and doing so, along with finessing my tape reading skills to get into the position (another point stressed in the book), has made all the difference in the consistency of my results with this setup.

I also have adapted Mr. Busby's mantra of controlling the risk and profits will come, as drilling this through my head was just what the doctor ordered for my trading mindset at the time that I read this book.

Materials like this book written by professional traders offer the opportunity to mine out the stuff that you can use in your own trading and help you improve. The author himself admits that his style is not for everyone and that a winning trader must formulate his own methodology. Reading stuff like this is very benficial towards that goal; therefore I recommend it.

For me, books are either a 1 star, 3 star, or 5 star. The 5-stars are the classics that are too good to ever remove from your bookshelf, like many of the books I recommend at winningfinancialstrategies.com. The 3-stars get sold on ebay when the bookshelf overflows. The 1-stars go to Salvation Army.

I enjoyed the book and learned alot, especially about getting ready for the start of the market day. It is also good for monitoring your trade during the day. The only complaints are regarding using key numbers in the indexes and his indicators. It mentions them, but I wish he would have given them for all indexes he talks about. Also, some of the indicators he uses can only be obtained if you buy his system. He also sort of pushes his classes, but this may be good to learn the art of trading. So all in all, the book is very good, but I just wish the detail was more intense. Also, the book is fun to read as he gives examples of real life experiences. He also thinks the world of Jesse Livermore, which I agree was the greatest trader.

I think this book is very good for any one who wants to trade the futures market. However, I must say a beginner stock trader will need more focused stock trading tactics to make it in this game.

Stock trading keeps getting competitive and the stock market doesn't care if you are experienced or a newbie stock trader. The rules and the opportunities are the same, so either youre going to make money stock trading or you are going to lose it in favor of the more seasoned ones.

As a stock trader your homework is all about studying and testing different market strategies that will help you take advantage of stocks and at the same time protect your investments. Just always keep in mind that a good strategy is simple and practical. Complicated stock systems will always make you slow in your decision making process or confuse you from the start.

There are some very good sites on the web where you can access practical trading strategies that are easy to implement. One of those sites is Sharp Trades ( SharpTrades com)

They focus on short term stock trading tactics that can help you identify and handle stocks while reducing your trading risk.

All in all, stock market trading is all about picking the best stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

I enjoyed Tom Busby's book on trading so much that I wrote a review for my Trader's U e-letter (found at investmentu-dot-com).

Here are some exerpts from that review.

Tom Busby is an experienced trader who has a lot to teach us from his years of trading. And I'd like to highlight three great lessons from his book that all traders and investors can apply.

Tom Busby has had extremely useful experiences in his 25 years as a trader. He went from booming success to painful crash, and back to booming success.

The progression that Tom took as a trader is a familiar one for those of us who have read the stories of other top traders - he paid his dues to learn the ropes of the trading game and became very successful.

But his successes led to complacency, especially with regard to risk management. And on Black Monday (October 19, 1987), he had a huge unhedged option position that eventually cost him everything he had - house, car, the works.

Busby bounced back, both psychologically and materially, from that blowout loss. Even by itself, the story of how he regained his confidence to trade makes his book worth reading.

Fortunately, there are other good lessons in the book as well.

Three Valuable Investing Lessons from Tom Busby

1. Manage risk first, and the rewards will come. I know that we have talked about this many times in Trader's U. But Tom's poignant personal stories help drive home the point and etch it in our brains. Since his Black Monday collapse, Tom has incorporated a wide range of risk management tools in his own trading and recommends them for his students. There are some standard, well-known tools, like using protective stop losses, but Tom also has some twists on managing risk.

2. Importance of the yearly opening price. Busby puts a lot of emphasis on the yearly opening price for any instrument he trades, whether it's an index future, a commodity or a stock. When an instrument is trading above its yearly opening price, this is bullish in the big picture. And when the price is below the yearly opening price, this is a bearish indicator.


3. Study a market and know its characteristics before you trade or invest in it. This is a very common sense item, but it is amazing how many people ignore this simple rule. Many people act on a piece of news and never even look at the key points about the stock or commodity before buying it. Some great questions to that Tom asks are:

What is the daily range? Is this a volatile or well-behaved instrument?
What moving averages does this instrument "respect"? In other words, what moving average does it follow in up-trends and down-trends?

Despite the fact that it is a day trading book, I recommend it for all traders and investors because:

It allows us to peer into the mind of a successful trader
It has many concepts that are useful regardless of your trading time frame
In the strategy section, it has useful tactics for managing your mutual fund portfolio and longer-term trades in stocks, gold and oil futures, and other investment vehicles.

New and experienced traders alike will find helpful insights about day trading in this true life adventure. Tom Busby shares not only how to become a successful day trader, but also reveals how to stay in the trading business long term by teaching essential concepts not presented in other venues. There is no better way to learn the trading game than from someone who is an active trader every day, has "been there - done that," and will tell you the truth about his experiences and share his insights. A valuable, captivating read.

No matter whether you are a novice or a seasoned veteran of the markets Winning the Day Trading Game ... by Thomas Busby this is a must read book that offers the reader many very useful ideas and insights into what it takes to become consistently successful day trading. This book is packed with easy to understand, simple to use, and practical application concepts on some very critical points that other books often lack concerning what to know BEFORE each trading day begins. For those of you who are serious about your trading and for those who want to know what it takes to succeed in your trading business, you will do yourself a huge favor by reading this book. All this knowledge comes from a man with 25 years of experience in the business and more importantly, from someone who himself actively trades and has a desire to share his lessons and techniques in life with others so they may also be a winner.

Tom Busby has done an excellent job in summarizing and elaborating on his 30+ years of experience in the markets. While reading this book, anyone interested in successfully trading the markets and especially day trading the financial futures (S&P, Dow, Dax, etc.) will feel like they are having a one-on-one discussion with an incredibly successful trader who is willing to share some of their insights into this complex and difficult game. This book is filled with useful pointers and tips that both the beginning and experienced trader can utilize on an ongoing basis.

Even though this book is easy to read, there are many substantial topics that many traders overlook on a constant basis. Even opening the eyes of many experienced traders to a more Global perspective will enable the seasoned professional squeeze more profits out of the markets on a regular basis.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Take your time and study the wealth of information. Really take the money management section to heart and move forward in your trading career with your eyes wide open.

Its funny how everyone gave it 5 stars and didn't write any other reviews.

Busby has done a fine job in taking his 30 plus years of trading experience and presenting everything in easy to read, story- like fashion so that the book is enjoyable and understandable from cover to cover. Rather than the lugubrious numbers and analytics which so many 'trading books' bore us to tears with, this book uses metaphor to teach, which we all recognize as a better way to learn.

As a trader of several years, with a fair library, this is the first time I have asked my wife to read one of my 'trading books' so that she might get a better underestanding of what goes into trading and into a trader's mind. She also loved it . Now, I am anxious to begin my second time through the book so I can pull even more 'pearls of wisdom' from it.

At first glance, it looks almost too thin and too easy to be as powerful as it is. Do not let the enjoyable story within its cover keep the message from hitting home and soaking in...here is someone that has "figured it out", on a day to day basis, and is willing to share it with, and teach it to his readers.

Already, I have taken sigificant lessons and translated them into profits. Specifically, I have isolated certain times in the GLOBAL trading day that allow me to concentrate my daily efforts to maximize when the markets will give me the best opportunity for a move.

The best way for me to explain how imoprtant I believe this book is for traders of all levels is to tell you that it gets a definite 5 Stars in my mind!
John Atkins

Personal to the point of being colloquial, Tom Busby's new book gives you the sense that you're sitting across the table from someone over coffee, someone who is willing to share the hard-won insights and knowledge of a successful lifetime trading career. No less methodical or comprehensive for being informally written, not be mention being relatively brief (about 175 pages), you won't get through it in a day or two-or at least you'd short-change yourself if you tried. I usually highlight key passages in books like this for later review; but I stopped half way through the 3rd chapter since I was essentially turning the entire book yellow. Fortunately the "information" sections are interspaced with frequent examples, some from the markets and some from Busby's personal life. You won't find any fluff here.
Busby begins his book with a brief story of personal loss, the Crash of '87, in which he was both financially and psychologically ruined, and of his subsequent epiphany and redemption, the successful trading method he developed and parlayed into an even more profitable trading career. The description and explanation of this method forms the basis for the remainder of the book.
After the personal introductory narration he begins by describing the three core elements of his method, which he calls Time, Key Numbers and his Indicators, which he has collected and coded in software called the RoadMap. This is not, however, a self-congratulatory vanity "infomercial" from someone who is trying to sell a product. Except for a couple of specific proprietary indicators which he developed and only occasionally mentions here, everything Busby describes is essentially generic and off-the-shelf in almost any trading software product. What he repeatedly emphasizes and what lies at the heart of his method is a conceptual understanding of the global structure of the marketplace, its habit-driven repetitive nature, the importance of identifying the "Big Picture" and of correctly aligning yourself within that ("Long, Short or Out?"), the recognition of certain key numbers that are repetitively "favored" by the market (you'll have to read the book) and the necessity of follow-through support by other markets and market internals. He tells you, in specific practical ways, how to pull all of these things together, or at least how he does it. Yes, he'll do it better than you or I. But the book is aimed, it seems, at the "generalist" trader and trading student, who might benefit from a unified, comprehensive understanding of market activity and how he or she can profit from that knowledge.
Busby doesn't neglect or disparage "accepted wisdom." You'll find here all of the time-honored truisms that have been expounded by other trading teachers and coaches down through the decades. What Busby does, and does so well, is to integrate those first order principles into the logic and design of his trading method itself. Trade the method, he seems to say, and you will, by design, "trade what you see, not what you hope for," "take what the market is willing to give" and, first among equals, "cut your losses short and let your winnings run."
What I liked most about the book is Busby's emphasis on money management; if you were given a nickel for every time you read "Don't trade without a stop," you could just about pay for the book (it becomes sort of a running joke between the author and reader). Money management really does form the core of Busby's method. Don't look for a specific chapter on this subject. Instead it is so intrinsic to his method of trading that it is discussed throughout the book as it relates and is integrated into whatever specific area is being discussed. He identifies and describes how each of the method's core elements of Time, Key Numbers and RoadMap Indicators are designed specifically to facilitate capital preservation, foster risk management and help guard against the worst consequences of greed, fear and arrogance. The method itself seems to be a systematic embodiment of that honored trading maxim: Mind your losses and your winnings will take care of themselves. Except for Dr. Van Tharp, who writes primarily about money management and its psychological consequences, I can't think of another recently published author who has so successfully integrated money management into the very structure of his trading system.