Hi, i agree with some of the other reviews here, i have been trading myself for trading and have made more than 650,000- Got the book and just glanced and basically in 2 hours reprinted the label to send it back to amazon.wish had looked at it at barnes and...... didnt have to go through the trouble etc.

What I really liked most about this book is that it was written by someone who actually trades for a living instead of a vendor who makes his living off selling courses, classes, and books. Gary Smith took a $2,000 account which he struggled with for 19 years to a $700,000 account after reading hundreds of trading books. How did he do this? By finally quitting trying to go for the big when and focused on gaining money each month. He really made the big money at first by trading S&P futures then when he got in the 6 figure range he switched to mutual funds only because he can not deal with the volitilitu of individual stocks. This book is like a modern day version of Nicolas Darvas's "How I made $2,000,000" it is the true story of how an individual broke the trading code. Here are my key learnings:



1. Trade momentum get in when the market moves up and stay in while it continues to go up, run for your life at the first sign of it dropping.



2. Live and breath the market with the help of CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, magazines, books, and some good news letters,



3. Trade what works for you, whether it be stocks, options, futures, etc.



4. Avoid vendorland in the investment world and focus on educating yourself.



5. The stock market has made 40% of its historical gain from November and December. The best days to trade are Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.



6. Position trading is better than day trading.(Staying in over night or the week end).



7. Agonize over your losses and learn from them.



8. Watch for divergences in the S&P, NasdaQ, and Dow, and buy when one runs up past the others.



9. THE MARKET TELLS IT'S OWN STORY BEST.Watch buying momentum.



He has an excellent reading list at the back of the book that will enrich you. I also recommend reading Alexander Elders "Trading for a living" and Van Tharps "Trade your way to Financial Freedom" for a complete picture on how to really trade for a living.

What I really liked most about this book is that it was written by someone who actually trades for a living instead of a vendor who makes his living off selling courses, classes, and books. Gary Smith took a $2,000 account which he struggled with for 19 years to a $700,000 account after reading hundreds of trading books. How did he do this? By finally quitting trying to go for the big when and focused on gaining money each month. He really made the big money at first by trading S&P futures then when he got in the 6 figure range he switched to mutual funds only because he can not deal with the volitilitu of individual stocks. This book is like a modern day version of Nicolas Darvas's "How I made $2,000,000" it is the true story of how an individual broke the trading code. Here are my key learnings:

1. Trade momentum get in when the market moves up and stay in while it continues to go up, run for your life at the first sign of it dropping.

2. Live and breath the market with the help of CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, magazines, books, and some good news letters,

3. Trade what works for you, whether it be stocks, options, futures, etc.

4. Avoid vendorland in the investment world and focus on educating yourself.

5. The stock market has made 40% of its historical gain from November and December. The best days to trade are Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.

6. Position trading is better than day trading.(Staying in over night or the week end).

7. Agonize over your losses and learn from them.

8. Watch for divergences in the S&P, NasdaQ, and Dow, and buy when one runs up past the others.

9. THE MARKET TELLS IT'S OWN STORY BEST.Watch buying momentum.

He has an excellent reading list at the back of the book that will enrich you. I also recommend reading Alexander Elders "Trading for a living" and Van Tharps "Trade your way to Financial Freedom" for a complete picture on how to really trade for a living.

This was one of the first books I bought on trading while I was doing it part time. I was struck by all of the parallels between what he had experienced and what I was experiencing in my trading.

I enjoyed his breezy no nonsense style of writing and the fact that he delivers what he promises, how HE trades for a living. I emphasize HE because if you are a trader It is doubtful that you will trade like him...mutual funds with no technical analysis.

Having said that I did benefit from some of his techniques and discovered a few sentiment indicators that I had not used previously.

I would recommend this book as a complement to a good T.A book like Tom O'Briens Timing The Trade. Together you should have most of your bases covered.

This was one of the first books I bought on trading while I was doing it part time. I was struck by all of the parallels between what he had experienced and what I was experiencing in my trading.

I enjoyed his breezy no nonsense style of writing and the fact that he delivers what he promises, how HE trades for a living. I emphasize HE because if you are a trader It is doubtful that you will trade like him...mutual funds with no technical analysis.

Having said that I did benefit from some of his techniques and discovered a few sentiment indicators that I had not used previously.

I would recommend this book as a complement to a good T.A book like Tom O'Briens Timing The Trade. Together you should have most of your bases covered.

I first learned about Gary Smith on the floor of the CBOT, where he was something of a living legend to speculators there. This man is the real deal. Yes, he actually knows how to trade, unlike the myriad of charlatans in the trading book business. One of the most important points to emanate from Smith's book is the fact that the man went through years of suffering as he attempted to reach his goal. Trading is not something you can master in a few months. Many people quit lucrative jobs thinking they are going to be the next Jesse Livermore or Nicholas Darvas. Folks, it's not going to happen unless you are prepared to study, work hard and take a series of blows to your trading account and your ego.
It takes years to be a successful off the floor trader/speculator. Gary's book makes a number of excellent points, one of them being that you cannot successfully trade the grains, the softs and the meats off the floor. If you want to be a successful off the floor trader, you must find some type of financial derivative to trade.

Gary writes in rich detail about the various indicators that help him make successful trades. He also has an excellent appendix that lists his favorite books on trading. This is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of trading. It is a classic in the same league as Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and How I Made a Million Dollars in the Stock Market. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

This is one of the best books on trading I've ever read. Gary Smith is the real deal, not one of the fly-by-night charlatans who talk the talk, but can't walk the walk. First of all, Gary is a REAL TRADER, a speculator. He's not some middle-man on the floor of the CBOT or MERC who's been getting the edge on orders for thirty years because he belongs to the same parish in Beverly as a top step broker. Like most successful speculators or off- the-floor traders, Gary went through a learning curve that could be best be described as Dante's Earthly Trading Inferno. But, through guts,brains and willpower he figured it all out in 1985 and has been making money for twenty years. In summation, Gary focuses on price action, momentum and an array of sentiment indicators to make decisions. What he doesn't use are the myriad of worthless oscillators, moving averages and cyclic waves. My only argument with Gary is his so-called disregard of all charts. He may not be looking at a chart, but he has one in his head. If you're thinking of trading, buy this book before you waste your money on over-priced systems and computer programs. And, be prepared for a tough road ahead. But, like Gary you can eventually succeed!

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised over the reviews favoring this book. Yes, it does appear written by someone knowledgeable about the markets; yes, he does reveal *his* methods, but therein lies the problem. What, exactly, are his methods? They are a disjointed mix of different techniques that *he* subjectively uses without really providing a methodical framework for how you can implement those same methods. The book is somewhat like a fellow rambling on and on sitting next to you on a bus, without really showing you HOW to do what he does. Believe me, I picked up the book really *wanting* to believe it could help me and making every effort to make the book *work*. But in the end, I put it back on the bookshelf along with all the other hocum that's out there on trading. Definitely not worth the $40.00 it lists for.

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised over the reviews favoring this book. Yes, it does appear written by someone knowledgeable about the markets; yes, he does reveal *his* methods, but therein lies the problem. What, exactly, are his methods? They are a disjointed mix of different techniques that *he* subjectively uses without really providing a methodical framework for how you can implement those same methods. The book is somewhat like a fellow rambling on and on sitting next to you on a bus, without really showing you HOW to do what he does. Believe me, I picked up the book really *wanting* to believe it could help me and making every effort to make the book *work*. But in the end, I put it back on the bookshelf along with all the other hocum that's out there on trading. Definitely not worth the $40.00 it lists for.

Very good book, provides very good concepts on trading. Its biggest virtue is to be honest.

This book could be used as an entry point to Contrarian thinking to later jump to Victor Niederhoffer's books which are more complex.

I found this book complicated and useless as a beginner trader.
Gary smith is the real deal but the way the book is written it makes it look intensly complicated i very very much doubt any one could pick up this book and say 'right now i can start trading' it is basically a random mix of memoirs and indicators that HE uses for HIS system.As a beginner trader(at the time) very overwhelmed and it actually put me off.

All i gathered from the book is that he has a feel for the market and goes with that along with his long list of indicators, it will not teach u how to trade but will show u how he trades in such a way that u cannot personally practice it.

He advises against shorting just because he has no luck with it.He also advises against charts because he had no luck with them.The fact is every1 has to develop a system based around there own personalitys and alot of people will be able to click with charts and shorting.

The fact is he dosent emphasise at all the most important points of why he managed to turn his portfolio which is = because he went over his trades, leanrt from his mistakes and created a plan!!!!

There is stuff to learn from the book but this is only contained in 1/10 of the text.

I gave it 3 stars because it has some good info in it its just mixed in with random stuff and it isnt easy to see or notice how its good info until after you have realised it ureself after trading and making mistakes through trading because he dosent emphasise it's importance!

Some1 else also made the point that all his money was made during a raging bull whether or not he kept these gains i dont know(after all he is against shorting..)

How I Trade For A Living is one of my all time trading favorites. It's the real deal, devoid of fluff and written by a practisioner and not an ivory tower academician.

As a small-time trader I could readily identify with Gary Smith's trading struggles in his earlier years as he relentlessly pursued his trading dream. Mr. Smith's eventual cross-over to consistent profitability was a real eye-opener. It enabled me to redefine my trading strategies, goals, and most importantly, my trading mindset.

Gary took me on a spellbound journey as he described in detail the trading strategies, indicators, and patterns that worked and didn't work for him in over 30 years of battling the markets. This book is full of diversity - from trader psychology (and in a way I have never seen it presented) to stock index futures, equity funds and junk bonds. The section on the ins and outs of trading junk bonds is alone worth the price of the book. This is a niche market I was not aware of before and trading junk bonds has been a nice supplement to my other trading income recently.

Some revision of this classic book may be in order due to the restrictions put in place recently against active mutual fund traders. And judging from some of Gary's recent postings on the Net and magazine articles, he has now moved on to the trading of individual stocks exhibiting the tight rising channel pattern he used while trading equity funds.

When I read this book a second time, it was because I couldn't believe a title that so many people recommended could really be so devoid of information. Well, believe it, because "How I Trade for a Living" combines almost no useful suggestions with an almost total lack of organization. While there is the occasional rambling bit from Gary that is thought provoking, and rank beginners might find information about how he schedules his day interesting, for the most part this text is a disjointed memoir of someone who made money during one of the easiest stock market eras ever after admittedly losing like crazy during eras when trading required real skills. I think I can summarize the clue level of this text with the following quote from the last page, on the topic of Internet discussion areas: "I also don't have much tolerance for the doom and gloomers who are forever forecasting an imminent stock market crash". This, from a title published in 2000. Think carefully how much you want to follow the advice of someone who was that out of sync with reality when writing his book.

As a number of reviewers before me mentioned, this is a terrific book that belongs in every trader's library. It is that good, and is easy reading. You will probably want to read it more than once just to get all of the concepts down.

While reading Gary Smiths book, a light went on in my head. He mentions somewhere that approximately 90 per cent of new traders don't make it. Another words, less than 10 out of 100 people who set out to do day trading wind up making consistent money (a profit). This ratio is very close to the number of people who don't make it (or don't even try) to be self-employed - about 94%

Think about this: 94% of the working U.S. population, is employed for the other 6%. Why is that? It's because most of us are not taught as children to think for ourselves. Our schools teach us to obey the rules and prepare us for a career or trade working for an established company (i.e. someone else). At our job, we are usually given instructions on what needs to be done, when it is due, and in some cases, how to do it. Nothing wrong with that, but this training can work against you if applied to the stock market.

Day trading, is very much a self-directed profession. It requires you to make ALL decisions. There is no one to tell you when to start, when to stop, what securites to buy or how to buy them or especially how many to buy. In Gary's book he discusses all of these topics in detail, but not in a general way.

Is it any mystery that so many don't succeed? I believe, that in order to be a good trader, even if you are working for a trading firm, you must have a self-employment mindset. Most of us do not.

I recommend reading the following book along with Gary Smith's book in order to learn those ideas that were not taught to us when we were young. Reading this book will improve the odds of success significantly for traders just starting out and who have not previously run their own operation.

The book is "Secrets of Self-Employment" by Sarah and Paul Edwards. Amazon.com carries this title ISBN 0874778379. This book will help you establish the right mindset for working on your own. These two books alone are not going to make you a super trader, but they are a very good start.

This is a good book if you trade trending securities. Don't look at this book if you trade grains or other non-linear futures.

But...how can I say anything bad about a guy who can turn $2,000 into close to a million dollars. Buy this book if you want to make a million dollars. Don't buy this book if you are looking for methods to trade grains.

**********

Update 4/05
I read this book again. I have to say he has good ideas. When I first read his book I was trading like he used to and didn't want to change. It took about a year for his ideas to sink in to my hard head.

This book reveals almost nothing that is of any practical use.
Now if you are looking for a practical approach to trading - try Toby Crabel's books or articles - atleast gives you a statistical edge on how successfull your trades will be if you follow the opening range system.

HOW I TRADE FOR A LIVING contains the nuts and bolts of making a living investing without making all the mistakes new or seasoned investors seem to make. What I like most about this book is that Gary self-discloses his methods that makes him able to be one of the few people I have read about who lives entirely on his investment decisions. There are only two other authors that trade for a living that I would recommend to readers. No. Make that three authors. Gillette Edmunds wrote (1)"How To Retire Early and Live Well With Less Than A Million Dollars" and (2)"Comfort Zone Investing." A second author I recommend is R. Max Bowser who has written three books: (1)"Guaranteed Profits With Small Stocks: The Only Stock Market System That Comes With A $5,000 Guarantee" (2)"Making Dollars With Pennies: How The Small Investor Can Beat The Wizards On Wall Street" and (3)"Penny Stock Winners: True Stories Of Successful Investors."
And while I am mentioning other authors, the third and richest author/trader that I have ever read about is Peter Lynch.

I read this book after losing tonnes of money in the bubble. This was AFTER the fact. However this book revealed so many layers of professional trading to me that I was surprised. It was a revelation. I have read many many other books afterwards but even then Gary's book was my FIRST (very much like first love), and I highly recommend it.

Though I will say that much of the material is not original. Most of the indicators are taken from somewhere else, and Gary has provided appropriate references as well. Beauty lies in summarizing and presentation of the indicators that will save you invaluable time taken to read numerous other books.

Gary is a perma-bull. That is somewhat surprising, as that will not be "trading" at all. Nevertheless, the indicators outlined in this book will keep you in sync with the market. Sometimes it is very difficult to remember all this information, though this stuff really WORKS.

This is one level above trite technical analysis.