Wow. This book sure has received a wide range of reviews. I do respect that those who claim many years of successful trading didn't like it, but then I notice that some of them seem to despise it because it didn't tell THEM anything new or meet THEIR expectations for style.

Then some of the one star reviews leave me wondering if we read the same book. I didn't see as much advertising as they did at all.

I'm rather new to short term trading and have read a number of other books before this one. I thought that there was a lot of specific insights in the book clearly presented and some clear tactics and chart formations presented in the context of making trading decisions (as opposed to simply educating people on general chart analysis). However I come to the book understanding that it is only information, not a recipe and that I need to investigate and test out their ideas to see if they work for me.

I appreciated the explanation of using Level II information. This is the first practical information I've been able to find on this subject (not saying it isn't out there, I just haven't found this kind of tactical explanation).

It's true that you will regularly run across misspellings which shouldn't be in such a professional publication and their repetition of the phrase "the master trader" makes the authors seem a bit pretentious but then I've noticed that many authors on trading aren't English majors. That's OK with me if they can teach me to trade successfully.

My biggest concern is that a number of the practical nuggets in the book are out of date. It was written before the crash of 2000. The market and the electronic trading landscape that they describe is 8 years older by now. Not all of the "big 5" companies they tell us to follow as indicators aren't the leaders they were back then.

All in all, as a beginner mining for information of all kinds, I found some helpful information and advice in the book if taken in the context of other books, but would rather see something that is much more current.

I highly recommend Van K. Tharp's "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" before, as a basic primer on investing/trading to put all the other books and courses in context.

This book is by far the most informative that I have read in a very long time. Most other books on the subject of trading offer only so much. However, O.V. goes much further in that he gives actual methods by which one can enhance his trading techniques many fold. I recommend this book to any and all - beginners and experienced traders. I only wish I had come upon this book years ago!

They have written the perfect book for the beginning trader or the trader who is struggling and needs to get back to the basics. They cover trading psychology thoroughly and offer an excellent introduction to basic trading systems.

David Colletti
Founder
StockTradersHQ.com

This book is really the one. Now I fell more confident when I strike the market. No more words than JUST PERFECT. I do recommend this book.

I think this book provides some very relevant ideas for the mental preparation required to be a trader. Sure, it may be a bit repetitive but the author's believe in repitition for learning anyway. I'll re-read it again and again.

This book has very simple strategies/plays that could be used to make money. I know because I made some money on it. Of course, it is not as simple as they make it in the book. Preferable that you have some trading experience under your belt.

I had to get this book after reading such a mix of reviews. I was really curious how it would turn out since reviewers were either raving about it or trashing it.

After reading the 1st half of this book I was shocked to say the least. The first half of this book is worth more than all of the books I have read on trading combined. If someone trashes this book then they are either very new to trading and don't understand the points being made in this book(which I can understand because you have to get some experience under your belt to really appreciate what is being said in this book) or they are looking for a quick strategy they can read in 5 minutes and start making money. For one thing, that's never going to happen anyway.

The trading strategies in this book are very basic, so for newbies that part of the book has some good info. I was hoping for a little more advanced analysis of trading techniques, but I really didn't need that anyway. The knowledge and wisdom in the first half of this book is going to take my trading to moon.

For the newbies who didn't like this book, get a couple years experience under your belts then go back to this book and re-read the 1st half. I guarantee you, you will want to come back here and write a positive review.

When I started reading the book by Oliver Velez and Greg Capra: "Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader", I thought it was one of the better books on day trading. It starts out with the importance of discipline, and the lessons to be learnt from losses. It also outlines the concept that you don't buy from the market, but there is always another person on the other side of the trade that has exactly the opposite market expectation as you.



Then come four chapters with lists of rules: 7 deadly sins, 12 trading laws of success, 15 things every trader should know, and 10 lessons for the master trader. Altogether 44 rules, which don't seem to be in any systematic order. It looks like the authors were brainstorming to come up with as many rules as they could think of, and then divided them up among the four chapters. Some rules contradict one another, some important rules are next to irrelevant ones etc. Also the "Seed of Wisdom" does not help to sum up the rules because it often is not related to the part that it is supposed to summarize.



In Chapter 10 and 11 the authors talk about tools and start out by explaining things as basic as a candle stick or support and resistance. Then they dedicate two chapters to Order Systems and Level II data, and it takes until page 293 when they finally talk about trading techniques.



After having talked redundantly about general things for three quarters of the book, the authors give their ideas of entry, stop and exit techniques. What I missed most in this part is the lack of exact trading rules. Everything is expressed vaguely (e.g. p.219 "you can also opt to keep the break-even stop. This is a matter of choice." or p.322 "Sell at least half your stock if and when the stock breaks below the 5-minute low. ... These are just guidelines. We don't want to be stupid. ... Many traders will be best served selling the whole lot at this point."). This is exactly the vagueness you can't afford as a day trader. I was also disappointed that there was so little variety in the trade setups (just three entry techniques).



So my hope was high that in chapter 17 "How to put it all together" there would finally be concrete entry and exit descriptions. Instead, the authors just describe common chart formations like any other book on technical analysis (and do a worse job, too).



Throughout the book I noted an arrogant tone (p. 317: "Let's assume a master trader, let's call him Mr. Velez."). The authors speak about master traders, as if they were some kind of rock stars. No matter, how successful you are, if you quit being humble, the market can easily take everything away from you.



I am giving the book three stars because it does cover important topics for day traders like discipline, and learning from your mistakes. If you want to read a more effective book, however, I recommend the one by John F. Carter "Mastering the Trade".

When I started reading the book by Oliver Velez and Greg Capra: "Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader", I thought it was one of the better books on day trading. It starts out with the importance of discipline, and the lessons to be learnt from losses. It also outlines the concept that you don't buy from the market, but there is always another person on the other side of the trade that has exactly the opposite market expectation as you.

Then come four chapters with lists of rules: 7 deadly sins, 12 trading laws of success, 15 things every trader should know, and 10 lessons for the master trader. Altogether 44 rules, which don't seem to be in any systematic order. It looks like the authors were brainstorming to come up with as many rules as they could think of, and then divided them up among the four chapters. Some rules contradict one another, some important rules are next to irrelevant ones etc. Also the "Seed of Wisdom" does not help to sum up the rules because it often is not related to the part that it is supposed to summarize.

In Chapter 10 and 11 the authors talk about tools and start out by explaining things as basic as a candle stick or support and resistance. Then they dedicate two chapters to Order Systems and Level II data, and it takes until page 293 when they finally talk about trading techniques.

After having talked redundantly about general things for three quarters of the book, the authors give their ideas of entry, stop and exit techniques. What I missed most in this part is the lack of exact trading rules. Everything is expressed vaguely (e.g. p.219 "you can also opt to keep the break-even stop. This is a matter of choice." or p.322 "Sell at least half your stock if and when the stock breaks below the 5-minute low. ... These are just guidelines. We don't want to be stupid. ... Many traders will be best served selling the whole lot at this point."). This is exactly the vagueness you can't afford as a day trader. I was also disappointed that there was so little variety in the trade setups (just three entry techniques).

So my hope was high that in chapter 17 "How to put it all together" there would finally be concrete entry and exit descriptions. Instead, the authors just describe common chart formations like any other book on technical analysis (and do a worse job, too).

Throughout the book I noted an arrogant tone (p. 317: "Let's assume a master trader, let's call him Mr. Velez."). The authors speak about master traders, as if they were some kind of rock stars. No matter, how successful you are, if you quit being humble, the market can easily take everything away from you.

I am giving the book three stars because it does cover important topics for day traders like discipline, and learning from your mistakes. If you want to read a more effective book, however, I recommend the one by John F. Carter "Mastering the Trade".

Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders.

Velez and Capra give me the impression they have traded before and are not just book writer's. You can learn a few pointer's from this book whether you are a rookie or have been trading a while. It covers Candlesticks,Moving Averages, Fibs, Volume and drawing a few trendlines on the charts intraday and daily charts.
It does not go into some of the mathematical stock indicators that some trader's think it might be the "Holy Grail". Sorry, there is no Holy Grail in the stock market you better look elsewhere like yourself. The only "Holy Grail" you will ever find trading stocks is yourself there is no quick fixes to learn to trade stocks it all takes lots of time and practice.
Its to look and observe what a chart's footprints tell you with some seeds of wisdom.
I see so many negative reviews here about this books. I am starting to wonder whether those reader's have ever traded stocks.
I have traded full-time for years and I can tell you they must be all novice trader's hoping that a book might have all the answer's for them and their future. It would help them if they read this book a few times until it sinks in their minds.

Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders.

Velez and Capra give me the impression they have traded before and are not just book writer's. You can learn a few pointer's from this book whether you are a rookie or have been trading a while. It covers Candlesticks,Moving Averages, Fibs, Volume and drawing a few trendlines on the charts intraday and daily charts.
It does not go into some of the mathematical stock indicators that some trader's think it might be the "Holy Grail". Sorry, there is no holy grail in the stock market you better look elsewhere.
Its to look and observe what a chart's footprints tell you with some seeds of wisdom.
I see so many negative reviews here about this books. I am starting to wonder whether those reader's have ever traded stocks.
I have traded full-time for years and I can tell you they must be all novice trader's hoping that a book might have all the answer's for them and their future. It would help them if they read this book a few times until it sinks in their minds.

nothing new, nothing exciting. Everything can be found in books that are half the price. Save your money.

Will this book make you rich? Probably not. But it will start you on the path to making money in the stock market. Like most who trade, you have to have learned from your mistakes in order to make money.

Velez makes the concepts simple and easy to understand. This book intoduces new traders to many technical concepts and puts them in simple terms. For an experienced trader you might learn a few things. As with all experienced traders, who have read many books, you're just looking for "one nugget"

Will this book make you rich? Probably not. But it will start you on the path to making money in the stock market. Like most who trade, you have to have learned from your mistakes in order to make money.

Velez makes the concepts simple and easy to understand. This book intoduces new traders to many technical concepts and puts them in simple terms. For an experienced trader you might learn a few things. As with all experienced traders, who have read many books, you're just looking for "one nugget"

As a professional trader, one of my tasks is to read everything about trading, always searching for something to make me a better trader.
I have to say that Oliver book is the best of all.The key buy setup, alone is worth many times the price of the book.This book is complete and extremely useful for all traders.

Antonio Carlos R. Oyama (Duncan)

If you like books like dr. Alexander Elders work you certainly will love this book. Velez and Capra will clearly confront you with the weaknesses we can have as a trader. By confronting the reader, we get aware of these major traps for traders which helped me a lot to become a far much better trader. Be patients, start at the beginning of the book. This is the part which deals with the biggest enemy of the trader "The Ego!"

Fortunately I only paid a few pound for this book at a book fair. I have been successfully day trading for over 5 years, have read in excess of 60 books. This is the worst I have seen. Oliver Velez should be taking out the backyard and horse whipped.

If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

This Book TOTALLY rocked!!!!! I read this book alot because it was so awesome

Velez and Capra are the real thing. I have been trading off and on for several years now, and I feel that reading this book, taking careful notes, and applying the simple, powerful methods that they share is going to boost me into the big winner arena (it took me years of losses to get to the small winner arena).

The complainers that criticize this book don't know what they are talking about, or they are liars. This is by far the best book on trading I have ever read. The techniques are simple and proven, not complicated stuff that is really a bunch of hocus-pocus.

My eternal thanks to Velez for his unselfish gift of this precious information!!!

This book is outdates and they need to revise it. Secondly, most day traders lose $$ and then give up; this system is hard and unless you have at least 500 k to start with and know how to take losses quick, don't even thouch this. Their seminars are over priced and a waste of money also.

many people want some hidden thing to tell them how to make money 100% of the time. Combining some of these setups ie candstick patterns with price point and what the market tells you is the key. Then it is trade management. If you really want to be successful in trading don't worry on getting in on every trade just worry about getting the triggers for "your setups"! Everybody is gonna be different. I pick three of the candlestick patterns and trade them everyday. Combine this book with Steenbarger's and Kase about probability will go a long way to becoming a better trader. Find your setups, but reading this books will lead the way. Could be fewer pages and yes could be in a way marketing but simple candlestick patterns combined with price action will help solve the mystery along with your own inner deamons.

This excellent book starts out with the psychology of trading and then moves on into technical analysis. This is a great first book for the beginning and intermediate swing trader.

The "seven deadly sins of trading" are presented in the first half of the book and are very effective in helping the trader avoid serious money-losing mistakes. They are:

1. Failing to cut losses short
2. The deadly sin of dollar counting
3. Switching time frames
4. Needing to know more
5. Becoming too complacent
6. Winning the wrong way
7. Rationalizing

This book contains lots of very good information for both begining traders and those with some experience. This book, and the techniques taught by Oliver and Greg's company Pristine have helped make me a successful trader. They are brillant and thru tons of hard work have come up with their techniques. I had the pleasure of meeting Greg as well in New York. I am grateful to these two brillant traders for sharing their techniques with the world. Thank you.

Ive been trading profesionally for years, and have tought many traders to make millions.. After this book came out, I stopped teaching, bought a stack of these and passed them out. Anyone who says this book isnt great is not a successful trader, I promise.

This book is a real piece of crap. Don't waste your money. It reads like a 389 page advertisment for Pristine Day Trading seminars.As a professional trader, I pity the newbie who buys this book expecting to get any usable information from of it. I buy books hoping for ONE good idea: I lost!"Methods of a Wall St. Master" by Vic Sperandeo is a MUCH better buy.Velez and Capra advise their readers to ignore market fundamentals: Those fools who choose to ignore the fundamentals of the market do so at their own risk!!!

1 Star was the lowest rating I could find, if "SCAM" was na option I would have selected it. This book will soon serve as "exhibit A" in the case against these highway thieves. Do your homework first. Look at this post before you spend anything on this book[...]

Proceed with caution!

I didn't read all of these reviews until I had bought and read the book. And it was quite by accident that I did read them. I was looking for other books like it. While a number of the critics said the book wasn't as good as others, oddly, one critic bashs the authors of this book then recommends Toni Turner's book for which one of these authors, Oliver Velez, wrote the introduction.

Here are some actual results of their system. I checked my last five days of trading and found my results gave me a 5.2% gain on three losses and three wins! This is the 50/50 deal that is dismissed by one of the critics who said their system produces.

Now I will take that sort of gain any time. If I could have that every week it would give me a 268% profit for the year! Not bad for a beginning.

I give you specific trades I made to produce these results. Check them for yourself.

The trades were made from January 23 to January 29,m 2004.

1-23-04 - Bot ANDW @ 16.763

- Shorted SNDK @ 60.58

1-26 - Sold ANDW @ 17.467 (loss .704)

- Covered SNDK @ 58.33 profit 2.25

1.27 - Shorted CYBX @ 32.40

- Covered FRNT @ 10.80 profit .851

- Covered CYBX @ 31.80 profit .60

1-28 - no activity

1-29 - Shorted ERTS @ 46.30

- Covered ERTS @ 47.16 (loss .86)

- Shorted RYL @ 75.01

- Covered RYL @ 75.85 (loss .84)

Results: (losses = 2.304), profits = 3.701; net gain 1.497 on total of 240.554 share prices of initial trades, for a net profit of 1.497, or 5.2% gain in five trading days.

(Note: This does not include the holdings still in the account at the end of the period, only the trades actually made in the period. The FRNT was shorted @ 11.751 on 1-20, but was not closed until the period of these trades. The account still held RYL shorted (again) on 1-29 @ 75.76 and DHI shorted at 27.40 on 1-29. RYL was up .26 at EOD and DHI was down (.34) at end of day.)

Don't overlook the fact that the market had two huge correction days during this period, January 27 and 28, when virtually all the indexes were down on heavy volume.

I also would like to unravel a bit of the negative comments that have been posted here. Many of them have to do with the seminars that these authors conduct. I have nothing to say about the seminars, having never attended one, nor having any intention of doing so.

The rest of the negative comments about the book seem to revolve around the fact that there is 'nothing new' in the book, that its concepts are old news. That seems more positive than negative. If they are old techniques then they are to be trusted more, for they work well enough to still be around. Yes, I too found them to be old, but I need constant reminding of the techniques.

I can't recall one negative comment that didn't have a good word about the psychology that the authors propound in the first half of the book. Well, to me, technique is about fifteen percent of a good trade and psychology as well as risk management are the other eighty-five percent that make the difference between winning and losing in the market. At least, that is true of me. I have usually lost trades because of one or the other of these two being out of kilter. So, for me, these two - psychology (mine as well as the other players in the market) and risk management - are the pivotal elements in making good trades.

One other observation. A number of the critics have aimed their charges at the character of the authors, and their hype of their seminars and other products. To me neither of these are relevant to the system presented in their book. Either it works or it doesn't. That is the key.

I have found many of the books about the market to hype other products their authors have for sale. In fact, the one guy I follow the most, William J. O'Neil, may be the greatest hyper of them all. He owns Investors' Business Daily. He sells his books in ads on about every other page in IBD, as well as his chart service, his seminars, e-subscriptions and other books and services. Still, it is hard to beat his CANSLIM system for trading.

This book has good stuff for those who are serious about trading. As one reviewer said, the material on entry and exit strategies are worth the price alone. And do not under-estimate the psychology these guys are selling. It is key!

The price is WAAAAY too much for what is basically a large sales brochure for their other services. If you want the same information, at 1/4 the cost, buy "A Beginner's Guide to Day Trading Online", and "A Beginner's Guide to Short-Term Trading", both written by Toni Turner (who was trained by these guys). It contains basically the same material except you don't get the non-stop annoying sales pitch for their other services. And being a journalist, Toni Turner's writing style is much better and much more readable than these guys.

You might also want to ask these folks for their performance, their track record.

Then if you still want to buy this book, go for it, it's your money to waste. All I'm suggesting is that you do your homework, consider the alternative first.

In three words....GREAT TRADING BOOK. I am a full-time proprietary day trader working at a NYC trading firm and I've read at least 20 books on the subject of trading. I wish I had read this one first instead of last. It would've advanced my success rate substantially. Velez starts off by talking about the psychological & mental aspects of successful trading and explains, in clear & simple language, how to mentally prepare for the trading process - from entering a position to exiting it. The remainder of the books goes into various technical analysis strategies, buy & sell chart setups, entry & exiting strategies, stop loss strategies, for both swing & intraday trades. In summary, this book is a great book for an entry level or seasoned trader & is well worth every nickel. I can honestly say that this is one of the top three books Ive read without a doubt. You will not be disappointed by this book, it's all meat-no fluff.

Jim R.
Maywood, NJ