The Perfect Speculator

After starting my “Trading” journey almost a year ago I knew there was something very tricky about the market, 90% of traders fail. I said to myself “I will be in the top 10% of winners” I haven’t been very profitable but that is because I am still educating myself of the correct mindset and rules, and waiting patiently for the next uptrending market. This book has to be one that is a hidden treasure amongst the greats. Along w Darvis, Livermore, Minnervini, O’Neil, Stand Weinstein, this books worth at least 10Reads over and over by itself, the only people I know in the market are some family members that never use stops and think patience is key, they are wrong, patience is important but not losing is winning, as you will read in this book, you will understand the objective of the stock market is to fool the public with red herrings and traps, and even as myself feel that urge to trade for FOMO, it’s perfected in its way to give us just enough rope to hang ourselves, like the casino with bright lights and signs of “Big winners” we get caught in the traps of temptations. This book uncovers the basic and simple truths of the market in very easy to understand terms. I feel very lucky to have purchased this one! Highly recommended for any new or advanced “SPECULATOR”.

This is an excellent book on speculating in stocks, and very unusual. The author offers a simple and effective system based on trend following. Note that the title is about the “speculator” not the “trader” or “investor.” This book is not directed at day traders or “buy and hold” investors. Neither is it directed strictly to the swing or position trader. The expected holding periods are probably 4 to 8 months and much of the time you will be in cash. This makes it very good for beginners. Nevertheless, it should be useful for more experienced swing and position traders.The author is known for his book on “The Perfect Stock” which was an analysis of the rise and fall of Taser Corp. stock. In this book, he seeks the principles of effective speculation from a rather reclusive and successful speculator who has a small privately circulated newsletter and is dying. He looks to the author here to succeed him. Thus, the book purports to recount a series of conversations with the “old” speculator showing his methods. This is an interesting, well-written, and easily read approach.I won’t reveal the guts of the book, but the emphasis is on (1) simplicity, (2) being in sync with the market, (3) minimizing losses, and (4) using price-volume analysis free from consideration of news, opinions of others, or media personalities.This system is about making lots of money step by step over a decade or so. The adrenaline junkie will NOT like this system. The approach is patient and dispassionate. There are long stretches where you are out of the market. You enter positions step by step. You don’t watch the market during the day, or even that much at night; depending mostly on your weekend studies and putting on trailing stops with each trade.I have traded for many years now, with some success, and employ much of his approach, especially the focus on price-volume, sound businesses, and simplicity of approach. His system in a way reminds me of Nicolas Darvas (“How I made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market) meeting Jesse Livermore with a dash of William O’Neill. He uses something very similar to the Darvas breakout system on “leading” companies and, like Darvas, bails quickly on a position that goes down immediately. He believes you should make your own small index of leading companies to see the health and direction of the market – something Jesse Livermore did. William O’Neill of CANSLIM fame publishes the Investors’ Business Daily, a subscription to which makes this approach much easier than otherwise.I really like the book and think anyone investing in common stocks should give it a read. However, I doubt many would adopt the approach since many traders and investors enjoy the emotional roller coaster and adrenaline more than just making a lot of money. While I also think watching the news is counterproductive to successful trading, I do think one should know some basics, like when earnings are coming out, since that is where big surprises tend to happen and call for extra caution. That said, most stock market traders and investors will find this an enjoyable and educational read.

I believe this book will mean the most to those who got into the market ignorantly, got burned, but with newly found humility decided to come back for more (learning and gain). (The message will be wasted on someone who is riding a bull market with daily and seemingly endless highs of almost all stocks.)First, it gives a new meaning to the word "speculator". Speculators are commonly blamed for major crashes, depicted as reckless gamblers with margin accounts, destroyers of the false and idealistic image of "investors", fly by traders who gain enormous fortunes due to some shady manipulation or illegal information. Ones who play unfairly, cheating, while everybody else abides by the rules.According to the book a Perfect Speculator is almost the exact opposite of this. Like a lifelong learner of a martial art on an endless path to mastery, a speculator is first and foremost a student of the Market. It takes humility about our skills, a respect for the market, patience, discipline, methodical practice to become one of the few who find treasure in the market.A speculator may stay out of trading for years, waiting for the perfect setup, the perfect market conditions, a true uptrend, before committing any capital and when does so, will make sure to set up a careful stop loss strategy. A speculator uses no trading cockpit with ten monitors, expensive software, uses no major technical tools, but a price and volume chart and simple figures one can scratch down on a napkin. A speculator is not running his mouth or dispenses wisdom to others offering stock picks, stays out of newsletters, TV programs, listens to no "experts", but remains a humble and devoted student of the wisdom of the market. A speculator spends no time with fundamental analysis as he believes the market and the trend will select the true and worthy winners. A speculator accepts that he can not compete with the resources of Wall Street firms and uses the volume as sign of their moves. When a perfect speculator takes up a position after careful studying, his chances of winning are much higher than most of ours.This simple and thoughtful book can teach more to the right reader than a shelf full of "Get Rich Quick" books (the ones that forget to mention the reality of risks, teach to protect from losses, the ones that cheer you on to buy "good businesses and solid companies"). It should be reread often to remind us, the next crash may be just around the corner, the stock may collapse, but with the disciplined mindset that only years of practice can teach, one should still walk away as a winner.

Really enjoyed this book and will definitely change some of my trading tactics because of it . I have been trading stock and options for 3 years with low success and this book has reinvigorated me .

Very good for learning about trading and very easy to understand.

As a young person you may wish the knowledge of a much older head.....there is much of that here.I enjoyed this very much.

Glad i stumbled upon this gem. This book is easy to read and distills the essence of stock speculation based on momentum strategies. The author stresses the importance of waiting for confirmation in price action and monitoring market behaviour of leading stocks. He also brings to light fundamental concepts of psychology and money management. 120 pages with a small appendix.

Not a game changing book but reinforces the fact that the best trading systems are simple and straightforward. This book echoes, in a good way, information you would glean from many of the trading classics. If you are new to trading this book will set you on the right path. If you have been trading for a while it will reinforce ideas or make you think about your system.

This book is one of those rare gems in a haystack full of get-rich books out there. A definite read for any stock market speculator.