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Strategies & Market Trends : Stock Attack -- A Complete Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chris who wrote (4475)	12/29/1997 9:21:00 PM
From: Robert Graham	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42787

Yes, I see how much respect you have for the McClennan Newsletter. This newsletter does appear to have possibilities and I appreciate it if you were to keep us informed on its good and bad calls. But lets not call this a rally...yet. However, this rather broad based "surge" in the market did surprise me. Perhaps I need to get my database in order so I can look at some good charts. I will have to make the time. This latest move up by the market appears to take that pattern of moving down before a holiday and then moving up afterwards. I want to share with you some of my recent "finds" in books. For those interested in understandingmore about options without starting by reading though the "option bible" by McMillan, I highly recommend "Sure Thing Options Trading" by Goerge Angell. Despite its silly title, it is one ofthe best books that I have found on the subject. This book presents a realistic and practical coverage of options including their use in respect to long positions in stock. This person does a good job providing his own knowledge gained from his substantial experience in the markets and also does provide some of his valuable insights into trading in this type of market. His other book called "West of Wallstreet" is what I consider a classic in its coverage of floor trading S&P Futures. After reading this book, the reader will pick up on some of the thinking that a floor trader uses in their approach to the markets which can also provide insight into their counterpart in the stock market. This is what I consider valuable information. Also,other types of traders can benefit from this information in developing their own approach to the markets. There is a book out now that finally discloses Warren Buffet's investment strategies and many of his insights into picking value oriented investments that will perform. Before this book came out, one would have to glean what they could from the bits and pieces of his investment approach that Warren revealed in his Berkshire Hathaway annual reports that have been made available on the web. This is what seperates him from his mentor Benjamin Graham, where Graham was just looking for "value" and expected the market to automatically recognize this value, which Buffet found out was not the case in many instances. This book is called "Buffettology" by Mary Buffet and David Clark and represents an intelligently done and insightful treatise on this topic. There is a book that I knew about for some time now but recently have purchased called "The All-Season Investor" by Martin Pring. I consider Pring to be one of the best authors on TA topics. Besides his classic "Technical Analysis Explained", he has come out with what are IMO very good books that focus on particular topics in TA such as this one on sector rotation and the market cycle. Now that we have had a lull in the market which some think has come to an end, it may be worthwhile to review your investment approach with respect to where we are in the market cycle. The "All-Season Investor" covers this topic and the economic aspects of this picture. What looks to be a good companion book is called "Market Movers" by Nancy Dunnan and Jay Pack. This book covers in brief form the major economic indicators, how they are calculated, what they can reveal about the economy, and what this means to investors, and some insights into how the reader can evaluate eah economic indicator. What is unusual about this book is that it attempts to put the topic of economic indicators into the perspective of the investor, and it has a chapter on the business cycle which many other books on this topic do not cover. Now what real understanding of economic indicators can be gained by the reader without a discussion specifically on the business cycle? Many authors seem to consider this subject of secondary importance to the discussion itself of economic indicators for some strange reason. I have been looking into books that specifically cover TA systems, their development and use. I found one or two books that appear to have a very good treatment of this topic that I will share with you later time, once I have purchased and read through these books. Hmm...am I missing anything as far as my booklist goes? I think I will pass on astrology. But I am looking for a good book on theuse of Fib and Gann lines for the trader. I have found one book that has potential in this area, that also covers the practical and objective aspects of the use of Elliot Waves. Initially, I considered this subject area akin to astrology. But RIchard Estes has surprised me with the success of its application. Also,I have recently found out that the very successful floor trader Goerge Angell utilizes Fib and Gann for his trading in the commodity markets. Goerge Angell is a guy who has made over $500,000 per year floor trading in the commodity market starting when he was in his late 20s. One day he quit his job at a bank, and announced to his family that he was going to become a commodity market floor trader. As a result, he warned his family that they will have to watch their expenses like not being able to send the children to day camp. He then went to the bank, withdrew most of his money, purchased a seat on the exchange, and set himself up with capital to trade with. In the first year, a "successsful" floor trader is one who survives to break even. Over 90% of them are washed out in their first year. Anyone who has heard of or seen what the floor of a commodity exchange is like will recognize this as no experience for the timid who is not a psychologically grounded individual. There are times when people go "nuts" on the exchange floor due to the pressures and their losses that built up out of control over a very short period of time to bankrupt them, and have to be carted off by security from a fist fight, or even for their "biting" of another floor trader. And nobody is your freind there. They all "feed" off of each other (I assure you in the figurative sense of the word). Anyone interested in floor trading futures?? ;) As a side note, Briefing.com has been in the process of authoring chapters of a book of their own about the economy, economic indicators, and the interpetation of economic reports and indicators in the framework of the stock market. They will publish this material in pieces on their web site starting very soonin January. They will later reorginize into book form and publish it. So, is this what you would consider a long post, Chris?? Bob Graham