Smarter Trading: Improving Performance in Changing Markets

The person who said that Kaufman does not believe in stop losses is quite INCORRECT. The whole purpose of this book is to weigh a stop loss against a possible incorrectly placed volatile sale.If anyone trades with a regular basis they know the horror of being 'stopped out' because of volatile price swings. Kaufman helps by correclty analyzing the benefits of stops vs losses showing how mechanized systems for stops have their own pitfalls.Kaufman's whole treatise on RISK is really worth the price of the book. Understanding risk and it's effect on your psychology is an important and very valuable treatise. Kaufman does a very good job on the subject. Also of benefit, is the Adaptive Moving Average algorithm. While this is also part of Metastockhaving the formula is invaluable for those of us who want to modify it. The weakest part is the computerized system analysis at the end is old and rather simplistic; I would not recommend it. Some of the ideas are interesting but Pardo's book is much much better.

This was a good read on trading methodology and system development. The best concept is that of the "unable" trade, which is where your system gives a buy signal but you can not get your order filled. This is a double edged sword in that you would get filled on trades where a buy was signaled, but the trade results in a loss and not on trades that would have been highly profitable. The end result is hypothetical returns that are higher than they should be. Probably why so many successful paper systems fail when applied.Now, aside from the trading methodology which is well written, there is a lot and I mean a lot of Programming Language in the text. I don't want to take away from the concepts which were great, but if you are not planning on writing a computerized trading program you may want to search elsewhere. On the other hand, if you are working on a "Black Box" trading system, I would highly recommend this text.

A really good book about TA. Many tools inside are useful for real-world trading. And it is also easy to read. Highly recommended !

Perry Kaufman seems like a very knowledgable technician. I think he should write more books. "Smarter Trading" is a good read, especially the discussion on stop-loss orders and market noise. The adaptive moving average is far superior to other MA's. You can skip the neural network and machine language garbage. Neural Networks are nothing more than the ultimate curve-fit.

The book covers system trading approach in a very systematic way. Additionaly the book describes some "side" issues which in turn play a cruicial role in the trading business. Recommended !