You Can Still Make It In The Market by Nicolas Darvas (the author of How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market)

This is the very little known about, 3rd book of the legendary stock trader Nicolas Darvas who made $2.4 million dollars in the stock market in 18 months in the sixties bull market. His first two books are still in print and I strongly urge you buy, read and study both of them. I made a 20% return in one month following his principles during the 2007 bull market. All my best trades have been using his system. This book was written in 1976 after he had experienced a long bear market. This book introduces his Dar*Card, which is a chart of separate price boxes representing the range a stock was trading at in different time periods. The system is to buy a stock the 2nd time it breaks above a price range to a new high. (Preferably an all time high) but a 52 week high can also be used when a stock is recovering from a bear market. The stock also must have increased trading volume and be on a long term uptrend. Also the "Darvas" stock should be in a new cutting edge field where investors earnings expections are running very high for the future. Darvas did not invest in blue chip stocks or stocks that were to big to grow. He looked for stocks that could be the future big cap stock that would change the way we did things. He was interested primarly in price action and did not care as much about why a stock was going up only that it was making him money. His money management consisted of stop losses set at the top of the old price box that the stock broke out of. He also set buy-stops to buy stocks when the broke out of price boxes. He advised shorting stocks when they fell through the bottom of the established price range. Excellent book, buy it and read it if possible. It will pay you back in what ever you spend.

It is too bad some reviewers of Mr. Darvas' first two books on his stock market experiences trash and belittle his success. Some say he exaggerated his story but, in fact, he supplied copies of all of his accounts, trades and cables to Time Magazine and was thoroughly investigated by the magazine before they published his story on May 25, 1959. "Barron's" also did a story on him. It is equally bad that this book from 1977 is so little known. It came out thirteen years after "Wall Street: The Other Las Vegas" (1964) and Mr. Darvas was still using his system to make profits in the market. I found this book the equal of his first two books - it confirms the methods he used originally but shows his human side when he discusses his experience with "Hughes Tool Company." He also discusses his trades with "Teledyne," "Mitchell Energy," "Bally," "Moore-McCormack," "National Semiconductor" and "Houston Oil." He also states he had success with "Tandy," "Centronic Data" and "Digital Equipment" among many others. One important revision he made to his system is to buy only after the stock has penetrated the top of the highest box twice before buying the stock. The "stop loss order" is still key as is knowing the "personality" of the stocks you are watching. You must also be willing to "sit out" the market if it is giving you warning signs. Darvas would sit out the market for as long as two years if need be. This book now seems to be very expensive but if you can find a copy and are serious about buying stocks, I would grab it. Remember, Darvas is not "married" to any stock. He is an "informed speculator" using the tools he discusses.