The Little Book of Trading: Trend Following Strategy fo… (2024)

Melanie Cooley

8 reviews1 follower

October 5, 2019

Maybe 2 things that made the book worth reading. But I’m sure those two things could be found in a book full of lots of worthwhile things. Very vague and basic. I enjoyed the capitalism distribution charts in the appendix based on the coin flip analogy (also found in the appendix) and the other valuable point was diversifying by trading each market equally doesn’t mean the amount invested, but the amount of risk in each market. The second being something I’ve read in 2 other books, both of which where better than this one. That being said, it was a really short book, and offers insight to trading psychology as well as time management ideas, which are pretty spot-on. A great read for someone who knows nothing about the finance world or trading, a little bland for anyone wanting to learn something new.

Kylie Young

246 reviews11 followers

September 27, 2016

Sounds like he just wanted to be different for the sake of being different, so that he can reveal a traders 'secret to success'. I'll put it with the conspiracy theory books

Corey Graham

1 review3 followers

November 14, 2019

Even for a book that's titled, "The Little Book", it had surprisingly little to no information. It reads more like a brochure meant to inspire someone to take up trend-following, but offers no real insight. Each section starts off with an extremely brief bio of a successful trend-follower, followed by a long rant from the author on why trend-following is superior with some generic advice sprinkled throughout (e.g. cut your losses short and let your winnings run).

I really wanted to like this book since I enjoyed Greenblatt's, "The Little Book that Beats the Market." Greenblatt's book is also light (again, as expected for a "Little Book"), but offers a tangible system at the end. The Little Book of Trading, however, offers no such payoff.

If you're interested in reading about inspirational stories with real insights, you're better off just reading one of the books this author alludes to: Market Wizards.

Greg

1,123 reviews2,018 followers

October 6, 2020

The reviews for this book were probably more entertaining than the book itself (or at least funnier).

It doesn't necessarily teach you how to trade, or give you a definite strategy, and when it mentions something like an x day channel breakout, it doesn't tell you exactly what that is, how to locate one or anything like that. Instead it gives some stories and backgrounds of people who aren't all that special but who do something that common wisdom claims is impossible, consistently beating the market.

But since I went into this book expecting nothing from it I guess there is no level of disappointment I could feel as if I got this book and expected some big secret to be revealed. It was fine though as some background material for my latest obsession.

    books-about-stuff buy-high-sell-low

David Ingvarsson

7 reviews2 followers

July 4, 2017

The author is annoyingly ignorant about other styles of trading/investing then the one he believes in (trend following). Hard to say if the author really lacks understanding of, for example, fundamental investing or just Wants to sell his books by pretending trend following is the only way to go. Also annoying that he never present any proven system, just talk about things like "let your winnings run, cut your losses short". Still think book contains some value for people completely new to trend following, thats why I give It 2 stars.

Patrick Mak

18 reviews

April 29, 2018

This book includes interviews of a dozen successful traders.
If you are looking for trading skills or how-to stuff, I recommend you to skip this book.

The more important messages I got out of this book are:
1. Build your own system and have faith in it (without telling you how to find your system-building criteria)
2. Have the concept of money management (which translates into 'Protect your downside!')
3. Ed Seysky is the greatest trader in the author's time

Not much I can get out of this little book.
A disappointing read, after all.

Vikas Suresh

54 reviews

December 4, 2016

I was expecting more details and technical stuff but what it really is a distilled version of interviews. I would suggest read/re-read the little book of market wizards than picking up this one. I just couldn't go to the end as I did not see any benefit from reading it.

Darius

159 reviews

August 5, 2015

Though I'm dubious about full-fledged "technical" traders, someone recommended Covel's larger book and I settled on the "little book" as a compromise. The book has left me unconvinced. I think some ideas from technical analysis should be incorporated into an investor's toolkit, but not a full-blown approach.

However, even for someone who finds technical analysis more plausible that I do, this book falls short. Much of it is very general, modern-pulpit, motivational-style life advice: get over irrational fear, be willing to try new things, learn to live with risks which threaten damage mostly to ego but have great promise. All sorts of decent, if not unique, life advice, but that's not why someone would pick up this book. On the actual topic, details are really short.

I don't know if the larger book has more. If it does, the condensation should have pulled in more details about technical trading and less about life in general. It also does not need so many stories about people who made it from rags to riches because they were "trend-traders", while not telling us much about what they really did.

It is an easy read, but I stopped reading about half-way through.

Brett Kronewitter

42 reviews1 follower

September 11, 2017

Superficial view of the trend following concept. No discussion of actual models or examples.

Russ

559 reviews15 followers

July 30, 2013

The book offers vignettes of various trend following traders. It is breezy and entertaining - perfect for the beach or a rainy summer day. You won't learn how to trade or how to build a trading system. but you may learn more about trading psychology and the attitudes necessary to be successful in stock trading.

Franklin Aquino

1 review

August 17, 2016

An Inspiring for Unorthodox Traders

Mr. Covel does a wonderful job explaining the intuition behind a trend following approach. He expertly weaves in stories and anecdotes from successful trend followers to paint a picture of success for the reader.

Elliott Olson

3 reviews1 follower

August 22, 2019

Too general. Overall, inspirational for those seeking better than average returns. Needed more information about the trading system specifics

Alex Shrugged

2,513 reviews27 followers

May 24, 2024

It was enjoyable to listen and understand most of what I was being told about following the trend in any market and making money doing it. However, as much as I found it inspiring, the practical value of this book in terms of making me money is quite limited. I knew what the author was talking about. There needs to be an inner drive that pushes one to seek out the best way to do things. I have felt that inner drive in many things, but not in financial things. That is why this book has limited value for me. Nevertheless, I really did enjoy the ride.

I might listen to this audiobook again. The narration was terrific.

    audible audible-plus audiobook

2 reviews

November 13, 2017

This short book offers some titbits on trading and the trader's mindset. Emotions are the enemy of the successful trader. If you have a probability of losing it all on a trade, you will not succeed longterm.

My takeaway is the basic advice of following a system and quantifying your results monthly and/or yearly based on prices alone. The best way to come up with and execute a trading system is study the some of the successful traders mentioned. The enemy of successful trading is seeking "perfection" in every trade or trading too often by not letting your winners run.

yuching

18 reviews

October 11, 2021

1.閱讀這本書的目的
.從金融怪傑這本書中,了解到Ed Seykota, 然後發現他用的是趨勢跟蹤交易策略。而這本書的作者,一系列作品也是提倡Trend following。
所以想透過此書,更加了解Trend following
.想要從專家的經驗中,吸取Trend following 精華
.想要用Trend following來進行股票交易

2.閱讀後的收穫與感受
. 沒有最佳系統,只有最適合系統。一個好的交易系統,要能夠不受時間與市場影響。
. 好的Trend following 系統可以忍受少數年度大虧損,但是整體來看收益還是大幅增加。
. Trend following系統沒那麼容易建立,但一旦建立後,要堅持到底。不能因為有虧損而放棄不用。
. 無須預測未來,活在當下,專注於當前發展,根據當下而做反應
. 止損很重要
. Trend following 系統是機械式系統交易,所以可以避免情緒造成的交易影響
. 每筆交易要承擔的風險應該都要一樣
3.閱讀後會採取什麼行動
. 繼續研讀Trend following相關書籍
. 用XQ找出自己的交易系統
. 在用XQ 發展自己交易策略時,都會先回測勝率。不再盲目買股。

4. 3 個月後有什麼改變
. 可以更加掌握Trend following 精神
. 用交易系統來操作股市
. 提升股票的獲利 與降低虧損

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.

Jeremiah Dunham

28 reviews

April 19, 2023

I kind of hated this book. The author's overtly contrarian style really annoyed me. The book was a collection of stories about successful trend following traders and there was almost no practical information about trend following strategies or tools. All that said, I gave it 2 stars because the general idea of trend following and some of the descriptions therein were new to me and motivated me to explore it further.

Abhishek Solanki

1 review

December 9, 2023

The book is more a character portrait of successful trend traders than a primer on how to actually go about building a trend trading strategy. Good for a lazy afternoon read but not really helpful if you're trying to get started in the field. Basic concept repeated throughout the book - money management (don't bet the house on a trade), exiting when a strategy tells you to (follow an algorithm rather than emotion). That's it.

Helen Mary

180 reviews14 followers

October 13, 2017

A refreshing read. Covel has a way with words which makes even the seemingly dry and mechanical world of trading bustle with life. It’s not the one with the charts. If you’re after a reference with charts, this is not the trading book to pick from your shelf. But it would be similar to positive mind setting that Joe Ross is also known for.

Kenny Gunawan

5 reviews

August 23, 2020

A great book for those who want to get to know trend following ways of trading. But, there’s not much of technical methods taught here, only interviews between the author and people who find their success from this trading method.

D.H. Lim

37 reviews2 followers

April 8, 2023

First book read that introduces to Trend Trading. Good food for thought counter to the traditional buy and hold strategy which requires a long horizon of 30/40 years without knowing where the market will be when you are too frail to work.

Williamprasetyo

4 reviews

July 17, 2017

Its quite good , But too much story in it

Henry

18 reviews1 follower

January 22, 2018

"Schools teach you have to follow systems. You need to figure out what system is for you"

Faisal

146 reviews2 followers

January 7, 2019

An interesting pitch about catching the market trend instead of trying to forecast market direction through fundamental analysis.

    nonfiction-trading

D

94 reviews

December 11, 2019

Vapid sport metaphors and platitudes. No examples of systems, just lots of "hype it up-buy my other book" kinda of advice.

dpc727

1 review

March 10, 2020

filler

seemed like lot of filler. it was interesting though. it certainly covered many heretofore unknown names. did i mention it seemed to have filler material?

Ben

48 reviews4 followers

January 5, 2021

Trend trading over several years. Much of it is inspirational, telling stories of successful traders.

Makes me want to look into trend trading, though look further if you want practical advice.

Systemchalk

8 reviews

September 18, 2021

This book is self aggrandizing nonsense. If you want a text equivalent of motivational speaking, this is for you. If you want information look anywhere else but in these pages.

Tim

77 reviews

August 7, 2022

There were no actual strategies

JS

23 reviews

March 27, 2024

Essentially one big advertisem*nt, I'm surprised this was published. Unfortunately I've lost some respect for the series.

The Little Book of Trading: Trend Following Strategy fo… (2024)
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