Trading Tools and Tactics, + Website Reading the Mind of the Market

by Capra, Greg

• ISBN13: 9780470540855
• ISBN10: 0470540850
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-08-09
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A practical trading guide that focuses on price movement without the endless selection of indicators that attempt to determine the direction of those price movementsSuccessful trading is not only about identifying price moves, but also about understanding why prices move as they do. Many trading books present esoteric concepts, complicated indicators, or proprietary systems that miss the mark when it comes to using this approach in real-world situations. Technical analysis is simply a reflection of others' actions, their thoughts and expectations. Viewed in this way, it opens a deeper understanding of technical analysis and how the markets move.From concept to practical execution, Trading Tools and Tactics seeks to overcome this frequent obstacle to success. It covers everything from setting entries, stops and managing trades to knowing how to read others' mistakes and turn them into profits. Throughout these pages author Greg Capra-President and CEO of Pristine Capital Holdings-shows beginning to advanced traders how to accurately identify trends, candle patterns, support and resistance, as well as which time frames offer the best opportunity to take profits. Details a straightforward systematic way to accurately identify market lows and highs Highlights how to find turning points-by understanding a simple, systematic way of determining where the big money and smart traders will take positions Author Greg Capra is the founder of the nation's leading online trading education company and has been teaching students for almost twenty yearsTechnical analysis based on price movements is the only truth in markets. With Trading Tools and Tactics as your guide, you'll quickly discover how paying attention to what the price tells you will increase your trading profits.

Author Biography

Greg Capra is president and CEO of Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc., the nation’s leading educational service for self-directed traders. He has 15 years of experience as a day trader and swing trader.
Many years ago, Capra realized how to collect valuable intra-day information from stock quotes and store them into an orderly computerized system. He utilized a program called SuperTic to track
and evaluate this information, which led him to his pursuit of intra- day trading tactics.

In those days, free online stock charts and quotes were not widely available, and institutional traders had a great advantage over the individual trader. Today, the playing field is more level. Capra saw
an opportunity to build an educational and research firm for selfdirected, independent traders. This meant that ordinary people could now possess a sophisticated level of research on par with institutional traders and hedge funds.

Capra developed The Pristine Swing Trader, an advisory newsletter with over 60,000 subscribers, and is co-author of the book, Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader (McGraw-Hill, 2000). Pristine.com was founded in 1994 and combines publication-based education with seminars and education services aimed at helping traders gain an intuitive understanding of the markets. Over 400 seminars are conducted each year around the world.

Before founding Pristine, Capra spent 15 years running his own business. Since founding Pristine.com, his desire has been to educate the individual investor in quantitative analysis of market movements.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Journey Begins	p. xi
Subjective Doesn't Work in the Market: Technical Analysis Is the Objective Standard	p. 1
The Guru Syndrome	p. 1
The Pitfalls of Fundamental Analysis	p. 2
Technical Indicators: Adding Subjectivity to the Chart	p. 5
Approaching the Markets Objectively	p. 8
In Summary	p. 14
Candlestick Analysis: Using the Language of Candles to Profit from Market Moves	p. 17
A Single Candle	p. 18
Multiple Candle Formations	p. 21
Failure Is Not Always Bad	p. 29
In Summary	p. 31
Support and Resistance: Price Is King	p. 33
Price Patterns	p. 33
Recognizing Reference Points	p. 36
The Two Forms of Support and Resistance: Major and Minor	p. 40
How Support and Resistance Areas Form	p. 46
In Summary	p. 56
Moving Averages the Right Way: Visual Aids to Price Action	p. 57
A Valuable Technical Measurement	p. 57
Convergence Can Help	p. 63
Moving Averages as Focal Areas	p. 67
Staying Objective	p. 69
A Few Good Rules While Using Moving Averages	p. 74
Other Points to Consider	p. 75
Moving Averages to Find Plays	p. 78
In Summary	p. 79
Volume Is Money: Commitment to Prices	p. 81
The Fallacies of Volume	p. 81
Using Volume Properly	p. 85
The Primary Uses of Volume	p. 87
Volume As It Relates to Tradability	p. 98
In Summary	p. 101
Retracement Analysis: Using Retracement Analysis to Continue Your Move	p. 103
The Concept of Retracements	p. 103
To Retrace or Not to Retrace?	p. 106
Retracements Imply a Trend	p. 107
Continuing To Keep It Objective	p. 111
What Lies Beyond	p. 60
Percent?	p. 111
Retracement Levels in Downtrends	p. 114
A Special Retracement Pattern	p. 115
Retracement Levels in Sideways Trends	p. 117
What Lies Beyond	p. 100
Percent?	p. 118
The Bigger Picture	p. 121
In Summary	p. 123
Bar-by-Bar Analysis: Each Bar Tells Us Something	p. 125
Objectivity Is Still the Goal	p. 126
A Quick Review of Individual Bars	p. 126
How the Bars Interact	p. 128
Additional Thoughts	p. 135
In Summary	p. 137
Market Internals: Examining the Direction of the Market	p. 139
Determining Price Movement	p. 141
When to Be Different	p. 143
Favorite Market Internals	p. 143
A Quick Overview of Intermarket Analysis	p. 157
In Summary	p. 158
Relative Strength: Relative Strength Defined	p. 159
Identifying Different Types of Relative Strength	p. 160
Is Relative Strength Always Good?	p. 166
Relative Strength and Weakness with Morning Gaps	p. 170
Relative Strength with Sector Analysis	p. 172
Relative Strength to Market Internals	p. 173
In Summary	p. 174
The Trend Is Your Friend: There Are Only Three Directions	p. 177
What Makes a Trend?	p. 178
Pivots	p. 178
When Pivots Come Together	p. 182
Some Subjective Guidance	p. 186
Keeping It Clean	p. 188
Checking the Reaction	p. 192
Final Thoughts	p. 198
In Summary	p. 200
Shoot the Gap: What Is a Gap?	p. 203
What Causes a Gap?	p. 206
Fallacies about Gaps	p. 207
Gaps and the Daily Chart	p. 209
The Intraday Play	p. 214
In Summary	p. 219
Frame-by-Frame: The Concept of Multiple Time Frames	p. 221
Which Time Frames?	p. 221
The First Goal of Using Multiple Time Frames	p. 223
A Powerful Concept Emerges	p. 228
Warning Signs in the Micro Trend	p. 230
Hidden Patterns	p. 233
In Summary	p. 236
Making Failure Work for You: Recognizing When Patterns Fail	p. 239
Did the Play Stop, or Did the Pattern Fail?	p. 241
When Good Patterns Fail	p. 242
Capitalizing on Predictable Failures	p. 246
Expected (or Unexpected) Failure	p. 248
In Summary	p. 250
Manage the Trade and the Money: The Missing Link	p. 253
Managing the Money-Share Size	p. 253
How Much to Risk	p. 257
Managing the Money-Throughout the Day	p. 259
Considerations When Swing Trading	p. 260
Basic Trade Management Concepts	p. 262
Managing the Trade-Staying with the Trend	p. 264
Managing the Trade-Zooming Down	p. 265
In Summary	p. 267
Getting Through a Typical Trading Day: Strategies to Incorporate into Your Daily Routine	p. 271
Beginning Your Day	p. 271
Planning Your Trade, Trading Your Plan	p. 273
After the Close	p. 275
Maximizing the Winners, and Handling the Losers Properly	p. 277
There Is Only One Truth in the Markets	p. 279
Price Is King	p. 279
Abbreviations	p. 283
Trade Types	p. 285
Glossary	p. 287
About the Companion Website	p. 299
Index	p. 301
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