Mind Over Markets

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Quick Summary:

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First of all Mind Over Markets is a book based on the Market Profile technique. This method is really just about applying a bell shaped curve to market activity. If you don't think this has any use then no doubt you will think that the book is useless.

I personally think the method has a lot of good points and therefore think the book is a valuable resource for traders. The main reason is that it forces the trader to look at market behaviour that may otherwise be overlooked - such as long term buyer and seller activity and what influence it has on the market.

The book contains the most thorough insight in to Market Profile that is available, rivalling the more substantial but terse CBOT handbook on the subject. In previous material (steidlmayer) the subject was more conceptual and thus more confused and less useful. In addition to showing many instances of MP behaviour it also then goes on to provide concrete statistical trades based on previous performance (such as when price travels through Value). These are really the icing on the cake to a well done book.

The book does not claim to teach you to prophesise the market but merely to read it in the present correctly. As there is such little about this form of technical analysis it seems most people don't believe its strengths - maybe they're right. I think it offers far more insight into market behaviour than most techniques especially Elliot wave. The constant parallels to piano learning are quite annoying however.

In conclusion I think even if you don't believe in Market Profile you should have read this book anyway.

The book has been reprinted in a cheaper form and was bought for £20 roughly.

Rating: 8/10

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this is one of the standard issue books for the graduate trader training programme at Refco. De facto reading for Market Profile basics.

Rating: 10/10

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What is it about?
Despite the title, Mind Over Markets (MOM) is not a book about trading psychology. Required reading on most prop trading training schemes, it was written by traders on the floor of the CBOT. MOM is a book that describes the reasoning and application of the Market Profile technique of market analysis.

The Good bits
MOM is an excellent advocate of markets “facilitating trade”. It describes the many types of participant that are involved in across all financial markets, their different objectives and behavior. Moreover, the essence of MOM is introducing auction theory in simple and easy to understand terms. Examples of what the authors describe are plenty, with illustrations throughout.

To traders who have yet to discover Market Profiling, MOM presents a different philosophy to most technical analysis books. Readers are invited to look at market behavior from a new perspective, which for many will spawn new trading ideas and strategies.

The Bad bits
MOM does not contain a trading strategy – readers expecting a turnkey trading system will be left disappointed. Rather, MOM plants the seeds for new ideas which the reader should develop themselves.

Also, towards the end of the book the principals (and their examples) become a little repetitive.

Review
Market Profiling was once an expensive add-on package to mainstream charting packages. Nowadays, free versions of Market or Volume profiles are downloadable – and free – for major software systems such as eSignal and Ninjatrader. Given its accessibility, and scope for trader development, MOM will quickly adopt a prime spot in any traders’ library.

Buy it and read it.

Rating: 8/10

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