I love Alex Elder . . . . .!!

[fastnet]

Are there any other Alex Elder fanatics - okay fans - out there?

It'd be great to compare notes with anyone else who has used some or all of his ''five bullets''.

Cheers

 

[Helenqu]

Yes I think he's great too

The most sensible of writers on trading. Books are well written and credible. Come into My Trading Room is first rate.

 

[bonsai]

Wouldnt want to go over the top about it, but one of his books
is on my shelf.
But then I am a compulsive book squirrel.

I agree with Helen. Sensible, but the word I would
have chosen is 'Sound'.
Practical comes to mind too.

 

[fastnet]

Hi Helen and Bonsai - thanks for your reply.

I have read both of Elder’s books and found them full of common sense and without the sensationalist hype you often find. He also carefully explains the fundamentals behind every indicator he introduces. Many authors leave readers simply remembering an acronym and how it should be used.

Anyway - he is a great fan of divergences in general and MACD/RSI divergences in particular. I initially dismissed these as fussy over complications of perfectly good indicators until I realised that neither MACD nor RSI were particularly good on their own and that by looking at price divergences many false signals were removed.

Do you use divergences with your own trading? I am interested in the effectiveness in different time frames. Elder believes these signals should be very powerful in any time frame. However full, class A, divergences occur very rarely on daily charts so I was wondering about there use intra-day? Quick back-test by eye shows that they might lose something in such a short time frame – have you looked further into this at all? Surely the theory behind this set up should be the same in any time frame.

I’d be interested to hear your comments and opinion on this and any other of the techniques described in either book.

I don’t know why Elder’s books aren’t more popular in the UK – maybe his patient ‘’sit, watch and wait’ approach doesn’t appeal to many.

Cheers

Fraser

 

[bonsai]

I dont really go for divergences on indicators
mea culpa !

they seem to happen too rarely/unreliably.

btw, I dont use a simple rsi.
I adapted his sroc and used the concept for my rsi so I get very smooth charts

 

[Helenqu]

Yes I use divergences in my trading all the time. I use CCI on both EOD charts and intraday charts on the ESTX.

I think you are right about why he isn't lauded more, he's not "exciting" just honest

 

[kinglatfan]

I too am an Elder fan and am presently on my third reading of Trading for a Living and still learning from it!

It can be hard going in parts and is not particularly good night time reading after a hard day in the office.

If you trade it is important to understand the fundamentals of all the technical analytical tools whether you choose to adopt them or not. For me this is where the book really scores and perhaps goes a long way to explain why Elder has not enjoyed wide acclaim. Someone like Lynch is more widely known and a lot easier to read but frankly his writings are not in the same league (hence also the price differential).

I have seen but not bought the accompanying study guide to Trading for a Living. My advice would be to save your money and keep reading the main text until you understand it fully.

To date I have not returned to Amazon.co.uk to get Come into my Trading Room. I know there is about a ten year gap between the two publications and ECN`s have come a long way in that time but I suspect the new book largely replicates the old but in perhaps more fashionable prose. This at least is the impression I gain from the chapter headings. If I am wrong about this perhaps some kind soul will point me in the right direction.

Kinglatfan

 

[Skimbleshanks]

For me, Come Into My Trading Room was the better of his two books.

 

[DemonHeadmaster]

Preview

You can take a peek at his second book on amazon.com's website. The 31 sample pages include the TOC, intro, first chapter and the index.

DH

 

[splishjosh]

I am currently reading Trading for a Living - and very much enjoying the psychological insights. Would anybody recommend the accopanying workbook as a good way to focus on the text and actively imbibe it?!
I found the tutorial CD on Prings Introduction to TA an excellent beginning to my trading education when I first entered this fascinating world.

 

[bigal39]

Read both books a couple of years ago. They fundamentally changed my thinking and organisation in trading.

Must admit to not really having a proper strategy until that point. Haven't really looked back since.

Cheers AE

 

[mikeyk]

I'm in the middle of buying soem trading books and the first of Dr Elders books is on my list. Would people recomend getting the second book as well or just the first one for starters?

 

[techtrader]

I also like Trading for a living, the other book I found to be good is the master swing trader by farley

 

[theknifemac]

I also like Trading for a living, the other book I found to be good is the master swing trader by farley

I keep meaning to finish MST by Farley, I think it has some useful stuff in there but I found it very hard to read and others have commented about this too.

Stew

 

[techtrader]

I keep meaning to finish MST by Farley, I think it has some useful stuff in there but I found it very hard to read and others have commented about this too.

Stew

Stew
I think it has a lot of good stuff in there but I must amit you have to stick with it.
Elder is an easier read, I have learned a lot from both of them
One other point, I have been more into candlesticks of late after reading nisons books, I have found that the additional support and resistance points identified by them to be useful in making trading decisions when trading from the right hand edge as Elder likes to put it
I think you have to use the tools that suite you best and approach your trading with discipline, both these books help to re-enforce that