Foreign-exchange-market Books

I will admit, this is a good book. From the at times harsh skepticism of the introduction (the skepticism, of course, is well founded), to the interesting tidbits of the final chapters, this is a pretty good book about Forex. It skips the obvious BS I've seen in most volumes, and gets right to the nitty-gritty.

But is it a 5 star book? Nope. Not at all. In fact, I would give it 3 stars if it weren't for the fact that there is such a dearth of good reading in the Forex arena!

I will admit that there are some good tips in here, and it is well written and features some actual setups and examples. A little pricey for what it is, but then that's pretty common in the world of trading books. Note to fledgling Forex authors out there: Get to work! We'd love to hear from you!

Before you even think of trading the forex market, read this book. Augustin has revealed what really goes on in most of the retail trade for the day trader. I loved every part of it.

Finally, somebody has some, and told the truth about many of the retail dealers in this industry. Even better, he shows you how to overcome a lot of their shoddy practices. A true "eye opener" that will bring tremendous clarity to your trading style.

Ignore the dealers that will ultimately give rebuttal reviews here. They do the same thing in the forums to keep the unknowing traders off their backs. They're always giving lame excuses and trying to fix their so-called platform issues. What a joke.

This is a great book for traders on any level. One that you will thoroughly appreciate and enjoy.

This is an outstanding book, particularly relevant in this time of turmoil in the markets. Is a type of book which you very seldom find. The author is on your side and this is very helpful during this unique period of such an incredible volatility. The book help you to better understand how the market works and how to take advantage of that.
BM

Other reviewers have already well articulated my sentiment and I just want to echo what others have said in that:
"DO NOT TRADE FOREX BEFORE READING THIS BOOK!"

This book should be a must for every intraday trader that already has some knowledge of the forex market,although you will not get a clear cut trading strategie out, you will find out what goes on behind the scene at your broker and how to avoid their pitfalls

Dr DeRosa's book was entertaining, easy to read and packed with anecdotes and information. As an investment pro, his book gave me a greater insight into the often arcane political manipulations that eventually sow the seeds for economic instability. He pulls no punches when he states that central banks and governments themselves set themselves up to be the eventual "victims" of their own bad policies and instead of doing something different, they blame the speculator.
I like his information "boxes" that help the reader with the technical details of the book. Although I have long been a fan of single currency idea's, DeRosa's book has given me reason to pause. Well referenced and well researched.
The reviews by Dr Hanke and Dr Friedman can't hurt either.

This work is illuminating and speaks to issues beyond the world of finance, like politics and ideaology. DeRosa lays out clear and consice arguments in defense of free floating exchange rates and against fixed exchange-rate regimes.

The author debunks the propaganda supporting fixed exchange-rate regimes with insightful analyses based on the facts of the various currency crises that occured during the 1990s. Particularly interesting is the fact that leaders around the world are either ignorant of or chose to ignore the last ten (let alone the last 100) years worth of economic history and persist in attempting to control and plan economies. This book should be required reading not only for finance professionals and central bankers, but anyone interested in how the decisions of people in appointed positions (like the head of a central bank or finance ministry)have far-reaching and often dire consequences.

"In Defense of Free Capital Markets is an impressive survey and analysis of the crises of the 1990s. Mr. DeRosa makes a strong case that official intervention has made matters worse, not better, and that in such instances it is far better to leave it to the invisible hand of the market than to the clumsy, visible hand of regulators."

--Milton Friedman Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution Nobel Economics Prize, 1976

Professor DeRosa offers up a generous helping of reality in evaluating the currency crises of the past dozen or so years. From the first world foibles of the Bank of Japan to the third world of currency pegs, the currency calamities of the late twentieth century are thoughtfully presented in a lean read.

While perhaps giving short shrift to the political constraints facing policy makers in times of crisis, Mr. DeRosa nevertheless does well describing the environments and pre-conditions which ultimately fostered our most recent international financial catastrophes.

In this, the age of fiat money, unsustainable currency policies are easy prey for the worlds biggest market. Anyone interested in a brief but informative history of recent currency debacles will truly enjoy this book.

Yale University adjunct professor David F. DeRosa argues that markets are smarter than government ministries. Therefore, he contends, economic development should be left to the free market, since tighter regulations will only distort development. His detailed analysis of economic conditions focuses on factors leading to several crises, including the decline of the Mexican and Japanese economies in the 1990s and the Southeast Asian collapse of 1997. The subject is complicated and interesting, and the writing is often technical and sometimes complex. We at getAbstract call this book to the attention of scholars, executives and managers who have a serious interest in fiscal policy. And we do mean serious.

Comprehensive, simple, full of examples - worth the money.

Good introductory book with plenty of examples. Good layout too. Many different options trading techniques are discussed, each with an indication of how risky it is. It even suggests leaving some of the more advanced techniques to the professionals, or more experienced traders - good advice.

If i had to pick a book that explained the most about options to the layman in the clearest language in the fewest pages, this would be it.

a must read for anybody who wants to understand how to use options

Yes, As a beginner I can confidently say I know what option is, it's uses and the risk involve. The Author did not only explain the principle but gave practicable example everyone can relate to. All in simple and plain English, you don't need to have been to a school of economy to know what an option is. With the help of this book, I can't look stupid when others uses terminologies relating to option. Keep up the good work Joseph.

Mr. Walker is clear and concise in his depiction of how the options markets work. He details various strategies and makes options investing understandable to those new to it.

In my 11 years as a futures investor, broker, and author, I have never seen someone with as much grasp of options investing as Mr.Walker and have the capability to explain it.

Ten years ago, by coincidence, I saw this book. I bought it, and since then I have recommended it to all my colleagues.
At that time, the book was new and contained all the most recent developments in the journals (it ends with hysteresis - well explained and at that moment a brand new topic in the journals).
But what I find more important is that this is the only book I read where all those journal-stuff was fitted into a coherent frame-work; for the first time I really understood what macro-economics (and their micro foundations) was all about.
Up till then, I had seen only fragmented pieces of macro theory and here these authors came with a coherent view, which would have taken myself years to fit together, and I was sorry that this was not the handbook I had at university.
I don't follow-up this field anymore, and the book has not been updated anymore since then (a pity I think) but I write this review out of gratitute for the insights the authors gave me: I finally realized that in this book all the pieces were fitted together and allowed me to really understand macro-economics.
Personally, I can only recommend it.

Most of the textbooks in macroeconomics (Blanchard, Mankiew and Gordon) focus on basic IS-LM and AS-AD models which are useless in open economies. This book is perfect upgrade for everybody who has read basic macroeconomics textbooks and wants to go further. There is economic history review, everithing is based on imperfect labour markets and salter-swan diagram is perfectly implemented in standard macroeconomics tools together with IS-LM model.

One of the best macroeconomics textbooks in the market.First of all it contains an excellent chronological survey of models. But above all, its approach based on wage bargain and mark-up pricing has great relevance in terms of real world phenomena, in contrast to most mecroeconomic textbooks based in the unrealistic competitive model. The main contribution is to set an scenario for a feasible and intelligent social negotiation and for economic policy, instead of definitive "natural" outcomes of economic performance. I hope the authors keep on updating this book

Jorge Ibarra. National University of Mexico

Great Book. The ability to think independently, and to see the outliers, not the current fads, is what makes his analysis so valuable. When is the next volume coming out!?

This book will be helpful to those seeking an introduction to the interrelatedness of the currency, commodity, equity and fixed income markets. The book is well written and easy to read. However, I would not suggest the book to a person with no technical, economic or financial background.
I have followed Mr. Laidi's currency outlook for over a decade now both on TV and in print, and can honestly say that I have yet to come across another analyst with the foresight of Mr. Laidi (he called the bear market and USD collapse when the rest of Wall St. were still believing in an unending bull market).
Although many of his correlations referenced in this book are obviously backward looking, it does teach traders to take a global market perspective before narrowing down to specific currency pairs. I felt his explanation of the FED, under both Greenspan and Bernanke, really did a good job on a very difficult topic, as many traders, like myself, really don't understand the different weapons the Fed and other central banks posses.
Equally useful and informative was his chapter on the effect of interest rates, there isn't enough space for me to go into it, instead I will let you gather the pearls of wisdom for yourself.
Mr. Laidi finally concludes that some of the historical tendencies are currently being challenged and that only time will tell if a new relationship has emerged or if history will again be proven right. Pick up this book if you want to read the work of an original thinker at the top of his craft. Whether you trade FX or another market, I think you will benefit from Mr. Laidi's insight.

As always, this was an excellent read, Kathy. I've been following your blog for some time and you've always got some information that I've utilized in my trading. Can't wait for the next one!

Kathy's first book on daytrading the currency markets is a landmark; this updated version expands on it by adding new content for trading news plays, how to time a turn (pivot), and following flow (institutional money flow).

Kathy's a brilliant forex strategist and trader, and along with Boris, the two of them are great resources to learn from. Highly recommended. I'll be telling my 8100 traders that this is a "strong buy"; all of Kathy's training (particularly how to use correlation tables to identify strongest-paired moves) are a superb addition to any currency trader's library.

Great job as always, Kathy!

Ken Calhoun, Pres.
DaytradingUniversity

With this one I've finally gotten my grubby paws on the complete (published in book format and more or less fictional) works of Larry Beinhart. And I loved it so much (as usual) that now I'm heartbroken. There was no new book from Beinhart since mid-90s, and I miss them sorely. Re-reading is fun, in this case enormous fun, but I WANT MORE!
...OK, ad rem. Great book. Mother-in-law scenes galore, plus spooks, musclemen, Czech mafiosi and Japanese businessmen with all the manners of hungry sharks. And Tony Casella, who's so much one of a kind that you'd wish you were like him, even with the stuff he has to face in his life.
Buy it. Then go buy Beinhart's other novels. And weep like me, after you're done laughing.

I read this book several years ago, and it is a crime in itself that the book is out of print. Tony Cassella is an engaging character, the plot is gripping AND it has a nifty "twist" such as you also find in American Hero. I certainly wish we were going to get more of this clever and believable detective, but I do understand that Mr. Beinhart has a living to make.

This book is the best guide to FX markets and the corresponding instruments. The book structure and contents are extremely well planned and written to provide not only a beginner with first hand knowledge, but can be a good refresher for others.

This book is a definitive masterpiece.

In Controlling Currency Mismatches In Emerging Markets, Morris Goldstein (Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at IIE) and Philip Turner (Head of the Secretariat Group in the Monetary and Economics Department, Bank for International Settlements) collaborate in revealing and dealing with past and present weaknesses in economic policies and institutions in contemporary and emerging markets around the globe. But more than a simply litany of flawed policies and economic ills, the authors present an effective and practical plan of action to control currency mismatches through a managed floating currency regime, an inflation targeting regime for monetary policy, regular publication of data on currency mismatches at the sectoral and economy wide levels, stepped up supervision and monitoring of currency mismatches in banks and in the loan customers, changes in official safety nets and in IMF policy conditionality, implementation of more prudent debt and reserve management policies in emerging economies, and a higher priority with respect to developing domestic bond markets, hedging instruments, and reduced barriers respecting foreign-owned banks within emerging economies. Informed and informative, Controlling Currency Mismatches In Emerging Markets is a sold work of seminal research and strongly recommended reading for policy makers with respect to international economic issues.

In his book, Mr. Ira Kawaller covers an amazing range of topics from risk managemant to stock options. I have never read a book so incredibly exciting in all of my life. Mr. Kawaller knows how to display the facts, provide informative facts, and decorate it all with a wit and charm that thrives in his book. "Financial Futures and Options" is THE book for risk management lovers everywhere. This book inspired me to change my career choices. After reading "Futures" (in one sitting!) I knew that prostitution and drug dealing was just not for me. I am now an economist making over $600,000 a year and loving it. Thank you, Mr. Kawaller. You turned my life around. (From what everyone is saying, I believe Mr. Kawaller now runs his own business called Kawaller & Company in Brooklyn, NY. If you ever need help financially, Mr. Kawaller will personally see to it that you get back on track. After all, risk can be managed if it is faced in a disciplined way. Ignore it and you face disaster. E-mail Kawaller and Company at kawaller@idt.net and good luck!)