Index-futures

This sall book presents an accumulation/distribution type indicator that is suppose to do the work of similar indicators that is foundl in many software programs. , However, this book provides examples of a simple in a simple way that can be handled manually. This could be useful for someone who trades a single market only (as I do with T-Bponds) ad don't need any complex expensive mechanisml to do the same job.

Gary Gastineau, a managing director at Nuveen Investments and the author of The Options Manual (1988), has written the most detailed account available in print of open-ended exchange-traded funds: how they work, what are their distinctive characteristics, who trades them (largely, specialists, market makers, and hedge funds), who owns them (largely, brokerage firms clearing and carrying the ETF shares for specialists, market makers, or hedge funds), and what are their advantages and disadvantages over other sorts of investment for various investors.

This is no gripping page-turner, in the league of Jack Schwager's "Wizards" series. But it doesn't need to be. Mr. Gastineau's manual is directed chiefly at investment advisers and financial planners as a reference volume, and it serves that purpose quite well. Advisers and planners, and of course their clients, face a bewildering variety of issues pertaining to these relatively new vehicles-issues of tax efficiency, risk management, trading costs and spreads, etc. In many offices, this book will be a welcome aid in sorting out all of that.

Exchange Traded Funds are simply the biggest development for the average retail investor in the past decade. No more need to pay huge fees for opaque mutual funds/unit trusts. Just go to an exchange, buy the fund and hey presto you can track indices and have total price transparency for as long as the exchange is open.

I championed ETFs in my book "Capital Market Revolution" and I am delighted to see that ETF pioneer Gary Gastineau has produced a terrific, comprehensive book on every aspect of Exchange Traded Funds.

If you have any questions about ETFs, they will be answered by this book...

Patrick L Young
author "Capital Market Revolution"
CEO, erivatives.com

I recently purchased the e-book since I'm located overseas (in Saudi Arabia) and postage is sometimes more than the cost of the books. It also takes in excess of 3 weeks to get mail here from the States. I purchased and downloaded the e-book and was all set to print. I could only print the first 14 pages and then was notified by the Abode print driver that I could not print any more pages that day. After doing some checking I found that permissions were set by the publisher that only allowed printing 35 pages every 7 days - what a rip off!!! By the time I can finally print the last pages we'll be celebrating July 4th 2004 (well maybe not that long). But the idea that printing is being restricted after purchase is outrageous. I have written Amazon to inform them. At the very least the publisher should advise of this practice BEFORE YOUR PURCHASE. I will not purchase any e-books until this practice by Wiley is discontinued.

I happened to pick up this wonderful book while in Chicago recently. In browsing through the introductory pages, I smiled at the references to both Warren Buffett and Jack Bogle. Now here, I thought, is someone who "gets it". Buy this book and read it. It is worth every penny. Amidst today's cacaphony of financial marketing, Lerman's voice emerges from these pages with refreshing honesty, simplicity, and reason.
Those trying to educate themselves in the area of personal finance and investment should read this book carefully. For conservative investors as well as for those inclined to a bit of speculation on occasion, this book is very well written and informative.
Following up on the themes that, in the long run (emphasis), economic fundamentals drive returns; that larger, well-established, actively traded markets are, over time (emphasis), highly efficient; and that costs matter greatly when assessing net performance over extended periods; Lerman does an excellent job of explaining the rapidly developing role of ultra low-cost, exchange traded funds (ETFs) as part of any core indexing program. At the same time, he carefully exposes the many hidden (and, unfortunately, rising) costs lurking in most mutual funds today.
Still, Lerman wisely acknowledges, in the short term things can and do happen. While over long periods of time certain markets may be extremely efficient, the difference between that and what may happen in the near term is, as Buffett points out, the difference between day and night. After all, we are inescapably human, and fear and greed will never be completely expunged from our collective psyche. Sudden, unexpected events can result in major market and/or sector security specific swings, and it is during those times that patient investors as well as prudent speculators can occasionally reap outsized returns. Here again, ETFs (as well as the related E-Mini Stock Index Futures for more enterprising individuals) can help.
In short, by building a long-term, broadly-based core portfolio around low-cost ETFs and perhaps a few well-chosen securities and/or money managers (particularly in less efficient markets), and by then (for the enterprising investor) complementing such a portfolio with the occasional, more speculative foray, whether by utilizing ETFs, E-Mini Stock Index Futures, or other means, an intelligent individual should be able to navigate successfully today's choppy financial waters.

This is a well written book and easy to read about the history of ETFs and Emini futures. The author describes the creation of the likes of SPY, QQQ, SMH. Why is it important to know about these instruments, how they get created, who manages them, their cost effective investing over regular mutual funds. He goes in great detail by listing all EFTs available today with their tickers as well, till the point I don't need to keep going to the internet. I started trading the EFTs for profit and for hedging in particular after reading this book. The introduction about the Emini futures is useful and gave me a good start in this subject.

While I have been following the growth of ETFs for a some time in the financial media, I've been confused about how to select them and why they're sound investment alternatives. This book provided sound discussions about the various funds and why this is a good investment strategy. The charts were helpful and overall this is a very well written investment book

I did, and I found that this book gave me a clear and comprehensive knowledge base for this new (at least new to me) investment vehicle.

While the book contains much detailed information about the history, regulatory environment and composition of the world's index futures, it does not provide much practical information about the "ins & outs of trading" these contracts.

Whether you think a CAC is the sound your cat makes when coughing up a hairball or a stock index in France, if you're a new investor or an experienced trader this book is an excellent reference to stock indexes worldwide. Susan Abbott Gidel starts with a brief history of the index and futures markets. Followed by an explanation of what makes the market move, definition of the market "players", and strategies for investing in stock indexes and index futures.

The worldwide market indexes are summarized by region. Each index is individually defined in very readable layman's terms. Gidel explains what equities make up each index, how each one is calculated and how the index and index futures are traded. The book has a glossary and index that easily guide the reader through it's wealth of information making it easy to find an index comprised of stocks that suit your investment need.

I enjoyed the book and plan on making it a permanent part of my financial library. Consider this book an investment. Think of it as an essential tool for understanding equities markets and diversifying your portfolio. It is a reference you'll find yourself going back to again and again.

the fundamental ideas mentioned in this book are timeless, hence is valuable.

but some of the systems suggested are dated. the book needs an upgrade to keep up with the times.

satish paul

i feel larry is giving a morsel here and a morsel there and not giving away the real meat! Disappointed.

besides it a dated book, needs an upgrade

satish paul

i feel larry is giving a morsel here and a morsel there and not giving away the real meat! Disappointed.

besides it a dated book, needs an upgrade

satish paul

Mr.Williams never ceases to amaze me. He has done a phenomenal job of putting this compendium together. He doesn't get bogged down in trivial mathematics. He makes futues accessible to the lay person. I have been trading futures as an investor and broker for the past 11 years. ... With my experience I find it is very important that new investors feel like futures is accessible. Mr.Williams does that in all of his books. The is definitely a great reference guide.

I read this book a couple years ago. On my first pass, I really enjoyed reading the book. The material seemed to be well presented. I'm a programmer and I needed a volume indicator for my charting application, and OBV was the way to go. I began writing the algorithms to add an OBV indicator to my application, and that's when I began noticing them. ERRORS. In the heart of the technical discussion of OBV, dozens of discrepancies and vague sentences that made it near impossible to generate accurate algorithms. It's a good thing I had other resources at my disposal. I contacted the author to get clarifications and I received a form letter. That was a lot of help. I was also sent a catalog, and encouraged to purchase high dollar training courses. Right! That book remains on my shelf, unused. There are many other sources, that are much more reliable, that don't require an author's intervention to clarify details! Personally, I wouldn't purchase another book by this author. At one time, he may have had a passion for trading and teaching, but it is no longer evident.

As and introduction to technical analysis techniques and their application, this book is satisfactory. Unfortunately, it was written pre-internet and pre-laser printer (mid/late 80's). The example charts are a bit ragged - they look like they were printed on an old dot matrix printer - and they aren't especially clear. And much of the book is dedicated to step-by-step proceedures for doing the calculations - not terribly useful information when all this analysis is now available for free via the internet.

Given the price, I would recommend more recent books by Martin Pring or the updated classic by John Murphy. The practice of technical analysis has changed dramatically since Eng authored his book.

This book covers a few of the more popular indicators in some detail, and as such I think it's a helpful book. Some of the more encyclopedic volumes, like Marty Pring's, can be overwhelming. This is not a bad place to start learning about technical analysis, or to review some basics.

If you have a copy of "Taking Profit from the OEX" by Arthur Darack then just re-read it. This book, supposedly published in 1995, is just a re-hash of the previous book. Even the chapter headings have the same name, and the same content. If nothing has changed since the first one (198?) then why change the title. Stan Graham

On reading further -- each chapter has been exended to include later trades (1990 - 93) and some strategic changes to the approaches are suggested. The book is interesting reading, some of the comments are good (amusing) but not always helpful in trading. The discussion of SP500 futures should deter many a would-be trader, I would think.

After reading this book on trading the OEX, I had a better insight as to how this instrument works. Personally, I'm still considering whether or not I should start trading the OEX. This book helped me a lot in my decision. If you have any interest in OEX trading, you should start by readin this book.

I guess I'm spoiled by Martin Schwartz's excellent book Pit Bull. I was expecting a trader's autobiography something along the same line with The Day Trader, but what I got was the first 130 pages of Borsellino talking about what a tough guy he is and about his mafioso father. After that he dips into a high-level discussion of the changes to the commodities and NASDAQ exchanges over the years. There is virtually no mention of trading technique or psychology, outside of the constant tough guy braggadocio, which is pretty sad to hear from a 40-year-old guy. And definitely don't buy it if you're looking for trading advice or techniques. There is none to be found. If you want a nice biographical read about a trader, read Pit Bull or Reminiscences of a Stock Operator instead. Borsellino simply doesn't write well enough to keep this one interesting. The story wanders around too much and is too repetitious.

While the title has disappointed some by leading one to think that this book contains the secret strategies of a successful day trader (it does not), I found this book to be perfectly appropriate for teaching everyone about an often overlooked concept and the one thing that kept him in the trading game: heart.

Through the lens of this notion, Borsellino gives folks a first-hand look of what it takes to make money in the S&P futures pits of the Chicago Merc. Much more than that, "Big Italy" gives you a no-holds-barred account of his humble beginnings and some of his more interesting episodes as a day trader on the Merc. The best story I ever read was about how he was able to earn over $1.3 million dollars on one trade...in about 1 minute! If you want to see what its like to be on the other side of the daytrading fence (the very profitable side) take a look at Borsellio's "The Day Trader". Also useful is an interview he gives in "The Best: TradingMarkets.com Conversations With Top Traders". There he discussed order flow and support and resistance from a pit trader and a pc-based traders point of view. Some useful nuggets there.

The book is not a tech how to book but in all fairness the auther doesn't claim it as one. This book is more of an autobiography and in that category it is a 5. The auther brags about himself at times but anyone who is that successful has a right too. Excellent read well worth the time!