Option

First three chapters may be skipped by most readers. A good chapter on installation of the product would be helpful. Using the product is not well explained and difficult to follow.

The reader goes through phases of enlightenment and then phases where nothing makes sense. Clasing introduces his Cycletrac method, which seems questionable at best. For example, his profit target on the S&P is +10 and stop is -5.. which are arbitrary numbers just to have a favorable profit/risk ratio. Makes you scratch your head. There are several pages of patterns and charts that may be worth photocopying, but then many more pages of worthless babble. Bottom line, this book will probably not help your trading at all.

I have read better than that.

One can seldom find such one sided, overwhelming negative comment on Amazon of a trading book. All reviewers before me rated this book with less than 3 stars. This book really belongs to the rare breed.

Though he author used a lot of charts, supported with Stochastics (he used that badly, too), to elaborate how to use Gann's ideas to trade for profit, he failed miserably. His charts and his analysis were simply beyond apprehension, even for a pro like me. You couldnt understand what "pattern" (that's what charts are for) the author was talking about. He should have employed some professionals to edit his original script. The addition of copy and paste ideas from the original Gann books just couldnt help at all. Dont waste your hard earned money on this mess.

p.s. I am sorry that the only points the author made it clear were:

1)The basic ratio of Gann Angles is 1:1 - one unit of price equalling one unit of time. A 2x1 Gann Angle indicates that prices are moving two units of price in one unit of time. (Perhaps the only clear thing on this book)

2)After an initial, sustained price move, either up or down, prices retrace ot 50% of their initial move. If the retracement exceeds 50%, prices should continue to the 62.5% (5/8) level, before a reaction occurs. (Gann used 1/8 as the base unit of his forecast) (Perhaps the only simplifed and clear thing on this book)

Gann's trading methods have always been a mystery to those of us who don't understand his strategies. However, this book makes an attempt to resolve the mystery behind Gann's trading system and it's almost more "simplified" if you read a book that Gann had written himself. This book does nothing to shed light on how Gann worked his magic. You're better off reading something by William Gann himself and trying to decipher his methods on your own.

Maybe I am incapable of understand Gann's square of 9 and angles because I was not really able to decipher most of this book. I will admit, the book does attempt to simply Gann's methods.. but it is far from clear. This does not totally discredit the book and it's potential methods, but I was not able to understand it to where it might improve my bottom line.

I am revisiting this book, 5 years down the track, looking for the gold beneath the gross.

1. The first difficulty: All the charts in this book are done manually. This seems a long way out of date with current charting software available. It is also extremely tedious.

2. All channels are drawn at 45 degrees with width of 8.5 units. Why 45 degrees? Why 8.5 units? No explanation. I assume the 45 degree requirement goes back to the old Gann ideas and time/price symmetry. But I see no obvious reason for the 8.5 unit channel width.
Both the slope and the width of these channels appear arbitrary and unproven.

3. The book is essentially based on cycle analysis, where we are looking for the number of days between two highs to equal the number of days between two lows. Unless you're a cycles fanatic you're straight away going to find yourself out of your depth here, especially since cycles (if they exist) are not constant.

4. The explanatory charts and notes are very difficult to follow and some charts and notes are simply incorrect (eg fig32 P.15).

I intend to come back to this review to elucidate the heart of the PAMA methodology.

In the meantime, with apologies to Jeff, I am still unable to give this book a decent recommendation.

I found his trading method difficult to understand. He glosses over his trading method and does not explain it with enough detail. I had to read the pages over and over again just to get a grasp of his system. Basically, he is using channelling to detect reversals of up and down trends. Half of the book uses his method to analyze the Dow Jones Industrial Average for a ten year period. In following his analysis, there were quite a few times when it seemed like he did not follow his own rules. It looks like he was doing that to make his trading results look good.

This is a difficult book to review. And difficult to read. A true rating could be anywhere between one star and four depending on what your perpective is. It is a thin book (only 155 pages counting the index and lots of white space, also big printing and full page graphs) but I don't think it is gutless. Jeffrey is pushing something he calls the PAMA Method (Pivotal Area of Market Analysis)and he may have something there. But trying to read the book is like sawing hardwood with a disposable plastic knife. I still scarcely know what the hell he is saying, and believe me I have tried. He may well be offering something of value but it is bloody difficult to understand what. The first part of the book is just simply badly written and the last part I've never gotten to even after several attempts. He spends a lot of time developing arcane laws and conditions (and sub-laws and sub-conditions) that may sometimes work for him but to claim them as the "Ultimate Breakthrough" well.... I would like to encourage a serious student to buy this book and then elucidate it to me or study it together because I still believe there is something in it. But if you want a holy grail or an easy read to riches, this book ain't it!

If you are looking for a book about the actual "spread option offense" that has been popularized by Georgia Southern and that Navy used to thrash Army this year, buy "Coaching Football's Spread Offense", by Tim Stowers (who coached at Georgia Southern) and Barry Butzer. Granger's book is a about his own hodge-podge scheme that is far more complicated than a high school offense need be. Granger is one of those offensive coaches who makes the mistake of puting quantity before quality, as his offense more resembles a "video-game" approach to the sport.

I agree with the earlier reviewer. If you are looking for a book on the ACTUAL SPREAD OPTION OFFENSE, this isn't it. This a Run-N-Shoot coach or spread passing coach who runs a little option because it looks good on paper. I suggest you look elsewhere for a hardcore option book.

ENHANCED CONVERTIBLES, despite its interesting title, is so bad, in so many ways, that its publication will be lauded only as an incomprehensible mystery to careful readers. The book's single identifiable accomplished objective is its service as a surrogate advertisement for Lyon's previous book (on options), which is mentioned in this text, repeatedly, by Lyons.

So, what's so bad about it? Resting heavily --very heavily-- on his reputation as a pioneer of convertible pricing techniques at Value Line, Lyons traipses from one idea to the next, leaving each less than even half-baked. To be sure, I was not aware that Lyons was a pioneer in convertible pricing model construction until Lyons alluded to it here. Yet, there are no convertible price models, or utilizable suggestions on how to construct one. The suggested convertible strategies are so vaguely described that each is merely a tease. Perhaps most annoying of all, the listed spreadsheet instructions (to create your own) are littered with typographical and formulaic errors, and happen to be coded in Lotus 1-2-3...It is as if the author was assigned to write whatever constitutes the opposite of a useful text on investment strategy, and he went the extra mile.

Some worthwhile investment books are panned by self-described sophisticated readers for being too basic. Rest assured, this is not one of those books. It is a waste of time for the investor of any caliber.

Obviously, as an investment banker at a top European Investment Bank, I read a great deal of finance books. I have to conclude that this is one of the worst. (1)The typeface is large, causing the book to expand to 200+ pages what can be summarised in 20 or less. (2) The author spends a great deal of time waxing lyrical about how great his Value Line model is, but provides no real details - to be honest I have never heard of value-line. (3) He gives examples in an ancient version of Lotus 123! The least he could do is give Excel equivalents. (4) One has real doubts about how sound his own basic financial theory really is.

I learnt next to nothing from this book. For his discussions about option pricing and warrants, a basic finance textbook would have told you more. I just feel lucky that a friend lent the book to me, I would never have bought it myself.

Stick to developing your software

I purchased this book a few years ago. I found the content
informative.However, I could never use the software.I contacted
a person through the phone number listed on the cover of the book. I was refused assistance.
I rate this book two stars for its content only.

As others have said clearly, this book is a waste of trees, ink and the time of its reader. The "authors" should be ashamed of such blatant hucksterism and poor description of even the most basic aspects of trading. Even if you are a neophyte, look somewhere else.

... I have no idea what objective these guys had in mind when they sat down to write this book.... This book is just a bunch of information thrown together (probably downloaded from the internet) and they obviously took no time to put any real effort into this book. I was terribly dissappointed with my purchase of this book.....look elsewhere if you are interested in getting started in forex trading.

this book is very heavy on the operational, functional aspects of fx trading. it is not a book on strategy, but does not claim to be either. for someone looking to get into fx trading, the material here is useful to provide a macro view of the process and the background of the rise in popularity of fx trading, and what to look for in terms of fx service. if you do not get that information from this book, you would be well-served to get it somewhere. if you already have the basics, history, fundamentals, etc. you can find more thorough treatments of strategy elsewhere. this book is a little misleading in the sub-title "from the fundamentals to the fine points". one might expect that the book covers everything one needs to know to mount a trading strategy, when what the book really delivers is "fundamentals and the fine points often overlooked because they are not necessary in determining future success or failure in the fx markets".

A near useless publication obvoisly designed just to generate some income for the AMA!

I found this to be a nearly useless publication that was obviously was designed to generate some income for the AMA by preying on those starting or selling a medical practice.