Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar: The Technical Analysis of Price Action for the Serious Trader

Lots of information, but hard to follow

I really wanted to succeed in reading this book about price action, but the way it was written made it impossible for me to read. I know Al Brooks knows his stuff, but wow, he needs to learn how to write a book, or work with someone who does next time. Al, if youre reading this review, which im sure you wont, PLEASE help me by writing another version of this book so I can learn from you, ill even pay double! :)

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2.0

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didn't like it

Didn'tlike it it seemed like it had to much information. It should have been organized better

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5.0

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2.1

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Trust Score

2.0

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the bible

This book has been superseded by a website, live webinar, and three new books.

Yes, this book IS hard to follow. It's far from a get rich quick scheme. It's not even a get rich slow scheme. But the book does describe what you'll be doing and looking for in the market in several years’ time once you have enough experience to ditch your indicators (excepting the 20ema) and trade like the pros. Be prepared to read chapters through several times.

It's written by a successful, serious trader; you can currently listen to his daily commentary on a website run by and for fans of his method. Google "Al Brooks" to find the website.

I prefer to tell people that learning to trade is not about being smarter than the next guy, it's about your personal determination to resist the war on attrition and yet change and adapt to become the person you need to be. In simpler terms, don't give up. This book is a real test of your determination.

The author listened to readers and wrote three new books that are easier to understand. If you're a beginner the new books will still test your patience. But perhaps remember, you don't need to know everything the author knows before being able to trade consistently and profitably.

But because this book is still a good read for experienced traders, and because it provides so much information for such a small price, I’d like to give it my highest recommendation: Bible.

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2.1

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Not for everyone

This book is very, very hard to read and follow, convoluted, but I do like the content and what he has to say. It should help you understand the mechanisms for price action. Not for beginners, or impatient traders.

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5.0

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Wordy

This book is too wordy and disorganized, jumping around, could not be any more reader unfriendly. Really confusing, but it seems there is some wisdom in there. Helps to understand price action and great for daytraders.

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5.0

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Good Book But Can Be Frustrating

This book is a really good, in depth look at a price action if you can finish the book. There is a good chance you'll get frustrated and quit. It really need a revision.

The problem with this book is that the author is using not all that common terms in the first section of the first chapter that he doesn't even explain until the end of chapter 1 and most of them them beyond chapter 2. So you have to really try and understand what he is talking about or skip forward to figure it out. I am not really sure why the author structured the book this way, but it's really confusing and hard to comprehend this way. I fought through chapter 1 trying to figure out the terms he was using by looking at the charts and managed to do so, but there would be no need for this if everything was explained, laid out, then shown how they play out in charts and how to trade them.

I am not a new trader and struggled, so I do not recommend this for anyone who is either new to trading or isn't willing to sit down and really study the book. If you are serious about learning price action and willing to study the book I would recommend this as it still stands that the information is good - just very complex and poorly laid out.

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10

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One of the best books to explain the market´s price action

Al Brooks wrote a great book with great information but it is huge, difficult to read and I agree with Darthtrader, in some pages Al is explaining a graph that is pages away, really confusing in some parts.

On the other hand it is really a must have to understand price action.

It helps to understand why you are in trouble when you are in trouble and why things work out when they do.

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5.7

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Must have for active traders

This book is one of the few that focuses on day trades. The author does not use studies/indicators so it really is about the price charts. He goes into detail about the different times of day which 99% of books will not do since they do not cater to day traders. So based on the nature of the content, this book is a must-have for day traders.

However, there is one thing I will take major issue to, and that is the way this book is written. It is very wordy, and kind of disorganized due to that. It's kind of like having a conversation with someone who is talking a mile a minute and jumps around because they are talking faster than they can think. You will have to go back and re-read some sentences and paragraphs because of that convolution. So, it really needs a better editor, and if this book becomes a hit, they definitely need to come out with a second edition to take on that issue (because the entire book is convoluted), but I still have to recommend it for the nature of the content alone. That is the reason I gave it 4 checks than 5 overall, because that wordiness made it way harder to read and understand.

I haven't read the entire book yet, but I have already learned two major things (I have read enough about trading where books only give me nuggets of new information at this point) that have steered me away from bad trades and have helped me find good entries in ones that would have left me puzzled in the past (when AIG does it's crazy skyrocketing, I was able to get better entries based on what I learned from this book).

So, this has more than paid for itself already, and it's not as expensive as some books out there, so there is no value complaint.

Bottom line: Must have for day traders, forgive the convoluted text and buy it.

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10

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