Rating: 
Summary: A Dynamite Book
Review: I purchased this book partly out of curiosity from its reviews. It either received a 5-star rating or a 1-star rating. Much to my surprise, I found this book was dynamite and loaded with innovative trading strategies not found elsewhere. One strategy detailed in How I Trade for a Living - the Friday-to-Monday momentum break pattern - netted me over $20,000 the week of January 31. A warning though. If you are looking for the usual, staid, conventional trading advice, look elsewhere. The author never found charts, volume, and oscillators of any value in his quest for trading success.
Rating:
Summary: Right kind of material
Review: I read this book after losing tonnes of money in the bubble. This was AFTER the fact. However this book revealed so many layers of professional trading to me that I was surprised. It was a revelation. I have read many many other books afterwards but even then Gary's book was my FIRST (very much like first love), and I highly recommend it.Though I will say that much of the material is not original. Most of the indicators are taken from somewhere else, and Gary has provided appropriate references as well. Beauty lies in summarizing and presentation of the indicators that will save you invaluable time taken to read numerous other books. Gary is a perma-bull. That is somewhat surprising, as that will not be "trading" at all. Nevertheless, the indicators outlined in this book will keep you in sync with the market. Sometimes it is very difficult to remember all this information, though this stuff really WORKS. This is one level above trite technical analysis.
Rating: 
Summary: I got a lot out of this book, but not what you may think...
Review: I was intrigued by this book's title. I am not a day trader, and have no plans to become one; however, I still gained some insights into Gary Smith's success by reading this volume: 1) Self-knowledge. Mr. Smith did not enter day trading for the glamour. He treats it strictly like a business. He comes across as a person with a solid inner core, perhaps gained by many years of contemplation during his early, lean years. His reading list appears to have something to do with this; he remarks [p. 231] "Looking at my massive collection of trading books, my friend commented about all the money and time I had wasted accumulating this stash of books since, obviously, they had done me no good. Fast forward 21 years, and my friend is still searching for his opportunity to get rich, while my trading account is closing in on $700,000...I believe reading as much as you can about trading and the stock market is part of the process of becoming a successful trader yourself." 2) Persistence. Mr. Smith endured many years of treading water before he began to consistently make money - the first 19 years of his 36-year career so far. This of course was initially fueled by passion, following his reading of Nicolas Darvas's "How I Made Two Million Dollars in the Stock Market" at age 14. Smith's initial passion had many years of follow up, such as [p. 197] "[During the 1960s], while most of my fellow students spent their free time partying or debating and protesting the Vietnam War...I could be found at the local stock brokerage office. There, sitting next to veteran traders in their seventies and eighties, I watched excitedly as the stock quotations rolled across the large ticker tape..."Smith even persisted during heartbreaking periods in the 70s when his first marriage apparently broke up (details obscure) and he spent time "working at menial and low-paying jobs, such as being a security guard". 3) Prudence. Despite many years of not being a whopping success, Smith was careful enough not to wipe out totally for a number of years, unlike Matthew Katzman of "A Sucker's Diary". Risk control takes many forms so I advise you to read the book to understand the full spectrum of what he was doing. However, I think the most important underlying risk control he undertook was not overspending in his personal life. Even in his later, flush years he describes himself as "frugal", having "perfected the art of living below my means." Leaving the West coast and moving to "cave-and-cow country of south central Kentucky" probably helped this. 4) Learning A Trade. After initial false starts Smith hit upon a second career as an insurance investigator. Up until quite recently his living expenses were completely paid by his investigative work, leaving his trading capital untouched. 5) Rigor. Smith's methods are too complex to describe here in any detail. After many years of losses, he forced himself to look at all of his prior trades and discover the reason for each loss, and formulate ways not to lose money the next time. Smith also read Rick Pitino's "Success is a Choice" and became very disciplined about how he spends his time, cutting out self-sabotaging behavior like "never roll[ing] out of bed for the early morning West Coast openings." He systematically developed trading methods that are so robust that they (surprise!) do not require the use of a computer or internet access. His methods also appear to be adaptable, judging by the nuanced language he uses for many of his "rules" and when to break them. I have no idea how Gary Smith has been doing since he completed this book around August 1999 (I am curious), but I was so impressed by his overall attitude towards his profession that I wouldn't be shocked if he was doing just fine.
Rating:
Summary: DESTINED TO BECOME A TRADING CLASSIC!
Review: I've read dozens of trading books over the years and this is the best yet. "How I Trade for a Living" is an intelligent, straightforward look at a successful trading professional who's not promoting seminars or newsletters. Gary Smith is giving readers the benefit of his 30+ years of trading experience. What's important to me is that he's got the documentation to back it all up. As a follower of Gary Smith since 1996, I've been impressed with his knowledge and understanding of today's market. His research and insights have saved me years of trial and error in my personal trading. This is not a get rich quick book. Smith outlines a low-risk trading strategy that works, but it is intense. It requires dedication, discipline and more time than some people might want to devote. Still, if you've ever dreamed of being a home based trader, this is the book you should buy, read and STUDY.
Rating:
Summary: DESTINED TO BECOME A TRADING CLASSIC!
Review: I've read dozens of trading books over the years and this is the best yet. "How I Trade for a Living" is an intelligent, straightforward look at a successful trading professional who's not promoting seminars or newsletters. Gary Smith is giving readers the benefit of his 30+ years of trading experience. What's important to me is that he's got the documentation to back it all up. As a follower of Gary Smith since 1996, I've been impressed with his knowledge and understanding of today's market. His research and insights have saved me years of trial and error in my personal trading. This is not a get rich quick book. Smith outlines a low-risk trading strategy that works, but it is intense. It requires dedication, discipline and more time than some people might want to devote. Still, if you've ever dreamed of being a home based trader, this is the book you should buy, read and STUDY.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for anyone serious about trading.
Review: I've traded stocks and futures for over ten years, and have spent thousands of dollars on books, courses and software on trading. Most of it is junk written by vendors who couldn't trade their way out of a paper bag. HOW I TRADE FOR A LIVING is one of the few books written by an actual trader who trades for a living. Gary's story is like that of many traders (including myself:) Years of struggle and frustration in a seemingly futile attempt at beating the markets. Gary recounts his failures and his spectacular success: Since 1985 his account has grown from a paltry $2200 into over $650,000 (this amount does not include withdrawals for living expensese, so profits are even greater.) Gary also tells us how he trades, what indicators he uses, and details exactly how he trades. In perhaps the best and must useful chapter "The Nitty-Gritty of Trading," Gary takes the reader through actual trades, which explain his methodology in great detail, which can be applied to stocks, mutual funds and stock index futures. Though this book has my highest recommendation, I should warn the reader that this book is written for the serious trader. There are no magic formulas, just wisdom from a great trader. I plan on reading it many times.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply THE WORST!
Review: In regards to the techniques discussed in the book, these divergence techniques NEVER work. They seem to catch the big movements, but they never do. They do an extremely poor job at timing the market. By the way, I LOST MONEY USING THESE TYPE OF STRATEGIES. The book is filled of pure basic techniques. I would definitely go with Trading For A Living by Alexander Elder. P.S. I did throw the book away.
Rating:
Summary: how i trade for a living
Review: It seems that every once in a while a real trader comes along and writes a book that gives true insight into the difficult world of profitable trading. With this new book, Gary Smith has written a classic that is an absolute must read by all serious students of the markets. The author specifically describes all of his own trading methods. These methods are completely revealed; nothing is held back for future purchases or future seminars. Mr. Smith is not just another vendor trying to separate you from your capital, but rather a profitable trader who has attempted to assist other traders in mastering this profession. In addition to revealing his own style of trading, Mr. Smith's observations on filters, technical indicators, and seasonal trading are easily adaptable to any style of trading. While I have never traded junk bonds or mutual funds on a short term basis, his methods on these topics is so compelling that I am certainly looking into these topics now. The bottom line is that this rare book is ideal for both the experienced trader and the novice looking for just the right edge. All traders will profit from studying this manual. It is just pure gold!
Rating:
Summary: Best book for beginning home based daytrading!
Review: I`m just starting to learn how to daytrade stock indexes. There aren`t a lot of books written on this. Many of those there are have been written by those who do mainly pit trading as opposed to screen trading from home. Gary Smith really tells you all of the techniques he actually used to build up $2,200 into $700,000 in about 15 years in index trading and then mutual fund trading. The book is very interesting and easy to understand. I would definitely recommend reading his book over two or three times and practicing with his methods before getting started in daytrading.
Rating:
Summary: Stood the Test of Time
Review: Just finished my second read of this book. In many books the things that worked 2 years ago in trading/investing are not good today. What I can say is that there are still many things that do work and are STILL valuable in this text. The author is basically a mutual fund trader, which has become much easier with the proliferation of exchange traded funds. He also includes some references to future trading. There are a lot of technical references such as the trading index which can be useful to traders and shorter term investors. The other thing I like is that Gary Smith takes a stand agianst the various salesmen in vendorland. It is refreshing to see someone that has published training classes say that most of the high priced, computer based, you'll be a millionaire systems are just con games designed to take your cash. He even went as far as saying that he gave up future royalties since the new promoter of his old book was charging too much. All in all, a good place to look if you are thinking of trading the markets.
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