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Summary: Excellent resource for understanding candlestick charts.
Review: If you have heard of candlesticks but know nothing about them, look no further, this is THE book for you. In beautiful form and style, Steve Nison brings you into the world of Japanese candlestick charts and patterns. First giving you a fascinating history of the birth of the futures markets in Japan. Armed with that knowledge, Mr. Nison delves into the "psychology" behind the patterns that develope in the chart. He provides a thorough explaination of each pattern, down to it's historic name, and what to anticipate when the pattern unfolds. There is also a large part of the book devoted to using candlestick charts with various indicators i.e., stochastics, moving averages, relative strength, etc. You name it, he's got it. Actual charts are provided to visually enhance Steve Nison's explainations. Not only does he tell, but he showes you using various markets from coffee futures to the S&P market. This book is a must addition to the library of any trader who relies on technical analysis, from the beginer to the master.
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Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This is an amazing book - in fact it is one of the better trading books that I have ever read. Mister Nison does an excellent job of explaining the functions of Japanese candlesticks. He begins his book with a brief history of how the candlestick came to exist and then starts with the basics. As the reader progresses, he explains some of the more advanced candlestick formations.This book has many chart examples throughout the text. Mister Nison does an excellent job of illustrating the formation he is currently explaining. In addition to seeing new material in each chapter, the author also illustrates formations that we discussed in earlier chapters. This helped to engrain some of the more common formations in my head. I feel that it is important to explain that candlesticks, while powerful, should probably not be used on their own. I feel that they can be a powerful tool when coupled with other technical indicators, such as trendlines. This book does explain how to use candlesticks along with other indicators, moving averages, oscillators, stochastics, volume, and open interest just to name a few. The final section of the book contains a glossary of all the formations explained in the text. This will prove to be most useful due to the fact there are tons of formations to remember. All-in-all, I found this book to be most informative. It is fairly expensive but I am sure it is fairly cheap in comparison to the knowledge that will be gained.
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Summary: Japanese Candlestick Charting - Second Edition
Review: a must for beating the market
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Summary: Comprehensive and detailed
Review: It's said that Japanese candlesticks are so universally used and well-regarded in Japan that you couldn't trade the Japanese market without knowing them. While I haven't tried it to verify that claim myself, many traders do believe in this technique of technical analysis and find it useful. Nison's book is probably the bible on the subject, and after a brief but interesting history of the Japanese market, he discusses what they are and how to use them in great depth and detail, giving the reader a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of candlesticks. Sometimes the prose gets a little dense and may be tough going for beginners, but overall, this is an excellent book on the subject. If you're a novice trader, however, I would recommend you read one of the many introductory books and then a more advanced book on technical analysis before reading this one. The book isn't cheap, but I would do a search on Amazon's used books and see if you can pick up a copy that way. Finally, a caveat, which is that one indicator, or even one type of indicator (such as moving averages or oscillators) isn't enough to trade the markets, and the real skill in trading is knowing which indicator is applicable in any given situation, which only comes with experience. But this book will help you understand this important indicator so you will know how to use it when it's appropriate.
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Summary: True Principles
Review: I've bought many books on investing and day trading, and this book are by far on top of the list. Nison presents the key strategies to day trade, nothing fancy, just tried and true principles. There are no wasted words.
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Summary: covers it all
Review: Reading charts is really just an advanced form of poll taking. A chart is a visual snapshot of crowd psychology- that is, greed and fear- graphically represented. This book explains how candlesticks take reading crowd psychology to the next level. Not only does Nison teach recognition of the important patterns, he explains the psychological motivation behind those patterns, the emotions and sentiments unfolding as those patterns are created. It has been my experience that candlesticks are most effective at giving advance warning of a reversing or flatlining trend- thus I apply the patterns more to my exits than my entries. But I take information from candlesticks every day regardless. Just as an example, if you look at a bar chart, you can't really tell which of those bars were up closes and which were down closes unless you look veeerry closely. With candlesticks you get this info at a glance, adding to an intuitive feel for price movement that can make you more profitable. You also get more specific and accurate signals. There's just no comparison. I wouldn't trade without candlestick charts any more readily than I would without streaming quotes. They simply provide another dimension to market action that bar charts completely miss.
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Summary: Excellent reference book - intermediate traders & up
Review: I was already an experienced candlestick charter when I bought this book, the material included in it is an excellent resource for those who want to improve their price reading abilities. I would imagine this would be heavy going for someone completely new to chart reading however.
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Summary: It helps if you're a dentist!
Review: If you are unfamiliar with technical analysis, or with candlestick charts even though you may not know how to interpret them, this book is NOT for you. It is poorly written and wordy. Don't get me wrong, there is some very good information in the book but extracting it is like pulling teeth. For example, early in the book the author uses a day chart of Walmart to explain changes in the market. Too big of a leap for me. If you do buy this book I suggest skipping the body and going directly to Glossary A which contains images of the various patterns with short explanations. Then if you have any questions you can wade through the relevant section of the book. This book should be considered not much more than a very expensive reference book.
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Summary: One of the only TA books you will need
Review: I do not lend this book. Most all of my trading books are gone as I generously lend them out to those interested in trading and the markets. My bookshelf is shrinking. Nison's book stays with me. This thoughtful book, more than most, greatly influenced my initial understanding of price and participant behavior. It is a great primer for traders and investors interested in TA.
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Summary: Helpful Book
Review: This book is a great help especially if your a short term or daytrader. When used with western TA indicators such as stochastics, rsi etc... candlesticks help spot reversal points with greater odds. Its well written with good detail and lots of illustrations with full psychological explanations behind the patterns. If you want to learn about and add candlesticks to your arsenal of trading tools this is a good book, the reviews on this book say it all.
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