Rating: 
Summary: The same concepts, and a bit confusing
Review: ... This is not a book for beginners, but not so much because of the content. Farley's writing style makes for hard to understand reading. It's frustrating to sometimes have to re-read a paragraph 2-3 times just to try to understand what he's saying. And I'm not a beginner. This book could easily be shortened by 150 pages without missing anything of substance. At 428 pages I felt there had to be new, usable information for me... As it turns out I didn't learn much. My notes on the 7-Bells are some of the shortest notes. Is this book worth buying? How much will you risk on your next trade? If this book makes you an extra 1/2 point you will be ahead. This book is mostly concepts, which is what trading really is. But most of it isn't new if you're past the beginner stage. Maybe a few twists here and there. One thing I've learned is this: In technical analysis there's only so many ways to crunch the numbers before it's all redundant, confusing, and worthless to go further. Likewise, in reading books or taking seminars, there's only so many ways to repeat the same concepts over and over again before it's worthless to go further....END
Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Best ...
Review: This is a market book worth spending your time with. The thing I enjoyed the most is how Farley begins with broad swing trading and TA concepts, and then drills down into practical trading applications and strategies. The examples and illustrations are clear, concise and thought-provoking. There is rarely a wasted word or idea throughout the book. You do have to take your time and be patient with this well-constructed material. Beginners can get through it, but they will probably need to check other reference materials in order to understand some of the definitions. And why not? There are well over a thousand TA books on the shelves. I would much rather spend my time reading original ideas that I can immediately apply to my trading than sit through yet another "101" type tutorial.Farley sees what the rest of us understand with our pocketbooks these days: the easy money is gone and only the strong will survive. He does a great job laying the groundwork for anyone who wants to be a professional, or at least trade like one. This is the best book on the subject matter (swing trading, TA, even day trading) I've seen in the last 3 or 4 years.
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Summary: Priceless work
Review: Farley's book is outstanding. If you are serious about short-term or swing trading this is the one to read. Forget the expensive software and the "holy grail" trading systems. After trading for almost 5 years I've discovered how keeping it simple is the best way to trade (at least for me) TMST is comprehensive and very user friendly. It ranks right up there with Lefevre's Rem. of a Stock Oper.
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Summary: "Expert" is the key word here.
Review: I'm writing this for the opertunity to warn biginners that they shouldn't almost think about buying this book. Unless of course they want to stare at it on thier book shelf for a year or so. Before I bought the book, I came here and read the great remarks about it and ordered one the same day. I had just finished Toni Turners, A Biginner's Guide to Day Trading Online, and was psyked for my next lesson. I know it states that this book is for people with a basic knowledge of the market and technical analysis. As I said, I had just finished Ms. Turners book. I didnt just read it, I highlighted(which I never do), wrote down pages and pages of important data, and studied this book for weeks. I learned a great deal about the market and technical analysis. I figured my knowledge would be considered the "basics" by anyone! Boy was I wrong. You need more than the basics for this one guys. Why should the author assume so much? Why not write a book that can be understood by people such as myself? A person with a basic knowledge. Now I'm going to have to use idicators, the same ones that the author states are over-used and no longer reliable, because those are the only ones written in a way that beginners can understand, and lose money. Untill of course I've been trading for at least a year and have the knowledge to dust this book off and start reading again. Why would you write a book that only a limited amount of people can understand, when you could add a few sentences that begin with "For example,...." and sell a couple million more copies!?(sorry for being so redundent) Why do I have to learn the wrong way, and lose money first? If the method, and psychology described in this book is so new, inovative and the best thing since sliced bread, why not write it in a way that novices can decypher. So he/she can learn the proper way to do things right out of the gate. What agrivates me the most is I know this book is great! I know it has fabulous ideas and insite. But its written in a way that you have to have a Masters and already be a expert trader to gleam anything from it! It's no fun when you have to disect each and every paragraph. It REALY stinks when you have to disect 90% of the sentences! I would gladly and gleefully pay double the list price if this book was re-written by Toni Turner. Well sure, it would be twice as thick, but I'd happily never put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: A very long and confusing book
Review: I am very disapointed at this book. The author goes around in circles forever not making any point clear. I spent over 150 hours on this book. Did I learn anything of value? Unfortunately the answer is no.
Rating:
Summary: Best Trading Book in Years
Review: This book will take the honored place on my shelf of the best technical analysis trading book I have ever read. It's deep and covers a wide range of subjects, but is a much-needed companion/update/replacement to the umpteenth "edition" of Edwards and Magee's "Technical Analysis of Stock Trends" in these days of electronic trading and short timeframe real time charts. The concept of multiple timeframe analysis is a reflection of Elder's Triple Screen concept brought into the 21st Century. Of the 50 or so trading books I have read for real time swing and day trading, I have never come across a better one. Be prepared to spend several days taking it all in -- and then you will want to read it again to re-absorb it. Definitely worth its (considerable) weight in gold bullion.
Rating:
Summary: A MAJOR Accomplishment
Review: I just spent more than 6 weeks reading and enjoying every single chapter of The Master Swing Trader. What a great addition to my trading library. Of course, it's possible to get through this excellent text much more quickly, but doing so misses many of the valuable TA lessons and insightful trading observations. This book is much more than a well-written trading manual, although it does a great job in that regard. Its real power lies in the way that it shows us how to escape the "trading knowledge game". It is possible (and very likely for some) to spend an entire lifetime reading TA books and attending live seminars, but NEVER learn how to successfully trade stocks or futures. The book goes directly to the heart of this issue and clearly describes the building blocks that create trade setups in the first place. It then shows the reader, in great detail, how they can construct any trading strategy they can imagine from these individual pieces of price patterns and market behavior. To me, this is a revolutionary point of view, and definitely NOT one that will please the current crop of mediocre trading writers and seminar leaders. An astute reader (with a decent background in the markets) could realistically never read another trading book after this one, but still grow their skills and strategies for an entire career by applying these classic principles. Finally, I have to agree with almost all of the book comments that I've seen here so far. I think The Master Swing Trader will definitely stand the test of time, like Elder's Trading for a Living or Murphy's Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets. It is also obvious that a few readers will never "get it" and walk away from the book in a bad mood. Many of today's traders are used to getting their knowledge spoon-fed to them in little bits and pieces. The complexity and deep content of this major acheivement may just be too much for them to deal with. Better for the rest of us, who will be using these classic trading strategies for at least the next decade.
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Summary: A Book for the Thinking Trader
Review: Alan Farley's book is aimed at the trader who knows the basics but has yet to put it all together in a way that works for him or her self. The book presents many strategies but its real strength lies not only in the specifics (of which there are plenty) but also in the philosophy it conveys; i.e., essentially it is up to the individual to study the markets and to develop creative and original trading strategies. As Farley says in the Introduction, "Market knowledge comes from the most unlikely places." Perhaps the most unlikely place is from within oneself. Farley gently, but relentlessly, gets this message across. The book is chock full of concrete strategies, charts and examples but the message is, "don't imitate, think!" There is no easy road to riches: however, the road that Farley presents is both interesting and challenging. Trading is presented as an art, not as a money machine, and becoming good at this art will bring its own rewards, even if that is a soccer mom making the lunch money. The book is well written, well presented, and very funny in parts in a dry sort of a way. This book is an expansion on Alan's excellent trading course (http://www.hardrightedge.com) which, for not much more than the price of the book is an incredible bargain. Together with the book you have an introduction to advanced trading that is unequalled at any price. In addition, Alan Farley's site, "The Hardrightedge" is one of the very best trading sites around and, remarkably, it is totally free (the Intelligent Speculator website is also excellent, free, and somewhat complementary to HRE, although more focused on index futures.) The markets are complex and trading is also complex. Farley uses multiple and original approaches, e.g., looking for convergent signals or patterns of support/resistance in multiple time frames. The charts in the book clearly show how to do this and it doesn't take long to get the hang of it provided one has decent charting software. Success in trading demands that one master this multi-dimensional way of thinking. I would have liked to have seen the book perhaps spend a little more time discussing the impact of such things as transaction costs. In fairness, though, the emphasis of the book is clearly elsewhere and this topic has been covered well by Ralph Vince and others. In summary, Farley's philosopy seems to be: "don't give a man a fish, teach him how to fish instead." To benefit the most from this book the reader will have to put in a lot of time fishing, but there is no such such thing as free money, and, besides, isn't fishing supposed to be fun? After taking losses of thousands of dollars many new traders proceed to drop several more thousands on courses and other trading paraphernalia. The smarter thing to do is to spend $200 total, on this book, the HRE course, plus a terrific bottle of Russian River Cabernet Sauvigon and have some fun in the process! Great book! Buy it and forget the expensive courses, subscriptions and newsletters offered elsewhere. Trading is like running; you can't buy what it takes but a little advice and some good shoes go a long way.
Rating: 
Summary: Talking in circles for 400 pages
Review: I have a high IQ, I 've read countless books on TA, including the very dry Pring-TA Explained, and I couldn't find anything lucid about this book. The chart examples were overcrowded with short, medium, and long term trendlines, support and resistance and Fib charts. I kept looking for a chapter that was straightforward but couldn't find one. Stick to his web site--this book is a big disappointment.
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Summary: A Worthy Companion To Elder's Trading For A Living
Review: Most traders, new or experienced, eventually are drawn to Alexander Elder's classic Trading For A Living. The problem is, where do you go from there? Few subsequent books add enough trading insight to be worth their cost. Now comes Alan Farley with the much needed definitive trading manual to accompany you to the next level of trading. Alan is an experienced trader and generous mentor to novice traders. His book is packed with wisdom: nearly every sentence teaches you or reminds you of a profound trading lesson. You'll get your money's worth as a read, because it is so thought provoking that it is best read a few pages at a time, reflected upon, put into trading practice, and returned to for reference. The illustrations alone tell fascinating trading stories. Reading it has had a positive effect upon my views on swing trading, and eventually, I am sure, on my account balance. If you only own two trading books, this should be the second after the great Elder.
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