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Summary: Tharp!!!
Review: This is the most misnamed book in the history of the written word. Traders call it "Tharp!" One word says it all. In the world of Trading "Tharp," is the generic name for Position Sizing or how many securities should I trade this time?Tharp was not written for the Individual trader, but the same principles apply. "Tharp," along with "Reminiscences," will improve any traders philosophy on winning in the securities trading game. Dr. Tharp shows you how to sift through your trades and find the unconscious essence of your trading system. "Tharp," will be most useful to traders who have at least six months trading history to back analyze. Primer!
You will see that when you go beyond the book to Tharp's web site, videos, and tapes that the book is just a necessary primer. Position sizing!
Tharp assumes that you have some system or method or a series of former trades that you can calculate Expectancy from. Or a research company that tells you what to trade, how long to hold it and when to get rid of it. So that you can use there data to isolate a trading pattern. Tharp's contribution "Position sizing," is mainly to help you decide "How many," to buy and sell. Full Stance!
In every case if you put on your full position at the beginning and unload your full position when you liquidate. You will have more profit than any kind of scaling scheme. The thing is a full position is not defined as the number of contracts, but by the amount of risk (% of equity) that you are personally comfortable with. Tharp's real trip is to help you look at your position as a constant non-changing size. "The key is that the number of contracts traded fluctuates in accordance with each securities volatility." Unvarying risk!
Your position size is not constant relative to the number of contracts. The number of contracts is not constant relative to the percent of equity. In addition, the day-to-day equity is not constant compared to yesterdays equity. In order to keep a constant risk you will have to periodically adjust the number of contracts that define that risk. What this accomplishes is, as your equity rises you are increasing the number of contracts; also as your volatility increases in either direction you are reducing the number of contracts. You will have to balance number of contracts, equity, and volatility to keep your position size near constant. "Tharp's is the subtlety by which the weak can overcome the strong!" -ooO-(GoldTrader)-Ooo-
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Summary: great book to read - whether or you are a trader or not
Review: Van has written a great book. The book describes not only the basics but also gives a good picture of trading techniques. The book is very well organized. The first half of the book is a must read even for individual investors. They can understand expectancy and other fundamentals which most people tend to ignore otherwise.
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Summary: Somewhat interesting.
Review: I found this book to be somewhat interesting. It did have some interesting facts that you may not find elsewhere, but there was lots of info that I did not find of any use. This may be one of those books you get the library to order for you before you decide to buy it for your personal library.
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Summary: Expectancy is a good concept
Review: It's an easy to read book, which makes you to take a step back and review if your approach to trading or investing is going to reward you. I am an investor rather than a trader, but I still find the book interesting.His idea of EXPECTANCY, although not very rigorous and I do not like his informal approximation, is useful concept. Is this his origianl idea or did anyone find a similar concept with other authors?
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Summary: It has some very good points
Review: I found it to be a difficult read. This book repeats over and over the same claims and promises, some of which I was disappointed with as well. The Author did make a few good points that I have not seen elsewhere, so it does possess some definite value. It becomes fairly clear that the authorĀfs strengths are pyschology and promoting, and not neccessarily trading. It did encourage me to put aside some bias and fear, and for that I will give it credit. I do feel that my attitude towards trading will most definately improve after having read this book as well. I expected however, more on the mechanics of trading, and it was here that I felt let down. I also felt that the part of the book that compared the various trading systems, to be very weak. It used examples from the Motly fool and Warren Buffet. Excellent people to learn the concept of value investing from, but not exactly leaders in the area of technical trading
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Summary: Slightly above average
Review: I really had mixed feelings about this book. I agree with some reviewers that 1) this book is biased towards long term investing and fund manager type of affluent investors. 2) there are many quasi-promotional messages for books and courses of Tharp and his friends. However, I must state that in the early chapters, Tharp had given lively illustrations of how people try to search for the holy grail (an invincible trading system/formula) in the market, the destined futility of such, and the importance of market timing and selection. It's a pity that only the beginning part is in place. The interested readers got to find much of the content and the ending elsewhere.
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Summary: Ok, so I'm a market junkie...
Review: ...and one of the traders that I totally adore is Larry Connors. He always preaches about good money management and listening to the market. You know what? A lot of successful trading boils down to these two simple concepts. Unfortunately, it has taken me a couple of years to realize that. Van Tharp reinforces these ideas and has helped me internalize them for my own trading. I cannot stress enough how important Tharp's ideas are. While I have a ways to go before I declare myself a successful trader, I doubt that even high probability strategies like the 1-Day Breakout Method will provide you with significant gains if you don't manage your losses and gains properly. Pick up this book and figure out which exit methodology works best for you and rock on!
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Summary: If you don't read this book, you shouldn't be trading.
Review: If you are interested in the stock market (I suspect most readers fall into this category) or any other financial instrument, you MUST read this book, because it is one of the few that focus on the importance of SELLING (exiting) a trade or investment (David Cassidy being the only other). I started my investment research by asking a simple question--why do people often lose large amounts of money in the market? It is because people are told to BUY assets (stocks) but have absolutely NO instruction on when to sell. Whether it is your friendly stock broker, or your random walk theorist, almost everyone subscribes to the Buy and Hold philosophy--great in a bull market, but what happens when the bear returns? In addition to focusing on exits, Van Tharp instructs potential traders on the crucial importance of position sizing. Even if you have a money making system, you can blow up by risking too much money on any trade. Think about how this is possible. I suspect thoughtful readers will look at technical analysis in a new light. It is probably a better used as a tool to control risk of catastrophic loss, rather than predicting market direction (which may still be helpful on occasion). Even if short term market action is nearly random, it still pays to get out of losing trades, as you have a 50% chance of losing more money. Buy the book. The money you spend now may save you a lot more later on.
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Summary: this is an advertisment for mr tharp and his friends
Review: The book does have some interesting points.. But sometimes I feel like I have bought into an advertisement for Mr. Tharp's friends and his course. Albeit they maybe useful to you ... but please...I did not drop 20 bucks to get a 10 page ad trying to sell me more books.
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Summary: Worth Its Weight In Gold
Review: Worth its weight in gold. We hear that expression a lot, but this book is just that. At current prices, that would be about $6,200. It will save (i.e., make) me at least that much. The book is probably worth most to intermediate level traders, although it will certainly help all traders. I say intermediate because they will have enough experience to appreciate the methodologies presented. Too many traders lose money because they are not prepared. This book helps prepare you for the hard choices (not merely finding a system for when to enter trades). Using money management (position sizing) is a must. When you start implementing that, as presented in the book, you will sleep much better at night. The sections on R, R-multiples and expectancy are worth the purchase. But, continue through the book and you will fall in love with it. I bet you will read it at least twice! Of the hundreds of investing books that I have read, this is first or second on my list of favorites.
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