Trader Vic--Methods of a Wall Street Master

by Victor Sperandeo

Book Overview

Trader Vic -- Methods of a Wall Street Master Investment strategies from the man Barron's calls "The Ultimate Wall Street Pro" "Victor Sperandeo is gifted with one of the finest minds I know. No wonder he's compiled such an amazing record of success as a money manager. Every investor can benefit from the wisdom he offers in his new book. Don't miss it " --Paul Tudor Jones Tudor Investment Corporation "Here's a simple review in three steps: 1. Buy...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471304972
• ISBN13: 9780471304975
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Consistency is the key

Victor Sperandeo says that if there were a Hall of Fame for trading he wouldn't be in it but he sees himself as a career pro who consistently performs at an elite level year after year. In fact consistent performance is his central theme, which he says requires not only a successful approach to trading but to life itself. He delves into this in the second part of the book that is dedicated to the psychological approach. Sperandeo says that he trained a group of traders but only a few were successful, and in searching for why he discovered the most important cause was false pride associated with the `idealised self'. I found this interesting in that paying a ton of money to be taught by any of the world's so called greatest traders isn't any guarantee of success!His reasons for writing the book it seems is frustration with the image the world has of traders in which the unsung career pro goes unnoticed. Whatever his reasons are it is a privilege to gain an insight into the mind and methodology of a New Market Wizard.His methods are a mixture of fundamental and technical analysis. He uses economics as a forecasting tool and says that cycle analysis actually just gets in the way. If you can understand the fundamentals of economics you can interpret government intervention in the market and profit from it.University taught economics is useless for this. All booms and busts are a result of credit expansion in an effort to lower interest rates, whereas Keynesian economics attempts to use interventionalist policy to smooth out the peaks and troughs but in fact is the predominant cause. Surplus production, savings and innovation create wealth as much for the individual as the economy on the whole. Wealth is actually consumed by government created prosperity via deficit spending. You can't get something for nothing. By understanding these cycles, you can speculate profitably. Technical tools can then be used for timing entry. He demonstrates how trendlines can be drawn objectively to determine a change in trend using his 123 and 2B rules. A unique approach in this book is an approach to measuring risk by calculating market life expectancy profiles which he says has been instrumental to his success along with his business philosophy of protecting capital, consistent profitability and the pursuit of superior gains.This book is as much a confession of the soul as a guide on trading methods, which I've found most of the best trading books are.

Relevant, Practical Ideas -- a Must Read

I am an equities trader and I have read over 20,000 pages about investing in the stock market, fundamental and technical analysis, and many related topics. The ideas presented in Trader Vic's book are extremely practical and relevant and I've not seen many of the ideas expressed in it anywhere else. His ideas about weighing the odds of the future course of the markets based on historical, statistical measurements of time and how far the markets have moved are truly useful. The background he gives about economics made sense and are useful as well. I'd rate it in the top 5 books I've ever read about the markets.

Highly practical, beyond FA and TA

I had read many trading books. However, this book helped lay the practical groundwork for my trading to this very day. Honestly speaking I had been a regular loser for my lukewarm knowledge (worse than ignorance) of TA, trend, trading psychology and things like that. This book really helps aspiring traders to better understand knowledge of trading science through layman terms. Vic had honestly deliver what headings of some chapters, namely promised: Business Philosophy for Consistent Success, Finding Order in Market Chaos, A true understanding of Trends, The Merits and Hazards of TA, etc. I strongly recommend the passage devoted to double bottom/top (2B) which warns traders to have a time perspective of using individual TA tools. In a word, a must read!

Excellent

How could this book ever be outdated? So he gives some examples of markets in the mid-90's, and talks about trading S & P futures back when they were 500 bucks a point and moved much less than they do now. SO WHAT. To get hung up on that is to blindly miss the big picture. It's like criticizing Shakespeare for being outdated.What Sperandeo says about trading, discipline and risk management is a must read for all traders who hope to make it (and not just end up giving their money to professionals like Vic and me). I have read more than 50 books on trading and this is in my top 5.

A Must Read for any Student of the Market

This book has tons of practical advice. I have referred to it countless times when analyzing market conditions. My stock portfolio was entirely in cash two weeks prior to the massive selloff on October 27, 1997. The information in this book is directly responsible(the 2B criterion in particular). If I had even more experience with the author's methods, I probably would have been in cash in August when the correction began or possibly even initiated short positons. This book in conjunction with other informative volumes such as William O'neil's "How to Make Money in Stocks" and Nicolas Darvas' " How I Made Two Million in the Stock Market" provide incredible insights into the mechanics of Wall Street. Sperandeo's followup to this book, "Trader Vic-II" is also excellent. Read books by investors with PROVEN track records and you will greatly increase your odds of success in the markets. Thank you very much Mr. Sperandeo.