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A Beginner's Guide to Short-Term Trading: Maximize Your Profits in 3 Days to 3 Weeks
Are you tired of playing the "buy-and-hope" game with your stocks? Savvy stock trader Toni Turner shows you the ins and outs and ups and downs of short-term trading. You'll learn how to buy and sell stocks on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis, so you own the right stocks at the right time.
Turner's clear, common-sense advice, easy-to-follow explanations, and helpful examples will help you invest in the exciting and profitable world of short-term trading quickly and safely. In this revised edition, you'll get completely up-to-date information on:
New products such as ETFs and expanded coverage on sector investing Resources for choosing an online broker New SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) rules and regulations Updated charts and graphs with current examples A Beginner's Guide to Short-Term Trading is the hands-on book designed to get you actively involved in every step of the trading process. Now you can take control of your portfolio and secure the financial freedom you've always dreamed of. Start planning your trades today!338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
185 people are currently reading
310 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 15, 2014
Toni Turner is a great writer! I enjoyed this book almost the same way I enjoy a literature classic! Fluent writing style, right to the point, great sense of humor, and needless to mention, full of useful/practical techniques and strategies! The author is an intelligent and passionate yet humble person. I just cannot thank her enough!
I Consider this book as my official introduction to trading profession. Highly recommend to anyone who are interested in trading!
I Consider this book as my official introduction to trading profession. Highly recommend to anyone who are interested in trading!
July 19, 2018
[3.5 stars] This book introduced me to swing trading, back in the mid-2000s, and it still holds up pretty well as an overview of the basics. Heck, some of the stocks she analyzed back in 2002 are ones that are still widely traded now.
Swing trading is a style of stock trading that involves taking positions for anywhere between a day and several months. The idea is to take advantage of the way the price of a stock or ETF often bounces around relative to its longer-term trend lines, subject to the market's short-term mood swings. Savvy traders learn to recognize, through a bunch of technical indicators and some gut sense, when the "mood" is shifting back in the other direction, and open or close positions accordingly. It's an approach that has some advantages over daytrading (your positions have more time to go in your favor, which works well in a trending market, and don't require minute-by-minute monitoring) and some disadvantages (your positions have more time to turn against you and are affected by whatever the president might decide to tweet in the middle of the night).
Anyway, Turner covers the basic things you need to know to get started: market cycles, technical analysis, candles, chart patterns, indicators, profit targets, and stop losses. She also writes about how to go short and profit from downturns. Don't look for scintillating writing -- there's a lot of cheesy "mom humor" here -- but everything was explained in terms that made sense to me. There are plenty of charts that illustrate the concepts well.
However, now that I've got a lot of swing trading experience, I'd say there are things she could have covered better. For the starters, the book could have spent a lot more time on how to find *WHAT* stocks to trade, which was a struggle for me in the beginning (I tended to look for "deals", which led me to stocks that were deals for a good reason). I could have also used more insight on proper position sizing, how to deal with volatility, and how long to expect a trade to last. Also, it's my view that paying attention to intraday price action (a finer level of detail than daily candles alone) can help a lot with timing. And a last thing she might have mentioned is the impact earnings releases can have on price, though this might have been less of an issue back in 2002.
I don't know if Turner has newer editions of this book or how good they are, but I'd still recommend the version I have (based on reread a few months ago). Even if you aren't that interested in swing trading, I think that knowing the basics is still pretty handy for timing your entry and exits with long-term holdings and for being able to assess when the market's in trouble (technical analysis works well on charts of the major indices).
Swing trading is a style of stock trading that involves taking positions for anywhere between a day and several months. The idea is to take advantage of the way the price of a stock or ETF often bounces around relative to its longer-term trend lines, subject to the market's short-term mood swings. Savvy traders learn to recognize, through a bunch of technical indicators and some gut sense, when the "mood" is shifting back in the other direction, and open or close positions accordingly. It's an approach that has some advantages over daytrading (your positions have more time to go in your favor, which works well in a trending market, and don't require minute-by-minute monitoring) and some disadvantages (your positions have more time to turn against you and are affected by whatever the president might decide to tweet in the middle of the night).
Anyway, Turner covers the basic things you need to know to get started: market cycles, technical analysis, candles, chart patterns, indicators, profit targets, and stop losses. She also writes about how to go short and profit from downturns. Don't look for scintillating writing -- there's a lot of cheesy "mom humor" here -- but everything was explained in terms that made sense to me. There are plenty of charts that illustrate the concepts well.
However, now that I've got a lot of swing trading experience, I'd say there are things she could have covered better. For the starters, the book could have spent a lot more time on how to find *WHAT* stocks to trade, which was a struggle for me in the beginning (I tended to look for "deals", which led me to stocks that were deals for a good reason). I could have also used more insight on proper position sizing, how to deal with volatility, and how long to expect a trade to last. Also, it's my view that paying attention to intraday price action (a finer level of detail than daily candles alone) can help a lot with timing. And a last thing she might have mentioned is the impact earnings releases can have on price, though this might have been less of an issue back in 2002.
I don't know if Turner has newer editions of this book or how good they are, but I'd still recommend the version I have (based on reread a few months ago). Even if you aren't that interested in swing trading, I think that knowing the basics is still pretty handy for timing your entry and exits with long-term holdings and for being able to assess when the market's in trouble (technical analysis works well on charts of the major indices).
June 10, 2017
Read it!
Really good book for beginners. I highly reccomend it as a foundation of knowledge in trading (buy/sell stocks). Don't think about it read it. If you are new to stocks you learn some patterns, how to read candles, and some indicators.
Really good book for beginners. I highly reccomend it as a foundation of knowledge in trading (buy/sell stocks). Don't think about it read it. If you are new to stocks you learn some patterns, how to read candles, and some indicators.
November 13, 2020
Great high level overview of fundamentals, technicals and strategy that everyone can understand. Great reference book I will use to freshen up on the basics.
November 24, 2020
Reviews:
I don't want to go into short-term trading, but I think to be a great investor you have to understand this type of investing as well. You will see why there are big swings in a lot of stocks, and you will not worry about these swings that much.
The book was good, there were a few interesting points that I found it interesting.
I don't want to go into short-term trading, but I think to be a great investor you have to understand this type of investing as well. You will see why there are big swings in a lot of stocks, and you will not worry about these swings that much.
The book was good, there were a few interesting points that I found it interesting.
July 6, 2022
I couldn’t finish the book. It starts out promising, but the explanations quickly become confusing and the charts are difficult to read. I became convinced that technical analysis all by itself is not enough, at least for me. I think a better book is “Trading in the Zone” that gives you a better idea of what you are against when trying to “beat” the stock market. A 2021 stock market was energizing and then the 2022 market came to suck all that energy and then some, that ended my motivation to continue. I’ll be back, but for now I need to regroup, ponder, complete other projects and heal the emotional wounds.
August 5, 2020
I’m a beginner and this is just what I needed
The headline says it best. The book was published around 2008 (before the Great Recession hit), so there are a few dated references, but in general I feel like the advice holds up well today (in 2020). I have a lot of unfinished books, but I made it through this one cover to cover.
The headline says it best. The book was published around 2008 (before the Great Recession hit), so there are a few dated references, but in general I feel like the advice holds up well today (in 2020). I have a lot of unfinished books, but I made it through this one cover to cover.
August 24, 2017
Well written with many points which made me smile. The center points put my mind at ease and the information was useful when I utilized it in my trades. A few chapters was dull here and there, but maybe that is just because my passion isn't trading.
June 17, 2018
Wish I had read this before starting to trade :)
April 5, 2021
A very nice introduction to short-term trading. Covers all essential parts in a beginner-friendly manner.
June 6, 2021
I like this better than the first book.
May 28, 2022
Good book for beginners and those who want to test the waters in trading. Read this book in 2016 and it introduced me to swing trading and a few indicators that i still use until today.
September 25, 2025
Some chapters feel choppy, but that doesn’t negate how informative and engaging this book is. Got to make some money thanks to this book.
August 22, 2017
Great book that covers all the basics for the beginner swing trader. I also enjoyed the ending of each chapter where it included some mindfullness content to balance the highly analytical content. The information is presented in a very clear, concise and easy to read way instead of the dry and overly technical approach so common. It's about 10 years old, but the information is just as valid today.
September 10, 2016
This is an excellent book on trading stocks, and a great introduction if you are learning how to trade. I first read this book back in 2006, and after applying its principles, was able to generate a return of just over 50% on my stock portfolio in 2007, the last bull market year before the crash of 2008. I doubt that I could have done that well in any of the years following up until this year, which so far has been a great year for stocks.
Much of the book is dedicated to understanding candlestick charts, something that I sneered at when I first started investing in stocks. I now see them as a valuable tool. Understanding charts is not only about looking for patterns such as the "double top" or "cup with a handle". That would be indeed ridiculous. However, as Ms. Turner teaches, if you learn to see charts as an expression of supply and demand, they become an incredibly powerful tool for trading. Now, I try to stick with good companies that have good fundamentals, but charts guide my trading.
Another great aspect of this book is that Toni Turner spends a lot of time on what makes trading so difficult. Anyone with some basic knowledge can jump into a stock, watch it rise and declares themselves a genius. What is truly difficult is figuring out when to sell. Also, eventually trades will turn against any trader, and at that point the question becomes whether or not you have the discipline to take a loss and lose a small amount of money or whether you will lower your stop loss and lose a huge amount of money. It is an emotional struggle, and I have come to believe that whether or not I am a good trader depends on my ability to self-master, not my knowledge of trading.
This book is a great introduction to the mechanics of trading, chart patterns and the jargon that is spewed on CNBC all day long. Toni Turner, however, spends a great deal of time on emotions, discipline and detachment. If you are trading for the first time, pay attention to these passages. If you put as your main goal the object of not losing money, or reducing losses if you have them, as opposed to making a killing, you will eventually be rewarded. Learning the basics of trading is pretty easy. Mastering yourself is a constant challenge, both in life and in the stock market.
Much of the book is dedicated to understanding candlestick charts, something that I sneered at when I first started investing in stocks. I now see them as a valuable tool. Understanding charts is not only about looking for patterns such as the "double top" or "cup with a handle". That would be indeed ridiculous. However, as Ms. Turner teaches, if you learn to see charts as an expression of supply and demand, they become an incredibly powerful tool for trading. Now, I try to stick with good companies that have good fundamentals, but charts guide my trading.
Another great aspect of this book is that Toni Turner spends a lot of time on what makes trading so difficult. Anyone with some basic knowledge can jump into a stock, watch it rise and declares themselves a genius. What is truly difficult is figuring out when to sell. Also, eventually trades will turn against any trader, and at that point the question becomes whether or not you have the discipline to take a loss and lose a small amount of money or whether you will lower your stop loss and lose a huge amount of money. It is an emotional struggle, and I have come to believe that whether or not I am a good trader depends on my ability to self-master, not my knowledge of trading.
This book is a great introduction to the mechanics of trading, chart patterns and the jargon that is spewed on CNBC all day long. Toni Turner, however, spends a great deal of time on emotions, discipline and detachment. If you are trading for the first time, pay attention to these passages. If you put as your main goal the object of not losing money, or reducing losses if you have them, as opposed to making a killing, you will eventually be rewarded. Learning the basics of trading is pretty easy. Mastering yourself is a constant challenge, both in life and in the stock market.
February 11, 2017
This is the second of Toni Turner's books that I have read. I have one more on my shelf. They have good information in them, but it's painful getting it out.
She likes using quotes and "trader lingo" all the time. Then she explains them and tells you what the obscure terms mean. She uses cutesy little similes constantly (remember, it's better to be squeezed by your honey than short squeezed..., Just like Humpty Dumpty, things were looking fine until the great fall...etc etc) I still don't even understand the one she used multiple times about the cream in her oreo.
She has some sections of advice a little separated from the stock information. Her research is questionable. She spends 2 pages suggesting making extensive to-do lists. Every self-help/goal setting/becoming efficient book I have ever read suggests the exact opposite. Stick to what you know, Toni.
Often I feel like she just is trying to reach a total word count for a section, a total page count for the book. Adding these similes, these lingo explanations, and repeating herself (sometimes even on the same page) adds up.
The editing is terrible. I was looking at a chart for 5 minutes trying to figure out why it wasn't making sense. Then I realized the numbers had a typo in it. "By learning from your mistakes, you turn your losers turn into winners."
She likes using quotes and "trader lingo" all the time. Then she explains them and tells you what the obscure terms mean. She uses cutesy little similes constantly (remember, it's better to be squeezed by your honey than short squeezed..., Just like Humpty Dumpty, things were looking fine until the great fall...etc etc) I still don't even understand the one she used multiple times about the cream in her oreo.
She has some sections of advice a little separated from the stock information. Her research is questionable. She spends 2 pages suggesting making extensive to-do lists. Every self-help/goal setting/becoming efficient book I have ever read suggests the exact opposite. Stick to what you know, Toni.
Often I feel like she just is trying to reach a total word count for a section, a total page count for the book. Adding these similes, these lingo explanations, and repeating herself (sometimes even on the same page) adds up.
The editing is terrible. I was looking at a chart for 5 minutes trying to figure out why it wasn't making sense. Then I realized the numbers had a typo in it. "By learning from your mistakes, you turn your losers turn into winners."
August 7, 2015
Books that teach about the stock market can be difficult to read. Toni Turner's books are not. They tell the ins and outs without resorting to jargon which is not understandable to the non pro. She also has a tone of humor through her books. I have read many of her books more than once.
July 29, 2008
Pretty good but a lot of details that take time to digest.
August 1, 2008
This is a very insightful and easy to read book for beginners. If you don't know anything about day trading, but you're interested in learning, this is probably the first book you should pick up.
May 20, 2015
Basic, comprehensive, and quite good. Excellent introduction to trading for the newbie.
September 29, 2010
Interesting
Read
January 16, 2012i think this is the best stories
September 20, 2015
Good for beginner that want to learnt swing trading. It will be good if more trade sample with chart in the book to show the trade setup.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews