How To Swing Trade: A Beginner’s Guide to Trading Tools, Money Management, Rules, Routines and Strategies of a Swing Trader

by Brian Pezim, Andrew Aziz (Preface)

Swing trading is a type of trading in which you hold positions in stocks or other investments over a period of time that can range from one day to a few weeks or more. If you are a beginner trader, this book will equip you with an understanding of where to start, how to start, what to expect from swing trading, and how you can develop your own strategy based on your personal goals. If you are a trader with some existing experience, this book will give you some insights on the author’s approach to swing trading, rules that I follow and some strategies that I have used over the years to make profitable trades. In this book you will learn….➢What is swing trading and how does it differs from other trading strategies➢Why swing trading might be a better trading approach for you➢What tools you will need to swing trade as well as choosing a broker➢How to manage your money and the risks of trading➢How to perform some basic fundamental analysis on companies➢Charting basics followed by a presentation on some of the more popular technical analysis tools used to identify and make profitable trades➢Chart patterns that provide trading opportunities➢A number of swing trading strategies that can be used by both novices to more experienced traders➢Getting good entries and exits on trades to maximize gains➢How to run your trading activities like a business including some rules and routines to follow as a successful traderI sincerely hope that you find value in the contents of this book and that it helps you toward achieving your goals and objectives in the trading world.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business, Money, Economics, Personal Finance

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing the 2000 and 2008 market crashes unfold (and I even remember the ‘87 one -- a relative wrote a book about it), as well as hearing stories about how the 1929 one affected family members who were alive then, I became motivated to learn more about technical analysis, so I could detect the warning signs of another crash. That got me interested, years back, in swing trading, which doesn’t doesn’t have the time requirements or the need for fast decision making that day trading does. I wouldn’t call myself “advanced”, but I’ve been in the trenches for the better part of a year, along with some earlier dabbling. Since I liked Andew Aziz’s guide to day trading, I decided to read the book on swing trading written by his friend and mentor, Brian Pezim.

This is good stuff, a very up-to-date (as of late 2018), practical how-to guide. Pezim, a veteran trader of several decades, covers pretty much everything that aspiring swing traders need to know to get started -- and to avoid shooting themselves in the foot. Though he assumes basic familiarity with stocks and the stock market on the part of his reader, most everything beyond that that’s core to swing trading is explored.

Topics:
* Basics of swing trading and differences from other types of trading
* What to swing trade, ETFs
* Risk management
* Fundamental analysis basics
* Charting and candlesticks
* Indicator tools (trendlines, RSI, MACD, ATR, etc.)
* Chart patterns
* Three swing trading strategies
* Ways to measure the market’s mood
* How to use screeners and scanners, links to useful sites (as of 2018)
* Entries and exits
* The routine of a swing trader

While this isn’t a book that’s too different in content from other swing trading guides, I appreciated its up-to-dateness and Pezim’s sharing of personal experiences and well-defined, practical steps that the reader can implement. As with day trading, it takes more than reading a book (or two, or five) to be successful at swing trading, but it’s good to have a framework to start from and you’ll get that here.

The audiobook is perfectly listenable, but you’ll want to take notes. Images are found on a website.

Bonus: some pieces of advice I would give to new swing traders
* Keep your expectations low. There’s a learning curve in this, especially in a market as chaotic as 2018’s. Paper trades can teach you a lot, even if you’re also making real ones (because you’re documenting all your trades for later review... right?)
* Don’t hold a position through earnings. Seriously. You might as well just gamble.
* The 2-to-1 profit target to stop loss ratio is your friend. If you don’t maintain it, you’re going to fail in the long run. An important part of this is locking in profits when the stock hits the target (or stalls near it), because the price could always go back in the other direction.
* Become as comfortable with taking short positions as long ones. You’ll double your opportunity.
* Many swing trades don’t last more than a few days, especially in a volatile, whipsawing market. You don’t have to have ambitious price targets.
* I don’t recommend trading with options if you’re new. They have their value, but they add an extra layer of complication that you don’t need in the beginning

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick overview

I honestly recommend the Dummies guide to Swing Trading I’ve this. Maybe it is because I read that first that I felt I did not revive any new information from this book.
For me, this book is not in-depth enough compared to other books I have read.
This is not the first book I would choose as a beginner.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides a clear set of swing trading principles while most chapters were filled with fluff that I already knew the book did have some good tips and strategies that I thought were usful.

If you know a lot about the market already chapter 12 is where you want to start.

My biggest takeaways were

Wait for my entry. Not trading is a great strategy.
Set and stick to your stops.
Only invest in positions that have a 2x upside.
Set price targets and adjust down if needed.
Most importantly TAKE GAINS. and don't feel bad if you left some on the table.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is strictly for beginners only. Somewhat experienced traders will not find it useful. I felt there will be some discussion on technical analysis to find entry and exit criterias using different charts. Unfortunately, it was not discussed.

[Rabin Rai · Rating 4 out of 5]

its a great book for beginners.
- discovered the scanning softwares
- setting entry and exit points with at least 2 times reward to risk ratio
- understood more about how to use moving averages

[Junaid Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gr8 intro to swing trading

A great book for beginners to learn swing trading. With good examples and lots of resources. Overall a great intro and starter book.

[Jovaughn Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this one up after reading How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginner's Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology and becoming somewhat disillusioned with day trading (read my review of it here).

After reading How To Swing Trade, however, I quickly realized that this is probably the trading style that best suits my lifestyle. It was great being able to practice some of the strategies and tips outlined in this book while reading it and I'm certain that it's already made me a better trader. Even though swing trading is better for me personally, I still recommend reading both How to Day Trade for a Living and How To Swing Trade to get the full picture of what's going on in the stock market if you're thinking about becoming a trader.

I should also mention that I mistakenly referenced Andrew Aziz as the author of How To Swing Trade in my aforementioned review of How to Day Trade for a Living when it's actually the case that Andrew Aziz simply provided a foreward.

[Kyle Null · Rating 2 out of 5]

How to Swing Trade is part of the stock market educational series written by the guys over at https://bearbulltraders.com/.


Day Trading = You buy and sell all of your positions during the hours the market is open on a single day.


Swing Trading = You hold your positions over night and that can expand over days/weeks/months. Decisions are usually based on large news events, speculative mania about an industry, or because you've got a hunch something is undervalued after a dip/correction in the market.


Value Trading = You hold your positions for a year+ because you believe they are undervalued and need time to grow. - Warren Buffett being the perfect example of this strategy.


This book offers a lot of different tools and gives tips on how to read charts. I found the tools more interesting.


So here's a list from book:

* https://finviz.com/

* https://www.chartmill.com

* https://www.benzinga.com/news


Then I currate this #Investing Twitter List that I'd highly recommend subscribing to if you're wanting a good news resource:


* https://twitter.com/i/lists/125746094...


Overall, I'd say you can get the info from this book from the sources I listed here and a quick YouTube search on how to read Candle Charts.


4/10 READ-IT-METER

#52books52weeks

[Paul I Badaracco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

I actually enjoyed this book very much: even for those with previous knowledge of trading, the book offers a good review, concepts are explained clearly, and I personally thought that the section regarding technical analysis was better explained than other books just covering technical analysis. One thing I would have add in the section covering the routine of a swing trader would have been an actual “walk-through” example on searching and executing a trade the author might have done in the past, just to better help the reader in building a structure upon which build his/her trading style.

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began the book as a teenager moderately interested in the world of trading purely out of a desire to acquire practical skills in finance that will carry me farther in life than another cheesy self-help book would. I originally began my journey with Pezim within his similar book on day trading, but his mention on the difference between swing trading and day trading made me realize that my disposition would be far better suited to the former.

Overall, it was pretty enjoyable. I can't attest to the factual or functional contents of the book in practice, but I can affirm that it seems to contain a thorough amount of information that will allow you to get a good start on swing trading. In other words, it wasn't all inspirational jargon or 'how to set a routine' - it included essential principles of technical analysis and common swing trading strategies that will give an interested party a good head start.

The only qualms I have is that, as a complete beginner to the world of finance, there were times within the technical section where I had to read a paragraph over and over to understand what it meant. I was similarly confused in sections that briefly covered investment options like currency trading, options, and other sophisticated vehicles that as beginner investers we are advised not to pursue. Despite the fact that they wouldn't become relevant for a trader until later in their career if they so choose, I wish that they had been explained better.

That aside, in terms of rhetoric/connection with the layman Pezim did quite well. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in swing trading as a starting point for your studies.

[Marilyn Fitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOT a first book about investing or finance, which may be obvious in hindsight, but I think is worth mentioning nonetheless. I would recommend a more broad and basic overview for absolute beginners before reading this book, and was hoping this would provide more at the beginning as a foundation, but that’s ok.

With that said, I enjoyed the narrative tone and non-predatory nature of this book on swing trading. It did a great job covering the necessity, basics, and tactical details of risk management, as well as detailed strategies of how to actually make money trading stocks through chart analysis.

There’s a nice glossary at the end, and if you are listening on audible you can access all the charts through a website that the narrator reminds you of at the beginning of each chapter, which is charitable!

Overall, what I enjoyed most was the very clear cautions, explanations of risk, and detailed information on how to avoid that risk and make a steady profit through stocks.

I will be returning to this book after I have some more preliminary education under my belt. :)

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive introduction to swing trading.

This book has well articulated the necessary Information to start swing trading. It provide a concept and overview of what needs to be done to swing trade. The writer also shared some references and free tools to allow new traders to start exploring.

Why I gave a four star? Though the I would recommend this book to those who wants to start swing trading or trading in general. There are some elements missing, which I think would benefit new trader alot more.

The writer did not provide example of a full routine. From scanning of the stock to how he traded that stock and the entries and exits. With some of these examples to conclude the book, it allows the readers to visualise the process of actually HOW to swing trade. This is only my own opinion of what I wish to see.

Though the writer may have not included these examples. I would still recommend reading as the book is still a good starter for new traders.

[James Danaher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s ok intro to swing trading for a beginner who wants a taste of what it is, but it’s too concise to learn how to do it.

It cherrypicks a handful of charts. To learn charting, you need a lot of charts of winners and losers to study. Better books for learning how to do it are O’Neil, Minervini, Weinstein, Trader Lion, and Williams. There is no multiple time frame analysis. Trades have a higher probability when you consider the context of what the stock is doing on higher time frames. And you won’t fully get his point on relative strength without seeing a comparison between SPY and stocks that are strong.

There is good basic advice, though. The recommendations for journaling and how to start trading small with SPDR ETFs are excellent. And I really like how he laid out suggestions of how to journal a trade. I wish more traders wrote about it as it was a huge part of how I learned. Still, I would urge you to read O’ Neil’s “How to Make Money in Stocks” instead.

[dgx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very direct, no-nonsense, actionable advice to start swing trading. Got a lot of insight on market psychology from this. If you are confused on any part of the swing trading process, this book will straighten you out so you develop a solid foundation to learn more advanced stuff later, not that you need to in order to find successful trades, it covers an entire system/approach to apply to every trade.

The rest is up to your ability to see patterns and apply what you learned. Journaling has taught me a lot about price mechanics by paying more attention to indicators and price movements influencing my trade.

This book gave me an understanding that all the indicators we use are a language or framework to improve the probability of finding and entering a trade that will go the direction we want/hope/expect, regardless of the size of that price movement.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a fairly basic introduction to swing trading, which is buying and selling financial products on intervals usually longer than a day, and shorter than the 'investment horizon' of a long term investor. This fit the bill - while some of the material in the early chapters is maybe a bit too basic, overall this book is a very comprehensive treatment of the subject and introduced me to a couple of charting/screening websites I didn't know about. I'm keeping it in my online 'library' for reference.

[Erkka Ryynänen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent package of information for a beginner in swing trading providing clear process how to start and what to do as well as introduction to the key tools, methods and strategies. Still I gave this "only" 4/5 stars because the book was a bit loose and too repetitive in my opinion. I understand the point in repeating important aspects few times but this book took it too far repeating some facts +10 times. With more concise writing the book could have been 30 % shorter and much more readable.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walking the walk

This is quite a good book.I read the day trading book by the same author and it seemed too much time and work. Swing trading is certainly more doable, although it takes regular time out of your day.I have been trying to go through the daily process to identify stocks to trade it. It's a steep learning curve. The author hardly plugs his own web site although it's a fairly obvious way to flatten the learning curve, but I do think the book is a genuine attempt to help people swing trade and not just a glorified sales brochure.

[Try Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your goal, as a successful swing trader, is to discover the balance of power between the buyers and the sellers and then bet on the winning group. If the buyers are in control, you should buy and hold. If the sellers are in control, you should sell your position or even sell short . If the price action indicates a lack of conviction between the buyers and sellers, then you will wait or look for another opportunity. You should let the bulls and the bears fight with each other and then enter a trade only when you are reasonably certain which side is likely to win.

[Ernesto Alcantara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swing Trading basics

This book is easy to follow and well structured with summaries at the end of each chapter to recap important information. There are some useful tools and information for beginners and intermediate traders looking to swing trade. Chapters on technicals and patterns for swing trading I found to be most useful as well as some internet free scanning tools covered in detail.

If day trading is too fast paced for your liking, swing trading can be a good alternative to make decisions at a less frantic pace.

[Dom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly a book for beginners, hence the title. Too no fault of the author, I found myself skipping the first 80ish pages but still found value in the later technical theories and conversation. It’s well written and easy to understand but my goodness every single chapter reiterates itself. “I’m about to talk about X” which I found funny but I think it’s great for beginners and it did reinforce the topics. Summaries at the end of each chapter was nice too. While it was too beginner for me, I still found value and am happy I picked this up. Good info and easy to understand. Overall good book.

[Tori Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this Book First!

This book is real cut to the chase! Brian lays it all out. If you are trading and want to get better or you are brand new you need to read this book. He spells out what you need to know and do. How to set up your trading business and much much more. I have been trading for years but wanted to up my game. This book gave me many new insights and strategies. I gave this book 5 stars because I loved it.

[Maciej Walinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primer on starting a swing trading business. It never gets overly technical, but provides a solid foundation with which to base your activities on. Definitely not enough to make you an expert, but that was never the intent. This book provides a gateway with which you can do more research, and further your understanding of the subject, where to start, and the psychology/mindset required to be successful.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in getting into the field.

[Mark Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

informative

I appreciate the author and his willingness to share his take on the basics of developing a plan, routine, and business as a swing trader.

I think this is well done and very thorough about what goes into starting and being successful with a trading business and he gives you great information to start and ideas on where to spend more time and resources with how to improve and do it well. Thank you.

[Daniel Fajardo Valenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Highly recommended. The author covers everything you need to know to get you started. I really liked that it covers not only Technical Analysis which was the main reason I picked up the book but also Fundamental Analysis, strategies, principles and the mindset required which is what I mostly enjoyed at the end.

[John Teague · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great Intro to Swing Trading

This is a great book for someone just learning about swing trading. It is very concise yet seems to cover all the important aspects needed to both decide if swing trading is something you might want to try as well as how to get started. A wealth of information in just a few hours. Excellent!

[Nazaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a amazing book with lack of Good knowledge for present and future .

It's a Amazing Book for all types of swing traders and this book will cover most powerful strategies and discipline which I need and everybody .
On my side Amazing Amazing,Amazing book Happy trading Good Bye Good Luck

[Rohith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book for swing trading begginers

I really loved this book. Will keep reading reading it again and again till the info in this book is chisled in my mind. Also enjoyed a lot reading this book. Advanced traders can read this this book to refresh thier knowledge. If you are into swing trading please read it at least once.

[Stephen Nicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and in depth instructions to Swing Trade.

Book finished, notes taken, looking forward to putting the multiple ideas into practise.
Nicely written book that lays out the complexities of ST into relatively easily understood chapters with a review at the end of each chapter.

[Jevgenij · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess, the more books about trading I read, the pickier I become. This book is probably ok as the first book on swing trading, but for someone further down the road it's lacking character. Descriptions are dry like on Wikipedia and although everything is clearly presented, there is no proper convincing strategy described .

[Benas Aukstikalnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was curious how the stock market works and what influences the way it goes. I found the book to be educational and interesting.

Only negative: some information is repeated word for word more than two times in the book and I didn't like that. I think the book could have been 20 percent shorter without losing any content.