Mastering the Trade: Proven Techniques for Profiting from Intraday and Swing Trading Setups

by John F. Carter

This updated edition of the classic guide to trading provides the edge you need to beat the competition in today's turbulent markets
Not long ago, the world was wondering if it would survive the 2008 financial crisis. Now, markets are at record highs--and traders in the know are doing better than ever before.
In this new edition of Mastering the Trade, John F. Carter delivers what you need to make a great living on the frontlines of professional trading. From valuable hardware and software to market mechanics, pivot points, position sizing, and more, Mastering the Trade is fully updated to meet today's market, including: -All new tools and strategies -Fully updated examples -Easy-to-follow protocols for creating a steady monthly income from your account-Tools and techniques to ensure success - even if you have a full-time job-Exposure to what is working right now
Combining insightful market overview with proven strategies and concepts, Carter provides chart setups, trading methodologies, money-management principles, psychological guidelines, advice on the latest hardware and software, and more. This nuts-to-bolts guide provides the all knowledge you need to detect and capitalize on the next market shakeup before it happens.

Genres: Finance, Business, Nonfiction, Economics, Audiobook, Education, Personal Finance

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 7, 2005

Reviews

[Liz Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would like to steer people away from this book. He is going to try to sell you indicators from his website. Indicators do not make you successful in trading.
I read this book a while ago, but received a spam email from his website this morningshowing how he made 70,000(or so) in 5 weeks. It prompted me to write this.

Every trader is looking for the "holy grail". The author of this book knows it and has put together some good information wrapped in a sales pitch. This book will not unlock all the secrets. I really believe you need to be choosy about where you spend your money in trading education. The truth is, all of the mentors, guru's and authors in trading are writing these materials to supplement their cash flow- it's an alternate source of revenue for them. (And sure, there is some ego involved and a desire in there to educate.)

Don't waste your time with indicators. Understand the asset you are trading (what moves it), learn to recognize supply and demand levels, and then create a business plan.

[Jeff Serbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see a lot of negativity in the reviews. I think this is an excellent book. One thing to remember is this book was written in 2005, since then the markets have changed a lot and not all of the strategies can be used the same. In this book he talks about many strategies that he has used over the years and shows how they set up in charts. Does that mean you can just copy it? No, it isn't that easy. As far as his website and the availability of his paid indicators. If you don't want them, then don't use them. He has a free daily newsletter that has a lot of great information. But you have to remember it is all theoretical, the markets change all the time. Not everything they go over is correct and not all of their predictions come true. However, the book and his videos are great learning tools. Even if you don't follow some of his strategies it is cool to see how other traders look at charts and indicators. In his free videos he sometimes gets a little salsey on his indicators and training sessions but, once again, just ignore it if you don't want it. I found his book to be a great learning tool and I will continue to pay attention to the strategies that he uses.

[Rajesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The psychology part was a gem . And it proved a turnaround on my trading career.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't really recommend this to anybody. To begin with, the chapters about setups very often refer to indicators that can only be bought from the author's website, and without even explaining how these really works (ie. "An A wave measures the trend of the prior six or so bars [...] (this is my best guess, as Rodney [the guy who helped the author to program the indicator] won't tell me the specifics)", yes, this is indeed a quote from the actual book!). These cheap tricks feels extremely unserious and shall probably be a pretty good warning sign that this book is not intended to learn you any good.

The setups presented in the book are also extremely specific (sometimes even with exact numbers when to enter a specific instrument), this may at first sound amazing for the traders that are searching for the Holy Grail. But most traders know that there is no Holy Grail or free lunches. So, once again: Another cheap trick that probably sell lot of books but far from teaches people to master any trade.

The chapters about different markets are very focused on the US markets, and once again with very specific examples but not much good general info, so if you are trading any other markets you won't get out very much from big parts of the info presented in these chapters.

But sure, the chapters on psychology and money management were pretty decent, and even amusing ones in awhile (and the only reason why I don't give this book just one star), but that was basically it, and there are so many other better books about those topics out there so putting money in this book is just a waste of it...

[Paul DeBusschere · Rating 1 out of 5]

Also known as "The Day Trader's Guide to Losing Money." Carter actually states near the beginning of the book, "You will blow up your account." And it is no secret as to why.

If one follows the idiotic methods outlined in this joke of a trading book, Carter's prophetic statement will be fulfilled quickly. My "favorite" method was the one where Carter is expounding on going long or short if the three-minute bars are up or down three times in a row, respectively. If one looks closely at the example chart for this method, one quickly sees that following this routine will quickly lose money. I pretty much shelved the book after that.

Additionally, the example charts throughout the book are filled with instances of missed trades, or confusing data. It is easy to find charts where examples are pointed out, but where the same charts have potential trades that meet the criteria of the method at hand and were not taken. Why? These oversights are not explained.

On the upside, some of Carter's trading anecdotes are entertaining. But one should consider using Carter's methods only for the excitement of seeing money evaporate.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important study for day traders. I learned several new techniques that professional traders use on a daily basis. Understanding how the pros approach support/resistance levels allows the small day trader to anticipate and profit from the intraday movements around pivot points and fibinocci numbers.

[Parshant Panwar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book is less about mastering the trade and more about why you should buy john carter's package on his website to learn. seriously why should one bother reading it if you can't learn anything other than web address. it's full of website links.

[Hara Chiaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex and a tad long to read. It's not suitable for beginners in trading. Also, mostly all of the chapters are more suitable to day trading, while I was more looking for swing trading. However, the chapter on TM Squeeze is interesting, but you need to buy his indicator on TOS. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it to any swing traders that have just started.

[Panji Aryaputra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much of upselling his products at https://www.simplertrading.com. So this book feels like an ads rather than source of knowledge.

[Bjoern · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, it would be quite difficult to write a good book about day trading because in the end the topic comes along with a lot of voodoo and black magic. Nothing in this book is “proven”. The plays described by the author might or might not work. However, in no way is it explained why they should work nor do they come along with a quantitative evaluation of how often a setup would have won or lost in a given time range/market. Such a quantitative approach is something I would have expected. The stock data is available. The author claims his setups should be executed like algorithms. So why not let a computer do this for the last couple of years and see if a setup would have really worked out in the long run.
Instead, the author wastes pages over pages with more or less funny anecdotes. I am sure one could also write down the same content on 200 pages rather than 400.

Anyway, if this is your first book on trading you do learn something. I am quite sure there a better books out there, but for sure there are worse.

[Jairo Fraga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book initially seemed promising, boasting extensive content. However, it ultimately relies on generic advice, technical analysis, and the tired cliché that a strong mentality guarantees success. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without a solid strategy, no amount of emotional control or risk management will lead to success. Objective strategies, where emotions are more controlled, rarely produce long-term winning results.

The book presents various strategies, but testing reveals none of them are effective. It also features numerous interviews with the author's trader colleagues, who offer the same generic advice. A complete waste of time.

Estimated reading time: 15 hours.

[Bren Letson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rings true.

OK, everybody wants the secret, the shortcut. Turns out, there is no shortcut to successful trading. The trick is to survive until you learn the skills and Carter tells you how. I especially appreciate his admission that things were rough for him at the beginning. And I thought it was just me. If you scan the book just for his techniques and indicators, you will miss the most valuable thing he has to offer: the biggest obstacle to successful tradering is what happens between your ears.

[Gleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes genuinely insightful, but the whole 'book' is poorly typeset chapters of magazine clippings. Difficult to follow & could use focus. Lots of 'go to my website to buy these special indicators'

Chapter 11 "TTM Squeeze", explanation of volumes, volatility and holding intraday positions were very useful. Gives just enough info into indicator algorithms to recreate.

[Christine Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trading is definitely harder than it looks, but John brought an entertaining view to the world of trading. Thoroughly enjoyed his book, although a couple of sections did get fairly detailed. Had to go through those sections a couple of times to fully understand them. Definitely haven't mastered trading yet, but things are looking up and this book will be a definite resource down the road.

[Sebastian Salamanca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great investment. I helped me a lot with many things a was doing wrong.

I promise, once you finish this book, you won’t be the same trader.

Definitely a MUST read.

Outstanding work John.

[Ben Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complex, some of the chapters are more suitable to day trading- which doesn't usually perform as well as swing trading. However, the chapter on TM Squeeze and waves is worth the whole price of the book in my opinion.

[Andreas Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good book for a relatively new trader. It covers a lot of good stuff about trading mentality and gives a good overview of different methods.

[John Waciuma]

Good trading techniques discussed but have to applied with risk management at the forefront.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. I’m ready to make 1,000,000 dollars! Lol

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing style is straight-forward and articulate. Information well-presented. A good book.

[Mohammed Umar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good casual read

To much noise in the book. Author clearly has some good experiences to share but could have kept it concise.

[Magpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Không có gì nổi bật. Hơi quá chi tiết đối với người mới, nhưng người có kinh nghiệm rồi thì thông tin ở đây lại thành dư thừa.

[Jimbo Stark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-serving tripe. Steer clear of all these trading gurus and mentors. None of them have been profitable traders and the only money they make comes from selling courses and mentorships and whatnot.

[Gurmukh Sandhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

TTM Squeeze Setup Explained

[Keith Mundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed book on trading

[Jyoti Sharma · Rating 1 out of 5]

There should be a way of giving negative stars!

[Ming Jun Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. Covers wide range of knowledge needed for trading the stock market. Has many links to additional free content on website.

[Dan Allosso · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some good advice in this book about how to approach trading and about creating what Carter calls "setups" and how to work them. The point another reviewer made about Carter promoting special screening tools is valid, although some of those tools are now available free in the "thinkorswim" online trading app. For folks using other platforms, it is possible to build your own tools if you understand the principals behind what he's doing and don't buy the hype that these tools are magical, infallible indicators.

[Enrique Arroyave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book that offers insight into proper expectations of the market and trading for a living. Setups shown not necessarily all that great, at least not in this current market.

[David Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Pre-Reading Notes* 
I’m reading this book because I want to improve my investment/trading skills.

*Post-Reading Summary* 
Summed up in three sentences or less, the wisdom of this book is this: