"The Master Swing Trader by Alan Farley will improve your chart reading skills faster than any other trading book I have read (and I have a LARGE technical analysis library.) Whether you trade from 5 minute charts or never look at the market during the trading day, this book will improve your bottom line.

Every book claims it is going to help you understand chart patterns, but then limits the coverage to items like the classical head-and-shoulders or triangle patterns using standard breakout techniques. Alan takes you inside these patterns, and often shows you how to beat the crowd by understanding what is really happening. His approach has much lower risk and often a higher profit potential.

And that is only the start. Classical patterns are the ones that "everyone" knows, but unfortunately, what everyone knows seldom makes money. The Master Swing Trader takes the concepts that make up patterns, and shows you where invisible trades often exist. But since the general public doesn't see the early trade, they buy or sell after you have established your position. This improves your risk/reward ratio even further.

"The Master Swing Trader is absolutely first class. This book is so rich in useful material that you will want to read it more than once. Alan provides information that only an experienced and seasoned professional trader could provide. This is an outstanding text that will stand the test of time.

Not only has every important aspect of trading been covered thoroughly, but Alan also provides a number of real-world, real-time proprietary trading setups that work. There are no black boxes here. Each trading method is thoroughly explained and illustrated.

The Master Swing Trader forces you to think. Whether by teaching you new trading techniques or by validating your trading experiences, you will become a more complete trader because of your increased understanding of the dynamics of trading.

"This book is probably one of the best books on Swing Trading to be published in the last twenty years. It is a concise book on what you need to learn about trading stocks. I feel that the author should have broken the book down to three books, becasue human nature forces us to try and finish the reading as fast as we possibly can. We must however remember that it took a full semester in college to study a book of this size, and I feel it will probably take even longer than that to master the content in this book. So my only complaint to the author is that he has given us too much great content at once. It is similar to having your favorite desert at a restaurant. How much of it can you possibly have before you you surrender and say no more today?

"Call me a skeptic when it comes to trading books. Most of the stuff written the past several years has been daytrading mush; you can go to a bookstore and read them faster than a dinner menu.

I first became familiar with Alan Farley through his Internet site, the Hard Right Edge, and had been eagerly awaiting this book since August. Now having read it, the technical content is without parallel. Read every sentence and savor it like a fine wine. Having been a professional trader since 1990, some of the content took me aback because in some cases he has quantified relatively obscure market factors that are the foundation of some of my proprietary trading systems, and you think nobody else knows ;-). For example, read the "Time of Week and Month" section on pages 235-237; this section alone is extremely significant.

The book is crammed with candlestick charts and systems that will take you to TradeStation or MetaStock to test out the various patterns. Part Two of the book is The 7-Bells, a series of chart patterns with detailed setups and lots of examples; a minor nit is that the candles in some of the sample charts are scrunched together.

As a trader, this is the book I wish that I could have written. You may ask why a successful trader would publish a book with all of this accumulated knowledge. I guess the answer is that one doesn't HAVE to, but to share years of experience amassed in a difficult profession is extremely generous.

Swing traders seek to profit from short-term price imbalances created by market-crowd fear and greed. Yet fading the market "herd" isn't as easy as it used to be.

According to Alan S. Farley , in his new book The Master Swing Trader, swing traders must now compete against the best-informed crowd in history.

"Net connectivity," he writes, "revolutionizes public access to price charts. Now everyone reads the charts and believes that he or she understands the inner secrets of technical analysis. Triangles, flags and double tops now belong to the masses and are often undependable to trade through old methods."

I have found this to be true in my own trading, and I suspect many of you reading this have also. In fact, noted trading author Jack Schwager has called the "failed signal" (i.e., one where price moves in a direction opposite to the one expected) the most reliable one today in technical analysis. Why do you suppose that is? N

ow the good news: fear and greed still create market inefficiencies (surprise!). And the best way to now profit from these inefficiencies is to fade these "late to the party" technicians. The Master Swing Trader does superb job of showing the reader how to identify and trade new and "dependable setups that have no name or adoring crowd."

Discretionary traders will like the fact that Farley believes trading is more art than science. The Master Swing Trader still relies on pattern interpretation, after all. What Farley terms "Pattern Cycles," in fact, form the core of his methodology.

Pattern Cycles are simply pattern setups that appear regularly -- across all time frames -- in bull, bear and flat markets. Markets alternately trend (crowd excitement) and rest (crowd "quiet"), forming what Farley calls the Trend-Range Axis. "Empty Zones" (EZ) lie at the intersection of these two market conditions.

Empty Zones, Farley claims, are not apparent to the new (as well as the traditional) chartist and thus offer good trading opportunities. The idea is to identify Pattern Cycles within EZs at different points along the Trend-Range Axis.

Confused? It's simpler than it sounds, really. And Farley makes ample use of charts and examples that greatly aid in understanding. In fact, the example-charts at times appear to be be too detailed or "cluttered," but this is a minor complaint.

This is a book that is also broad in content. There are chapters on "Preparing For the Market Day," and one on "Understanding Time." Candlesticks are added to the discussion throughout, as are those indicators commonly found in software charting packages.

The best parts of the book, however, are the chapters devoted to the "7-Bells," one chapter for each, which disuss seven specific pattern setups that seek to capitalize on predictable crowd behavior. The "Finger Finder" (one-bar candlestick reversals) is just one "bell" example that could improve your short-term trading immediately.

The book concludes with "Thirty Rules for the Master Swing Trader."

"Excellent news for traders! Finally – there is a comprehensive new guide to Swing Trading methods for seizing short-term trading opportunities, and it’s sure to help all traders eager to find a happy medium between the two extremes of buy-and-holders and the frenzied pace of the day trader.

Noted trader Alan Farley’s excellent new book, "The Master Swing Trader" provides a wide range of powerful techniques for traders of all persuasions who want to pinpoint tremendous opportunities presented by shorter-term price moves, which are generally missed by the majority of other market participants.

Swing trading offers traders the unique ability to isolate high-probability trade set-ups and difficult-to-spot opportunities before they disappear. By applying Farley’s innovative and proven system of Pattern Cycles, traders will gain a significant edge in the markets by spotlighting and closing out superior trade set ups one step ahead of the trading pack.

Combining his own unique and original trading methods with traditional technical analysis tools, Farley’s strategy addresses reward, risk and stop-loss considerations. He also provides tips for making informed choices during all phases of short term trading development, which will furnish traders with much-needed support on the road to building consistent trading performance.

Broken down into 3 clear sections, Farley’s thick new work covers such critical points for traders as...

• Tips, tactics and "workflows" to make informed choices at each stage of short term trade evolution
• The "7 Bells" – a definitive approach to uncovering high-probability short term trading prospects
• "30 Rules for the Master Swing Trader"
• Skillful ways to shift tactics quickly as conditions change
• Indicators to predict the impact of crowd behavior on trend, range and price development – and much, much more.

And, while "Swing Trading" has steadily gained popularity over the past few years, little has been available to help educate traders use this valuable technique. A handful of books devote a chapter or so to the topic – but the popular "Swing Trading with Oliver Velez" video has been about the only in-depth product around. Now – Alan Farley’s thorough, understandable new work provides a detailed approach that will help you move into - and master - the tremendous potential to be found in shorter-term markets.

And don’t be put off by the "Swing Trading" moniker. This classic concept has applications that are universal to anyone investing today. As Farley notes, "In reality, swing trading characterizes a time-frame independent strategy that executes single, direct price movement." This means his methods can help traders find excellent opportunities in both 5 minute or 3 week charts, or just about any timeframe.

With its detailed treatment of technical analysis methods applied to today’s volatile markets, plus his own, proven "Pattern Cycles" methodology, this unique book will provide something for everyone. Even experienced traders will find fresh new concepts to ponder.

As Farley himself says, "The swing trader should read this book. But so should the day trader. And let’s not leave out the position trader or technically-oriented investors! Day traders will discover short-term tactics that don’t rely on scalping ...Mutual fund investors can improve their timing with these classic principles ...Is it unusual for one trading concept to have such broad applications? Not when that one view includes all the price patterns that markets can draw."

By encompassing virtually all market action and revealing how price moves in a highly predictable manner, the amazing tools Farley presents will give any investor a significant and consistent edge in the market. But learning to "master" these techniques takes discipline, research and education. As noted trader and "Stock Trading Wizard" author Tony Oz notes, if you get Alan Farley’s new book ... "You are seeking your trading education from one of the best instructors in the industry today."

"On my shelf this will replace Edwards & Magee. We didn't need a 7th Edition; we needed something like it updated for the millennium. I've read more than 50 trading books and I would never say "replace E & M" lightly.

Sheesh. Did I say before I was impressed? This thing is a work of art.