books on trading strategies

[davidgoddard]

general request for recommendations on trading strategy books

[bullrat]

bump

[underdog430]

Books on Trading System Development

Books on Trading System Development

Does anyone have any thoughts regarding books on trading system development? While there probably aren't any books that are going to specifically address all of our needs (e.g., one that covers building a system using eSignal, Dynaorder, and Interactive Brokers), a good book should be helpful nevertheless. My preliminary research has led me to four candidates (none of which I've bought or read).

1) Trading Systems and Methods by Perry J. Kaufman
Hardcover: 720 pages - November 16, 1998
List Price: $85.00 Actual Price: $54.95 - $59.50

This looks like one of the most popular and it also appears to be one of the most comprehensive.

2) Tradings Systems That Work: Building and Evaluating Effective Trading Systems by Thomas Stridsman
Hardcover: 358 pages - November 20, 2000
List Price: $55.00 Actual Price: $28.87 - $38.50

While customer reviews note that this is not an easy read, they do seem to appreciate that he is open with his opinions.

3) Professional Stock Trading: System Design and Automation by Aaron N. Behle and Mark R. Conway
Hardcover: 336 pages - July 2002
List Price: $64.95 Actual Price: same

This looks like a solid book that is relatively reader friendly but the emphasis on Tradestation puts me off. Note that Mark Conway is active on the Elite Trader boards.

4) Building Winning Trading Systems With Tradestation by George Pruitt and John R. Hill
Hardcover: 400 pages - November 2002
List Price: $79.95 Actual Price: $55.97

This is one of the most recent books, looks reasonably substantive, and looks relatively reader friendly but again the emphasis on Tradestation puts me off.


Again, I haven't read any of these. Please share any thoughts that you might have about these books or others.

Thanks.

Mark

[Josbarr]

The First Book by Perry Kaufman is excellent

[underdog430]

Josbarr,

Are you referring to "Smarter Trading: Improving Performance in Changing Markets" (252 pages, January 1, 1995)? Do you think this book has aged well?

Thanks

[benushroff]

Hi,

Can you recommend any other good books on Trading Strategies?

Thanks

[Triplewitch]

Tradingsystem Books

@ Mark

The Stridsman Book is excellent in that, it gives strategies how to improve systemresults by exporting them into a spreadsheet program like excel.

It also addresses many aspects of tradingsystems, Newbies usually overlook like the meaning of profit factors, drawdowns and so on.

When you build your first complete Tradingsystem, most of the time the main goal is to improve the equity curve of your system dollarwise. Unfortunately that proves to be the wrong method because the equity curve doesn´t tell you enough about the true performance of your system. The distribution of the trades is more important, as is the per trade drawdown and the profit factor (cost of doing business) of the system.

Thomas Stridsman addresses these things in his book and i doing so enables the reader to actually understand what is important.

Happy trading...Triplewitch

[TWedler]

Further books

I like Kaufman's book as well.

Also, reading Van Tharp on general trading system considerations apart from the IT and backtesting part was a great help to me.

For options traders, Shelly Natenberg's Options Volatility and Pricing is THE book.

[crotch_rocket]

Just to name a few books that I have read and own:

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, Murphy, John J. (This book is part of the New York Institue of Finance and is one of the recommended text for the CMT designation)

The Trader's Edge, Grant, Noble (more about trading commodities, grains and bean complex)

Pit Bull, Schwartz, Marty (a classic, must read for anyone who trades equity index futures)

Viewpoints of a Commofity Trader, Langstreet, Roy W.

Most of the books that I bought deal with the psychological factor of trading, I did not want to rely on a mechanical system to make my decisions. It's been a long journey, but it is well worth it for the all the pain and suffering that I have endoured.

Happy Trading!