Stock Market Wizards: Interviews With America's Top Stock Traders - Hardcover

Schwager, Jack D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0066620589 ISBN 13: 9780066620589

Publisher: Harperbusiness, 2001

Synopsis

The third book in the author's series on the stock market and investment uses interviews with the nation's top traders to illuminate trends in the market in the coming years. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Stock Market Wizards looks at 15 of the men and women who have beaten the US indexes year in, year out--and tries to uncover their secrets. In a world of tracker funds, computer-generated buying decisions, and roller-coaster stock prices, the ability to consistently outperform the market is a precious commodity.

Each trader is interviewed at length. The dialogue is then presented Question and Answer style on the page, and at the conclusion of each chapter, Schwager summarises what lessons can be drawn from their replies. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in a clutch of mavericks who beat the crowd, every one is different. There are obsessives like Mark Minervini, with his 14-hour trading days, who claims not to have taken a day off in ten years; but then there is Mark Cook, who combines caning the market with working on his farm. There is Ahmet Okumus, whose goal is to be the best money manager in the business, this year and every year; but there is Stuart Walton who walked away from trading for several years, and would rather be a writer and artist anyway. Schwager grills each on how they pick their stocks, the technical analysis they employ, how they choose to hold or sell, how they structure their portfolios. Each, it emerges, has his own "edge". Michael Lauer, with his constant search for value stocks, uses a six-step selection process that identifies stocks with good return and risk prospects; David Shaw invests heavily in research, and cuts his transaction costs to the bone, allowing him to profit from tiny market inefficiencies. Each, again, is different, but in the fascinating summary chapter, Schwager identifies the key qualities they all share. All have failed and come back better and wiser dealers. All, no matter how laid back or eccentric they may appear, have a rock-solid trading philosophy and strategy. All are flexible and responsive to change--and all work like demons.

It's a fascinating glimpse into minds of stock-market winners, and the 65 lessons he draws would form a good blueprint for anyone's forays into shares. But perhaps the best is No. 1: "There is no single true path". In the end, you have to do it yourself. --John Rennie

Review:

In 1989, professional futures trader Schwager wrote the electrifying Market Wizards, featuring incisive interviews with some of the world′s most successful traders, discussion of a wide variety of techniques and markets, and a detailed chronicle of various traders′ track records. It quickly became a bestseller. Five years later, Schwager published The New Market Wizards, less detailed and with more generic interviews. Now, six years after, the third installment continues this unfortunate trend. The subjects of Schwager′s new interviews are less than impressive, and his questions have gone soft. To make matters worse, subjects were allowed to amend their words later, resulting in many lifeless, boilerplate responses. Instead of analyzing specific trading decisions, theories or track records, subjects spend most of the interviews talking about their childhoods or disparaging ex–bosses and co–workers. Even this dirt fails to engage the reader, since Schwager has changed the names of the maligned parties. Only the author′s brief, energetic commentaries on the interviews display the insight of Schwager′s earlier work. Inexperienced traders may benefit from some of the platitudes in these interviews, but experienced traders already know to cut their losses. (Jan. 31) Forecast: Bolstered by an author tour (with guest appearances by some of the "wizards") to New York City, Chicago and Boston and a syndicated radio feature, Schwager′s third book may get some initial sales from fans of Market Wizards and those looking for more up–to–date trading information. Poor reviews and word–of–mouth, however, probably will hurt this book′s sales, as they did the previous sequel. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. Publishers Weekly

Schwager (Market Wizards, New Market Wizards) interviews 15 top traders, attempting to cull their secrets in order to explain their winning methodologies. It′s not a terribly original approach, and many of the questions and answers sound remarkably alike. While none of the interviewees is as recognizable as Fidelity′s Peter Lynch, all have produced impressive returns for their investors. Many share characteristics that helped shape their trading philosophies: becoming interested in the stock market through their fathers, experiencing numerous failures in early trading but never giving up, and developing a strong work ethic and self–confidence. Discipline, according to the author, is the one trait that all of his subjects have in common, enabling them to ride out the turbulence of the stock market each day. The book concludes with a list of 65 wizard lessons. One of the more insightful traders described himself and his colleagues as "detectives. We are trying to find out information that is not widely dispersed and then put all the pieces together to get an edge." Reading this book might help readers develop their own edge in investing. Appropriate for larger public libraries.––Richard Drezen, Washington Post News Research, New York City Bureau Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Harperbusiness
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0066620589
• ISBN 13: 9780066620589
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352