The philosophy is based on the view that nearly all stocks experience four price stages: accumulation (stage 1), uptrending (stage 2), top area (stage 3), and downtrending (stage 4). Therefore, an investor, has a high probability of success if he or she enters the cycle just before the stock moves to stage 2. Then he explains how to select a stock by simply studying its price/volume chart and how to time your entry.

He addresses the issue of fundamental vs technical analysis. He explains that technical analysis is much superior over fundamental analysis because technical analysis incorporates future information that is not available to the average investor on a timely basis. I found the book very clear and very helpful in selecting winning stocks with less stress. I read several books but this one is the best of them all.

The book discusses when to buy, how to refine the buying process, when to sell, selling short, recognizing market tops and bottoms all in a manner so clear that you won’t have to read a sentence twice for the sake of understanding alone. The quizes at the end of each chapter are meant to reinforce your understanding and I think it is a great idea.

It is for longer term trading, perhaps 3 months or more, depending on how long the stock trends upward. This is probably the best longer term trading method I have seen.I wouldn’t say Weinstein’s methods are “secrets,” they are just 100% common sense, and very effective.

If you’re a beginner or intermediate, this book will certainly give you a huge boost in mastering chart reading as well as execution. Unlike any books that sort of short in explaining one critical area, I find Stan’s book very clear and entertaining as well. It opens your eyes on what to look for in a chart.

It is one of my favorite trading/investing books.

The main topics in this book include: Preservation of capital, consistent profitability, technical analysis and trading rules. He tells how to spot a trend and discusses technical analysis. How to spot the tops and bottoms in any market. There is also a lot of detail about economics and what makes the system tick, which as he says he didn’t learn in school. Moving averages, booms and busts, and how to manage risk and have a good business philosophy for consistant success are also part of this well written book of trader knowledge. He covers a great deal of useful information in a very compact form that is actually easy to read and understand.

His methods are a mixture of fundamental and technical analysis. He uses economics as a forecasting tool and says that cycle analysis actually just gets in the way. If you can understand the fundamentals of economics you can interpret government intervention in the market and profit from it. University taught economics is useless for this. All booms and busts are a result of credit expansion in an effort to lower interest rates, whereas Keynesian economics attempts to use interventionalist policy to smooth out the peaks and troughs but in fact is the predominant cause. Surplus production, savings and innovation create wealth as much for the individual as the economy on the whole. Wealth is actually consumed by government created prosperity via deficit spending. You can’t get something for nothing. By understanding these cycles, you can speculate profitably.

Technical tools can then be used for timing entry. He demonstrates how trendlines can be drawn objectively to determine a change in trend using his 123 and 2B rules. A unique approach in this book is an approach to measuring risk by calculating market life expectancy profiles which he says has been instrumental to his success along with his business philosophy of protecting capital, consistent profitability and the pursuit of superior gains.

This book is as much a confession of the soul as a guide on trading methods, which I’ve found most of the best trading books are. He clarified a number of issues in my own mind and extended my thinking in critical areas.