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Swing towards profits 
This is a great book and I'm buying it for the second time as the other is packed away in another country somewhere. Farley is awesome. If you don't like the book, you simply don't get it. If you're lame enough to complain about it on here you've got an ego problem, or it was just over your head. If you're serious about trading its a must read. Thanks Alan. I hope someday to meet you in person and thank you personally. Happy Trading!
The Swing Traders' Definitive Guide
I have read this book close to three times. Its pages are now worn from use and travel. It is the single book to which I attribute the majority of my market knowledge and trading success. I have since used my trading record to become an investment adviser utilizing only the techniques found here. In truth, I have also created my own money management system as a framework for capitalizing on Farley's directional insights.
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br /This book, when I first read it, was not very appealing. I wanted something that could predict the market, not something that would tell me to wait and wait and wait until conditions were right. I didn't want to have to plan for opportunity and then strike if- and only if- price action developed according to my plan. I didn't want to do any of this until trading losses inspired me to enjoy making money over being excited about making a trade.
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br /Since then I have returned to the book and read most parts twice over. Farley's patterns can be applied to any market environment, because they don't have too much overlap (that is, there's always a set of patterns available for any possible market environment). Therefore, first identify the general market conditions (1st section of the book dedicated to this), then identify which of his '7 Bells' fits that market environment (2nd part of book dedicated to these), and then perform the trade if and only if conditions are favorable (3rd part of book..). Take profits and losses readily. The markets have noise. Perfectly good setups will go up in smoke sometimes. Know your 'edge' and risk only the right amount of capital to take advantage of it (I did have to develop a system myself for this part as Farley does not cover it).
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br /So, that is my review. The Master Swing Trader is a seminal work on swing trading that should not be taken lightly and most definitely not derided as "too complex". Yes, if it's hard, come back later with more trading experience. I consider this book to be the Be-All-End-All of trading books, and it reminds me of my senior-level Electromagnetic Engineering courses in college. Looking at that book in the first days of my study would have frightened me (just glance at a 'Smith Chart' in Google Images if you don't believe me). But after time, I realize that the concepts in that book were not too complicated and were in reality very practical and extremely useful. So, too, with Farley's masterpiece.
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br /Ryan Sanden
br /Investment Analyst,
br /Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
From the Stock Traders Headquarters library
The Master Swing Trader is not for beginners, and is a difficult read from cover to cover. But I constantly refer to mine, and I have it highlighted throughout with the margins all marked up. It is very technical but also very thorough. More than any other book this one is responsible for my quest for perfection in my trading systems.
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br /David Colletti
br /Founder
br /StockTradersHQ.com
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A truly outstanding book for the advanced trader
A lot of people seem to love or hate this book, and I am without question in the love this book category. I have been in the market for many years, and I can say without hesitation that this book is the most advanced and thorough study of trading psychology and tactics ever written. If there's a better one out there, I've never seen it (and I've read hundreds of them).
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br /This is not a beginners book. This is a book for people who have at least a couple of years experience trading and investing actively in the market. I don't mean someone who has a few mutual funds or a stock or two they just hold; I mean someone who follows the market closely day in and day out and has felt the fear, panic, and greed that comes from buying and selling in real time on a regular basis. If you're one of those people then this book is for you. If not, then you should look into something a little less advanced and come back to it in the future.
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br /It was clear to me even after a couple of chapters that the author really knew what he was talking about and had advanced experience. I think many people have been frustrated by this book because they were either too inexperienced to understand it fully or because they were confused by the author's deeply intuitive writing style. Myers-Briggs intuitive types (N's) will feel instantly at home with this, but sensory types (S's) will have a hard time with it because he writes about the deeper meaning behind patterns and movements rather than the obvious visual aspects that are the focus of most books on trading. If you are someone who thinks deeply and looks for the deeper meaning of things then you'll probably like the style of this book. If you are not, then it might not be for you. I am an intuitive N, and I recommend it to others like me without hesitation. It's the equivalent of a capstone course in a master's degree program in trading.
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he uses many words to say very little 
The book feels like Farley is trying too hard too impress, instead of to truly educate. A few good insights, but buried beneath the weight of all those self-important words.
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