Forex Price Action Scalping: an in-depth look into the field of professional scalping

This is actually the first time I write a book review, but since Bob Volman's book is so good (in my humble opinion), I decided to take the time to convince others that 'Forex Price Action Scalping' is worth every penny. Simply said, it stands out from all other Forex books. No 'getting rich quickly plans', no setups that will make a 'killer profit'. Just sound advice that will make you a decent scalper, if, and only if, you are willing to put in thousands of hours training and learning the craft. This is a serious book for the serious trader and, as mentioned before, has many parallels with the book on trading price action by Al Brooks(books that is, since he rewrote his first work and spread the information among three books). Al's book is a real masterpiece, but a very hard read. I believe Bob does a better job in writing a readable book. The only thing I miss, are some insights on how to deal with/ or to refrain from news. Apart from that, I really like the fact that this scalper gives us an insight in the work and methods of a Forex scalper - this in contrast with the many books on scalping in futures markets. If you are planning on becoming a serious Forex trader - then by all means BUY THIS BOOK!

I am discretionary, electronic trader who trades in the crude oil market. Since the title and description of this book relates to how I scalp CL futures, I decided to get a copy to read and see how it compares to my methods. Will post an update to this review once I've gotten sufficiently far into the book to make some meaningful comments. UPDATE #2 1/26/2013. On further thought, I'm taking away two stars. Let me explain. In my experience as a discretionary trader, I have never used fixed stops. I will go a step further and say that I have doubts as to whether any fixed stop system actually will work over the long term. I don't know for sure, which is why I can't say that it "won't," but I have enough doubts. When I first read Volman's book, I was impressed by his writing style and clear-headed, no-nonsense approach ... to the point where I didn't pay much attention to the fact that he's advocating a fixed-stop system. But in my experience with reviewing mechanical systems and with backtesting some of those, I have never seen a fixed-stop system to work. Inevitably you have enough of a series of fixed losses, that it either destroys the entire profit or results in an unsustainably large drawdown. Now Volman is not a system trader, he is a discretionary trader. Sometimes it is difficult to translate discretionary methods into a mechanical method, which means it cannot be backtested. ... Which means the only way to know whether it works is by looking at actual trading results over a long period of time. I should have paid more attention to this in my initial review. Basically at this point, I would recommend this book in order to learn some good, solid concepts of price behavior, but not to take the trading strategies at face value unless the author can actually prove that he has consistently made money using fixed stops. By "fixed stop" I mean your stop is always 10 ticks (or some constant number) below your entry point. UPDATE 1/17/2013. Okay I've read the first 80 pages carefully and I feel like I can make an accurate review, assuming the rest of the book maintains the same quality as the first 80 pages. A very well written and excellent, detailed description for various techniques of getting into and out of trade using different setups, breakouts, etc. The author uses a short time frame and the Forex market, but these methods apply equally on any timeframe and on any market with similar volatility and fluidity. In addition to the trading methods, there are general words of wisdom sprinkled throughout, which should be helpful to newbies or traders having difficulties with hesitation, emotional trading, etc. My personal reason for picking up this book was to see how it compares to my own techniques for trading CL futures. Most of what I know about price behavior is self-taught, taken from my observations. Basically I'm seeing very similar things discussed in this book. There's many ways to slice an orange, sometimes they end up being variations of the same theme. Probably any two individuals who spend enough time observing price behavior are going to end up drawing the same conclusions. So the similarities between different approaches should come as no surprise. I don't see any reason why someone should not make money consistently over the long term by implementing one or two of the author's strategies either as an automated system or on a discretionary basis. These type of strategies are similar to what I do in that they initiate a series of trades, some losses and some wins, that are based on probable setups such that over the long term the wins are greater than the losses. I can bear it out from personal experience in the crude oil futures market that this type of strategy works. It also works in gold and should work in S&P in a similar fashion. The key here is the consistent implementation of the strategy. This is going to be a very difficult thing for most if not all newbies and even some experienced traders to understand and accept. They have a tendency to think that the results of 2, 5 or 10 trades is a good indication of what can be expected going forward. Which is not the case. Basically with strategies like what the author gives, you are working in terms of probabilities that give you an edge over time, which is really to say over many number of trades. Individual losses or wins don't matter too much - it's the cumulative effect that counts. In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn principles of price behavior and who wants to see how to use those principles to construct a long-term strategy based on short-term trades.

If you're looking for ideas on how to day trade that don't include fibonaccis, MACDs, market profile, tape reading, correlated markets, or having to parse news reports in the flash of a second, this is it. A somewhat similar but more technically complex approach is professed by Al Brooks, albeit his work is much less accessible than Volman's. Volman provides both trend and ranging strategies, including range breaks and range reversals which gives you plenty of ideas to work from. There is also much to be said about Volman's thoroughness: he discusses the psychology of the setups, spends time analyzing faulty setups, and has a whole chapter on trade management talking about multiple scenarios, in a way that I have yet to come across in a trading book. The one disadvantage of Volman's approach is that it is based on a 70 tick chart, and one that displays candles in only whole pip increments (using pipettes can throw you off strategy wise, you will have a tough time setting clean entries and managing the trade). That means you're out $50-60 a month for a data feed, taking away one of Forex's advantages of having no fixed costs. You can approximate the 70 tick with a 30 second chart during the liquid NY and London sessions, or find a broker that offers a tick chart. In the case of the latter you might have to adjust the tick chart to a different value than 70, because Volman relies on ProRealTime's feed (the target setting for the chart is 120 candles per hour). Be prepared to study this book a number of times, this is not a cookie cutter system based approach and requires developing a sense of discretion, even though the author gives you some very solid ideas and guidelines for the setups. A high value book offered at a price that is way below most of the trash that is offered as trading education. Edit: Bob's new book, Understanding Price Action, is also a good read. You may even want to read it before this book as it offers a slightly broader perspective and operates primarily off the 5 minute timeframe.

Si puedes leerlo en inglés, es una gran herramienta para aprender auténtico "price action" en temporalidad de 5M. Tiene muchos gráficos bastante interesantes, no sólo de grandes tendencias, y el autor tiene los pies bastante bien asentados en el suelo, sin ofrecer al lector hacerse millonario en dos meses tras leer su libro.

Best book

Il libro ha un titolo un po' fuorviante in quanto parla di FOREX trading ma, in realtà, i principi in esso enunciati a mio avviso ben si adattano a qualsiasi tipo di analisi del prezzo su grafici "veloci". L'autore tratta di 7 set-up abbastanza accessibili anche al neofita, basati sull'analisi del grafico a candele a 70 tick, in sostanza un grafico molto veloce ove ogni candela viene tracciata sulla basa di 70 transazioni sul mercato FOREX. Molto correttamente, a mio avviso, l'autore non consiglia l'uso di indicatori o oscillatori esoterici, ma soltanto di una banale media mobile esponenziale a 20 periodi, per cui al lettore viene insegnata la mera (ed efficace) lettura dell'azione del prezzo e l'operatività conseguente è dettata dalla lettura che i set-up consentono di tale azione. Si tratta, beninteso, di una trattazione delle basi che non arriva certamente alla profondità e alla complessità di quella di Al Brooks nella sua monumentale opera in tre volumi, reperibile almeno in formato Kindle su Amazon.it. Tuttavia, al contrario di quella di Brooks, la trattazione di Volman è accessibile e "digeribile" anche dal lettore meno esperto. Ovviamente, come tutto ciò che riguarda il trading, il libro va letto, capito e studiato; poi va testato con piccole somme sul ForEx ove è possibile fare trading anche su mini contratti, mettendo a rischio 20$ max ad operazione. In sintesi: lettura suggerita come base di partenza e soprattutto, senza aspettative di aver trovato la pietra filosofale che trasforma ogni vostra operazione in oro. PS La pietra filosofale vi serve per distinguere i cialtroni dai trader seri. Se qualcuno vi promette un guadagno certo o un x% garantito, bene quello è sicuramente un cialtrone.

Zu Anfang hatte ich großen Respekt Fachliteratur in englischer Sprache zu lesen, da ich mir dies sehr schwer vorgestellt habe. Nach rund 100 Seiten (und vielem Nachschlagen bei Online-Übersetzern) bin ich allerdings immer schneller voran gekommen. Der Inhalt des Buches ist m.E. umfangreich genug und der Autor zeigt durch passende Charts auf, was er beschreibt. Auch ist in dem Buch eine Mail Adresse des Autors und ich konnte dadurch Kontakt mit ihm aufnehmen. Er beantwortete meine Fragen zu meiner vollsten Zufriedenheit und sehr schnell. Da ich von diesem Buch bereits so begeistert bin, habe ich mir auch das zweite Buch von Bob Volman bestellt und lese dieses bereits.

I love this book. Volman tells the truth to traders. It's not going to be an easy road. He backs up his "system" with years of annotated charts available freely via drop box. It's not price action in the "classical" sense. There's no real bar by bar. It's an overall sense of the underlying forces you're looking to decipher with Volman's approach. And then to get in he has a few "setups". BUT you must read those forces correctly first. Bob Volman is English, the UK variety, so his phrasing is different at times than what you'd expect from an American or Canadian saying the same thing. Nevertheless his writing is captivating and compelling. Could you learn to trade by this book along. YES. Actually, if you didn't bring any old garbage to it you'd be much better off. Other books on price action are theoretical with some failed trader as your teacher. Just because they write better would you follow their guidance instead? I'd hope not. Volman is so practical. I learn by watching and doing, not by theorizing, which is why I think this worked so well for me. Overall this is a great book on scalping the EURUSD. I have tried the technique on the Dow Futures (YM) and the Nasdaq Futures (NQ) but these instruments don't move like the euro or exhibit it's personality in any way. However I have since given up on the crazy index futures for a relaxing career scalping the euro. You only need one instrument. This book, style, technique is not for everybody but it sure was for me.