June 2009

COMMODITY OPTIONS: TRADING AND HEDGING VOLATILITY IN THE WORLD’S MOST LUCRATIVE MARKET
(260 pages, $39.99 hardcover, 2009, ISBN 978-0-13-714286-6) by Carley Garner and Paul Brittain, published by FT Press, an imprint of Pearson.

Investors have discovered the opportunities of commodity options, but the underlying commodities behave differently than equities. The authors begin with a quick primer on how commodity options work, how they evolved, and why conventional option strategies often fail in the commodity options market. Then, using detailed examples, they show how to use the leverage of commodity options and walk you through the trades from top to bottom. They also introduce you to new strategies often ignored in other books. The strategies in this book are used on a daily basis by the authors, and you can put them to work to increase the odds in your favor as well.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.ftpress.com

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THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO VALUE INVESTING
(318 pages, $19.95 softcover, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59257-793-4) by Lita Epstein, published by Alpha, a member of Penguin Group.

It’s time to get back to basics. This book provides the blueprint for an investment plan that has been proven successful for nearly 100 years. It explains how to find the real value of a stock or other investment vehicle, and buy at or below that value. You will get an understanding of market behavior and how it affects your financial decisions and learn techniques for reading between the lines of financial reports to determine the real value of a company and its stock. It is a primer on stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles along with the risk associated with each of them.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.idiotsguides.com

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PIONEERING PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH TO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT
(408 pages, $35 hardcover, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4165-4469-2) by David F. Swensen, published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster.

Since this book was first published in 2000, the global investment landscape has changed dramatically, but the author’s investment strategy remains impressive. In this fully revised and updated edition, the author describes the investment process that underpins the endowment he manages that has trumped the market by a wide margin. The author offers clear and incisive advice, especially when describing a coun­ter­intuitive path. The original edition outlined a commonsense template for structuring a portfolio. This new edition provides an up-to-date guide for actively managed invest­ment portfolios.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.simonandschuster.com

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SEASONAL STOCK MARKET TRENDS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CALENDAR-BASED STOCK MARKET TRADING
(298 pages, $60 hardcover, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-27043-1) by Jay Kaeppel, published by John Wiley & Sons.

The basic underlying idea of seasons and seasonality is that even though things do change, they often return to a particular state over and over again, often in a predictable way. Over many years, the author has examined a range of seasonal and cyclical trends as they relate to the stock market for the past 100 years. This book shares the insight gained. It is written in an accessible style that will show you how following the calendar — and taking advantage of the strong seasonal trends — can help you achieve long-term market success. Some of the trends are associated with holidays, some are monthly, and most are based on 70 to 100 years of market data. This guide will help you incorporate seasonal trends into your investment endeavors and give you a better position to make profits with consistency over time.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.wiley.com

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THE SWING TRADER’S BIBLE: STRATEGIES TO PROFIT FROM MARKET VOLATILITY
(220 pages, $70 hardcover, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-30826-4) by Matthew McCall and Mark Whistler, published by John Wiley & Sons.

Swing trading, which is taking short-term positions in anticipation of quick market movements over a series of days or weeks, is a straightforward approach to trading that allows you to make sense of today’s market and profit from volatility. This resource opens with a detailed discussion of the Three Rules of Profitability, which includes developing a stop-loss plan before entering a trade. The authors detail more than a dozen swing trading strategies that will help you enter and exit positions more successfully as well as improve the bottom line of your portfolio.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.wiley.com

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SYSTEMS TRADING FOR SPREAD BETTING: AN END-TO-END GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING SPREAD BETTING SYSTEMS
(269 pages, £39 softcover, 2008, ISBN 978-1905641734) by Gary Ford, published by Harriman House.

This is the first book on developing and backtesting system trading strategies to be used while spread betting. The book details the cycle of choosing instruments, designing strategies, backtesting, and the real-time trading of those systems and includes many real-life examples. It details an end-to-end approach covering all of the aspects required to implement and maintain a trading system. The author looks at money & account management and black box systems, then describes in detail the processes involved in the development of a strategy, including backtesting and optimization. This is a must-read for anyone looking to develop a systematic approach to their trading, and take their spread betting to another level.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.harriman-house.com

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