17 Proven Currency Trading Strategies (How to Profit in the Forex Market)

Forex Trading... something I had not touched for quite some time as I appreciate more rest and more sleeps these days, LOL. However, this book caught my attention when I found that Mario Singh is the founder of FX1 Academy, which is based in Singapore. Well, anything on investment that based in South East Asia will caught my attention. After all, if I found it so good, I can reach them easily...

Ended up, this is just one of those books about trading in the market. There is nothing special except some basic stuff about Forex trading. This is in fact a simple introduction book about Forex. As such, it may be a nice book for newbies. However... for those who need to brush up trading skills, this book does not serve its purpose at all. The so called 17 proven strategies are not supported by any back-test results. The best part is... certain charts displayed in the book only showed the profitable trade and ignoring completely the losing part. I wonder why the author was so careless in the first place, LOL. Furthermore, for all 17 proven strategies, I see more of over-fitting rather than solid strategies. Can we trust the so called proven strategies? Hmm, your guess is as good as mine...

Overall, this is not a lousy book to explore. However, ideas provided may sounds too easy to trade efficiently in a competitive market like Forex. Besides, those ideas and methods are not relevant at my side in view that my trading philosophy is totally different with the author. Although the author tried hard to categorize all type of traders... but, I could not recognize myself even when I found the relevant group, LOL. As a result... for a full rating of 10, I am giving it 3. As I mentioned above, there are something useful in the book (particularly for newbies). Hence, 3 point is adequate and nothing more than that... 

Footballeur: An Autobiography

After few serious reading... I guess it is time to relax and enjoying my hobby. Being an Arsenal and Bobby fan, this book is a must. I actually tried to get this book locally since few years back. However, since Manure is the name for local football fans, it is hard to even find a clue where to buy this book. At the end, special thanks to my nephew in Newcastle. He not only bought me this book. In fact, he bought me tons of football autobiography imported direct from UK. Thanks, man...

I spend only little of time to finish this whole book. This kind of book are enjoying for football fans like me. However, since I did not check on the date of publish; I did not realized that this book is originally a French version in an earlier date. As such, the whole stories ending half way throughout Bobby's career at Arsenal without mentioning the later part on his journey to Villarreal and a short spell in Aston Villa. This is the problem with autobiography that wrote prematurely during the player's career. Yes, it is the peak moment for the player and publisher would definitely have an easier task to sell off the book. However, the premature period will cause the book ending with premature stuff too... In fact, I am very much pissed off not to read about Champion's League's final subs by Wenger on Bobby and why he finally decided to quit his beloved Arsenal. In short, the whole story is simply not complete!!!

Compares to Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography and The Professor: Arsene Wenger, I think this book at most deserved a rating of 4/10. No doubt that I enjoyed this book. However, I prefer a complete story that covers at least the whole football career of Robert Pires. 

The Secret Code of Japanese Candlesticks

Gosh... never imagined that I will touch again this kind of books... In fact, I was asked by a junior to help review this book. As such, I need to read through before I can give her sort of feedback she wants... After all, I need to update my private library too... So, why not?

End up... Gosh, what a lousy book!!! In the first place, there are really nothing new under the sun. As such, the way that the author tends to perceived that he found something new and some top secrets in trading really pissed me off. In fact, there is zero secret revealed by the author in regards to candlesticks. Based on western or eastern sources, those stuff are nothing great and definitely not as "magic" as claimed by the author.

Then, the whole book is in a mess. It is not organized in terms of contents. It is supposed to be a book about candlestick. Yet, the author is so "creative" that candlestick becomes a sub topic in the whole book. Topics are mixed up here and there and the sequence is a real mess to me. I was like... trying hard to concentrate in certain topic, but get distracted by the next chapter when something irrelevant (at least to me) pop up suddenly. The author is too "creative", LOL.

Overall, this is a funny book. The more you dig, the more you found nothing. As such, for a full rating of 10, I am giving it an "excellent" 0! What a huge disappointment... 

Day Traders Bible

By right, this is a book that should not exist on my shelf. However, I am open to all sorts of ideas. Besides, I am also open to all sorts' of books. Like I said always, there is nothing wrong in reading a lousy book. After all, to be able to judge it is already an excellent learning process. So, although this book is not aligning with my trading method; I am ok to go with it...

In fact, after finished this book; surprisingly, I love certain part of this book so much. Although the overall ideas presented do not match my character, I truly believe that this is one of the productive method that can be apply in real trading world. In terms of the content, the author did so well in providing such a "manual" with details explanation and adequate examples. Any trader (even those with different methodology) will surely find something useful throughout this book (myself included!!!). The listed quotes as below did enough to suggest that this book do helps in certain way:

It is the WILL, the strength of discipline and character in a man or woman which makes them mediocre or successful, "a loser" or "a winner".

This is the objective point of the Tape Reader - to make an average profit.

There is calmness before, during and after the trade.

Money is made in Tape Reading by anticipating what is coming - not by waiting till it happens and going with the crowd.

It's better keep in mind that you are playing for points, not dollars.

Giving limited orders loses more good dollars than it saves.. Especially is this true in closing out a trade. Many foolish people are interminably hung up because they try to save by giving limit orders in a market that is running away from them.

We should introduce ourselves to the principal speculative mediums and their families, each of which, upon closer acquaintance, seems to have a sort of personality. If we stand in a room with fifty or a hundred people, all of whom we know, as regards their chief motives and characteristics, we can form definite ideas to their probable actions under a given set of circumstances.

The chief cause of fear is over-trading.

Any kind of charts will show some profits at times, but the test is: How much money will it make during a year's operations?

Final conclusion... I am going to rate this book at 6/10. I intend to give higher rating as I thought the author did so well in writing this "manual". However, since the ideology is not aligning with my cogitation, I have to deduct certain point to "comfort" myself, LOL. Overall, this is a good book for traders to explore... A must read for traders around the world...even from the opposition party like me, LOL...

Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East

After two serious stuff (supposed to be very serious stuff, but ended up boring like hell, LOL)... here I am with another serious stuff except changing it to something that really interest me all the while. First of all, I must admit that I am not familiar with Middle East historical stuff. This is why any books related to Middle East stuff will be my cup of tea. Secondly, I am back to history books. Any sources of historical books usually have special place in my heart. So, this book although published long time ago; I am pretty confidence that it will still be a book that helps to further enhance my knowledge...

Ended up... frankly, I spent quite a lot of time in digesting this book. Reason is... I thought the author did do well that it brought out a lot of questions in my mind. First of all, regardless whether you are pro-Israel or anti-Israel, nobody can deny the facts that occupation of Palestine land is similar to the colonial settler occupations. As such, the morale issue and perhaps a straight right or wrong, did enough to raise many questions in my head (which I thought the author did answered some while ignored some). Secondly, the author seems align with Hamas and Iranian government. Hence, I think readers worldwide may not agree with some of his points. Furthermore, Iranian government is no more the previous government (the time when the author wrote this book). As a result, certain things seem irrelevant to view from current situation.

Lastly, there will be a lot of debates when occupations by outsiders (which will usually end up as wars) are not justify and legalized in the first place. Pre-revolutionary China had proved in history that the final results will not favor mankind development in long run. Besides, there is a hidden element (oil) behind all this. Hence, the debate on this topic will goes on forever. Sad to say this... but it is a true facts.

Overall, I may not agree 100% with all the opinions from the author. However, the shrewd analysis of the Zionist state's schemes is really fantastic. As such, from a full rating of 10, I am going to give 7. This book certainly deserved some attention for those who love to read about Middle East.