From Tulips to Bitcoins: A History of Fortunes Made and Lost in Commodity Markets

 

Tulips story is no stranger to all financial guys like me. However, with bitcoins, the story tends to be different...

This book is interesting. It recorded all financial bubbles on commodities from earlier tulips till the latest bitcoins. So, reading this book is like reading a history book (except main focus is on financial cases). Readers tend to learn a lot from the cases presented and the author did so well to present it with clear and precise details. 

However, I found some of the cases presented seems not significant. For trader like me, some cases are just norms of the volatility and does not qualify to be "bubbles". Secondly, it will be good if this book includes all indexes bubbles apart from commodities. After all, commodities, indices, currencies, etc. are correlated in nature. Finally, I expected to see some comments or insight thoughts from the author at the end of every presented cases. However, it is more like a dull history book at the end. Unfortunately, the only wisdom I can found throughout this book is the quote as below:

The discovery of gold triggered a true story global gold rush. However, it was the merchants who generally became rich selling equipment and services.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 6/10. Well, I appreciate the hard-work from author in providing us such a detailed history on the so called "bubbles". However, the whole experience is like a drop in the ocean. I would not said it is a bad book... but simply not enough! As financial bubbles would not stop from now and then, this book will have a revise version sooner or later. Let us hope for a better version in the future... 

套利对冲投资实战宝典

 

哥儿们介绍的一本书。。。一本关于套利的书籍。。。交易了十七年，老实说，要找一本关于套利的书籍简直是难如登天！我这哥儿们的确很够意思。一直以来，他就好像我的百科全书，要什么有什么。说他是我的小叮当，还真的一点儿也不为过。。。

这是书有个小特点。主题虽然是套利，但是作者很用心的把一些交易上有关联的讯息和历史背景也一并分享给读者。再来，作者除了整理出理论，理论上还配搭了许多实战交易以供读者参考。这一点，作者是做得挺到位的。套利这玩意儿一直是交易者守口如瓶的绝世葵花宝典。除了自个儿掏腰包买经验，基本上这个游戏几乎是行内的一个玄机。因此，这本书至少起到了一定的作用。我相信，读者会从这本书找到一些一直以来很想解开的谜底。

想尝试鸡蛋里挑骨头，但是，还真的捡不到太多骨头。唯一的小骨髓是，这本书整体上都着重在内地的套利交易。如果有些美国的个案，我相信这本书我会给足满分。好吧，那十分满分，这本书怎么说都值个九分吧。对于很想了解套利交易的读者们，这本书个人是挺推荐的。毕竟，市面上关于套利的书籍的确是寥寥无几。再来，对于我这个小玩家，基本上这本书也满足了我对套利的好奇心。未来，很期待这类书籍陆续登场。毕竟，套利这个秘密也守太久了。。。

The Complete Guide to Spread Trading

I had been searching for books about spread trading since day one. Finally, I found this book. Unfortunately, this book was written many years ago. So, I am a bit skeptical to get it in the first place. Just wondering... how can I miss out this book after reading tons of trading books for the past 20 years? Perhaps... spread was not my favourite those days...

Ended up... to be frank... I am quite disappointed with this book. First of all, this book is quite dull. I would have no hesitation to term it as dry reading. Well, it is similar to a book where we hated so much during those days in university, haha. Perhaps, the spread trading itself is boring (relatively compares to outright trading). So, it might not be the problem with the author. Secondly, I would have anticipated series of technique or fundamentally stuff that can help in spread trading. Ended up, there is nothing new under the sun. The information in this book can easily obtained from google. Finally, I do not agree that this book can helps to "earn a consistent flow of positive returns with less risk", as claimed by the author. By using "info" provided in this book, at most readers understand the fundamentally and logic behind the spread stuff. Apart from that, nothing much can be gain from this book.

Rating wise, I am going to rate this book at 4/10. Well, this is a good book for reference purpose. However, it does not provide much needed "skill" for spread trading. Having said that, I think traders should have this book on the shelf. After all, every trader needs a reference book on spread trading. I wish I could find some other and better books on spread trading in the future. 

The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

Wow... what a book! Jim Simons... an idol for every trader. So far, I think this is the only book in the market about the mighty Quant. I read a Chinese version book about Jim Simons before. However, I remain suspicious on the contents of the book. Hence, when this book was introduced by Michael Covel, I have no hesitation to buy it.

Finally, we have a book that tells the whole story about Jim Simons. Well, I believe this book presented the real Jim Simons compares to those rumors and articles being circulated on the internet. The author did well in presented the whole chronology on how Jim Simons and co started till the latest. Along the way, there are newcomers as well as those who gave up. Hence, we can see how this quant revolution being made. Amazingly, it was an exciting but real tough journey.

You do not have to equipped yourself with great mathematical skill to read this book. The author did so well by presenting simple ideas that every reader shall be able to understand. After all, even if those coding was revealed, we might not understand at all. Basically, finance experts may not understand coding. Same thing applies to coder who may never understand the games of finance. So, again, what Jim Simons achieved, by combining both is really a remarkable stuff.

I believe some readers may be disappointed with this book. After all, this book does not reveal the real secret behind the success of Renaissance. However, like I mentioned above, unless you are a coder, otherwise, there is no point to show you the code. To me, this book is good enough. In fact, I rate it as excellent, 10/10! First of all, it is so hard to get the information on the mighty Jim Simons. Secondly, I am eager to know the history on how Renaissance being established. So, this book revealed what I want. This book is definately well worth reading. It is well written and surely a must read for those who works in financial market like me.

Last but not least... as listed below, I pick out certain points from the book which I found interesting. Thumbs up to the author in writing this book.

Simon quoted: "God gave me a tail to keep off the flies. But I rather have no tail and no flies. That's kind of the way I feel about publicity."

"The lesson was: Do what you like in life, not what you feel you 'should' do," Simon says. "It's something I never forgot."

Lenny Baum developed a saying that became the group's credo: "Bad ideas is good, good idea is terrific, no ideas is terrible."

Markov chains, which are sequences of events in which the probability of what happens next depends only on the current state, not past events.

In a Markov chain, it is impossible to predict future steps with certainty, yet one can observe the chain to make educated guesses about possible outcomes. Baseball can be seen as a Markov game.

A hidden Markov process is one in which the chain of events is governed by unknown, underlying parameters or variables.

"I don't want to have to worry about the market every minute. I want models that will make money while I sleep," Simons said. "A pure system without human interfering."

Stochastic equations, the broader family of equations to which Markov chains belong. Stochastic equations model dynamic processes that evolve over time and can involve a high level of uncertainty.

I strongly believe, for all babies and a significant number of grownups, curiosity is a bigger motivation than money. ~~~ Elwyn Berlekamp

Berlekamp argued that buying and selling infrequently magnifies the consequences of each move. Mess up a couple times, and your portfolio could be doomed. Make a lot of trades, and each individual move is less important, reducing portfolio's overall risk.

Berlekamp and others developed a thesis that locals, or floor traders who buy or sell, like to go home at the end of trading week holding few or no future contracts. Similarly, brokers on the floors of commodity exchanges seemed to trim future positions ahead of the economic reports. Medallion's system would buy when these brokers sold, and sell the investments back to them as they became more comfortable with the risk.

Certain trading bands from Friday morning's action had the uncanny ability to predict bands later that same afternoon, nearer to the close of trading. If market moved higher late in the day, it often paid to buy futures contracts just before the close of trading and dump them at the market's opening the next day.

"I don't know why planets orbit the sun," Simons told a colleague suggesting one needn't spend too much time figuring out why the market's patterns existed. "That doesn't mean I can't predict them."

Simons, too, became nervous when his fund went through rocky times. On the whole, though, Simons maintained faith in his trading models, recalling how difficult it had been for him to invest using his instincts. He made commitment to refrain from overriding the model, hoping to ensure that neither Medallion's returns, nor the emotions of his employees at Renaissance, influenced the fund's moves.

It continued to identify enough winning trades to make serious money, usually by wagering on reversions after stocks got out of whack. Over the years, Renaissance would add twists to this bedrock strategy, but, those would just be second order complements to the firm's core reversion to the mean predictive signals. 

Never place too much trust in trading models. Yes, the firm's system seemed to work, but all formulas are fallible. This conclusion reinforced the fund's approach to managing risk. If a strategy wasn't working, or when market volatility surged, Renaissance's system tended to automatically reduce positions and risk. 

Simons often emphasized the importance of not overriding their trading system. But, in market crisis, he tended to pull back on the reliance on certain signals, to the chagrin of researchers who didn't believe in ever adjusting their computer programs. 

Medallion made between 150,000 and 300,000 trades a day, but much of that activity entailed buying or selling in small chunks to avoid impacting the market prices, rather than profiting by stepping in front of other investors. What Simons and his team were doing wasn't quite investing, but they also weren't flash boys. 

Medallion still held thousands of lonf and short positions at any time, and its holding period ranged from one or two days to one or two weeks. The fund did even faster trades, described by some as high frequency, but many of those were for hedging purposes or to gradually build its positions. "I am not sure we're the best at all aspects of trading, but we're the best at estimating the cost of a trade, " Simons said. 

Medallion still did bond, commodity and currencies trades, and it made money from trending and reversion-predicting signals. The gain on each trade were never huge, and the fund only got it right a bit more than half the time, but that was more than enough. 

How the firm wagered was at least as important as what it wagered on. If they found a profitable signal, the wouldn't buy when the clock struck nine, potentially signalling to others that a move happened each day at that time. Instead, it spread its buying out throughout the hour in unpredictable ways, to preserve its trading signals. 

Instead of the hit-and-miss strategy of trying to find signals using creativity and thought, now you can just throw a class of formulas at machine learning engine and test our millions of different possibilities.

Phantom of the Pits

Finally.... I found the English version of this book. Three years ago, I read the Chinese version. I was so impressed with it. Yet, I found it hard to find the original version be it at Amazon, Kindle and anywhere. Finally, a friend of mine sends this ebook to me. Thank you so much, mate. You are the man always.

This time around, I found it better. First of all, it is due to the original language and no flaws on the translation. Those technical items are surely easier to understand compares to the Chinese version. Secondly, I felt it smooth while reading this version. Having said that, the Chinese version actually did remarkably well in terms of translation. However, readers will definitely prefer the original version. This is the power being a Malaysian since we are trilingual in nature.

As times goes by... trading world had changed dramatically thanks to the introduction of algorithm and robotic trading over the years. As such, certain point are not so relevant today. For example, we are no more in the situation where slippage easily occurred unless a trader is still a "manual" trader. Secondly, due to the fast moving speed in internet, market trending seems get crowded and as a result, we see shorter trend these days. Hence, what the author mentioned on the day trader's edge over the position traders may not be relevant giving current market situation. Come to think about that... it will be nice if "Phantom of the Pits" can come out with the revised version of this book. Well... provided the so called "Phantom of the Pits" really exist in the first place, LOL!

This time around, I spend quite a lot of time in digesting this book. First of all... since there is no revise version to counter current market's situation, I need to brainstorm the idea of this book in response to the current trend less market. As we all know, market trending is not as great as last time. David Herding mentioned umpteen times that the market is simply overcrowded with trend following method. Hence, this book actually provided some limelight and alternative to the old school trend following style. For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 9. On the Chinese version, I rated it at 10/10. This time around, I reduced 1 point due to two reasons. Firstly, I found it quite annoying when the book ended with tons of articles by the author (not "Phantom of the Pits") which is not related to trading. Secondly, as I moved into old and bold trader (compares to 3 years ago), this book is not so inspiring. The quotes below tell the whole story. In the Chinese version, I managed to list out tons of quotes. This time around, the quotes selected not so much. Having said that, this book is still one of the best trading books I read. Thumbs up!!!

You must be larger when correct on a position than when your position is wrong. Each add onto the original position should be done in smaller and smaller steps. 

It all depends on your trading plan. One correct way for a day-trader is to see that the position is proven correct and then add at a proper retracement. This will not be the case for trend trader. Trend trader would most likely have at least one add at a breakout or breakaway gap. Your method of adding must be validated by your trade plan. 

Day traders will have problem with Rule 2 unless they position properly and understand that their adds must only be made correctly. Day traders are in for quick profit so it is hard to have a good add plan. Their best trader is to put all positions on at once and use Rule 1 to take them off unless or until proven correct. This is the proper probability in a loser's game like trading.

Trend traders will get larger when they are correct, but day traders will start larger and get smaller when they are wrong. Day traders can be large when they are wrong, but trend traders will never be large when they they are wrong. This is due to the nature of a loser's game for day traders. By reducing your positions when wrong, your exposure is not extreme for a day trader. 

Rule 2 must be used if you expect to make money in long run. Your validation of how you add is according to your trading plan. 

Day trading plan is certainly going to be geared for the quick profit, so why shouldn't you have your biggest position to work with from the start? Right or wrong, you are going to use Rule 1 to protect all cost. 

This is your enemy... to love to be right. You will become the best trader you can be by being wrong small, not right small. 

Most of your trades that don't confirm within a logical time frame are usually going to look bad sooner or later. Why not take the sooner? 

Most traders look to remove their positions just as soon as they prove them right. They forget what their true purpose in trading really is. It is not only to make as much money as possible, but to make it in the least amount of time. 

You could use day traders to your advantage in trading by knowing that they would have to get out by close. 

You expect to be wrong if you are thinking and trading correctly.

Our thinking must become adult in trading. As a child, we often don't need a reason but just the rule. As an adult, to be effective in trading, it is important to know why and not just the rule. 

The most critical time of a trade is immediately after you have just entered the position. This is the time you must be most sensitive to news and events. 

If you using point and figure charts, you can see the 45-degree line of support and resistance. 

Look for a system that back-tests data currently. What I mean by this is that it must be current in the last six month or so. What good is the system if it takes the last 50 years into consideration but not the current six months that reflects current market conditions best. 

Compare both the long term and six month sets of data. If they conflict, you must refine the system somewhat to a better signal generator. If your can't refine it better, then use both set of signals and throw them out when conflict. 

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World

The man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood? I would say he's the man who fooled the whole universe too, LOL.

This is a book that every Malaysian are so familiar with.... after all, we had been exposed to the details of 1MDB scandal since many years ago.  Being a Malaysian, I thought I know enough on the whole scandal. However, this book opened my eyes to more details that I wish to know. Credit must be given to the authors. You guys have put on hard work in collecting all the information. Well done!

I spend almost a month to finish this book. The story is so fascinating that I just cannot put it down. Perhaps this is due to the facts that the said scandal happened in Malaysia. If it happened elsewhere, I may not be so keen to explore further. The story begins in Penang and crosses the globe through Abu Dhabi, New York, Vegas towards Bangkok and China, where the mighty Low could be hiding right now. I am so amazed by the details analysis by WSJ reporters. Imagine, the brand of champagne was mentioned even though I do not give a damn on what they drank, haha! Further to this, tons of interview with dozens of peoples involved are presented in this book. So, it strengthen the facts that this scandal really happened such a way even though many will find it hard to believe. So, to sum it up, the authors did their part and it is a great effort in producing this book.

The flaw side... First of all, I thought many details on financial fraud were not explained. The whole "trick" was more like a story telling. Being in the finance industry myself, I found it hard to explain on the due diligence side. Well, some might argue that there are always some loopholes behind the rules and regulation. However, the facts that many mighty banks were involved and the said banks are all being "deceived" easily? Hard to believe... Secondly, this story is actually a super complex story to follow. We in Malaysia are exposed to the details almost daily. So, for us to understand the whole story is not difficult. However, a friend of mine in Australia found it messy. According to him, he lost interest after flipping for few chapters. So, the structure of this book may have some problems for those who are not familiar with the whole scandal.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 8. Well, there are some unanswered doubts especially on the tricky banking side. However, I do get more details as what I wish for. There are rumors there is a movie coming up on this book. Wow... really looking forward to see the movie!

西方金融如何改写中国现代史

好久没阅读台湾的繁体书。这本书的主题本身就很吸引我。西方金融加上中国现代史，很有趣的组合。况且，历史加金融，两个都是我的最爱。怎能错过呢？

这本书没得弹。整体上，虽然花了很多时间和绞尽脑汁来理解，但是时间与精神上的付出非常值得。至少，这本书启发了我很多新的概念。很多概念其实一直在金融界里不断重复。只不过，当局者迷。很多时候，我们在里头很难客观的去看待一切。更多的时候，我们甚至忘了这些所谓的概念在千年金融历史中根本都没停止过。

再来，作者很用心的收集各个资料。最棒的是，作者自己的结论堪称一绝。整本书我几乎找不到任何我不认可的地方。还是那一句，作者无论针对历史，还是自己的论点，到最后都启发了我。谢谢作者的用心。

如果想要鸡蛋里挑骨头，那这本书唯一的缺点是作者让读者太用脑了。里头有些东西，我们这班金融奴隶都未必能马上明白；更何况，那些没有金融知识的读者。简单来说，这本书不容易阅读，需要足够的耐力和恒心去慢慢体会作者的用心。

10分满分，基于能够在鸡蛋里挑到骨头，那就给个9分吧！这本书我十分推荐。看一看以下的经典语录就能够证明这本书真的超棒的！

一定有那么一个从前，如果想发横财，就可以把家搬到海边去住。因为那时作为交易手段的货币都是用小贝壳穿成的。中华民族的发源地远离海洋，贝壳非常稀罕，自然价值不菲。贝这个字在当今的金融字典里还是满天飞。化了贝就是货币，代了贝就是借用他人的钱，分了贝就是贫穷，乏了贝就是贬值。

任何一个时代，任何一个国家，都可能上演量化宽松的故事。皮特首相和咸丰皇帝的故事告诉了我们一个事实：政府操纵货币发行，结果不一定都是噩梦，有些人恐怕就是比他人有更好的运气。

人们防泡沫也在与时俱进。经济学家发展了总体，个体经济分析，金融学家完成了中央银行和商业银行理论，心理学家提供了对人的精神与行为的解释，社会学，政治学，管理学都提出相应概念，帮助建构健康的市场程序。历史学家说了一句实话：告诉我们没有任何东西可以像证券市场上的泡沫，反复发作那样展示出人类的劣根性，要想从历史中学到点什么，是多么的困难。

中国历史上曾有十几次法家思想主导的改革，都将完善经济放入改革中。然而到了清末，除了朝廷六部，政府没有调理货币经济的总管，没有负责国家债务的机构。更糟的是清官们对货币的特权一直不开窍，浪费了政府的信誉。。。以至于西方现代金融的大潮，和中国分流的越来越远。

金融是增长的追随者，而非领导者。现代金融追随着四大需求：政府，国际贸易商，工业资本家和千千万万的资本市场投资人。

西方人有这样的习惯和本事，到别人家里做客时间不长，就能长篇大论，不但谈自己家事，还能对你家里提出许多意见与建议。今天到海外的书店，摆在架子上议论中国长长短短的书籍，肯定比在中国书店里看到的书籍还要多。中国人也很早就养成了习惯，喜欢听外人怎么说，然后可以批评他们多么的不了解自己。

西方人给予未来的财政担保，使的袁世凯有了与革命的讨价还价的底气。两年后等钱到账之时，袁世凯已不满足于大总统。钱袋子不但除了政权，而且使政权的人堕落。

银行家必须具备的能力是创造性思考，谈判能力和广泛的人脉；而交易业务越来越依靠资讯技术，更快的获取与执行才是制胜的利器。传统银行家的人品在这里变得无足轻重。

企业上市学

曾经阅读无数台湾香港企业上市指南。。。一直很纳闷马来西亚怎么就没有自己的指南呢？终于，皇天不负苦心人，该来的始终会来。

这本书真的很珍贵。或许，对于从事金融业务的专家们，这本书显得太简单。但是，对于寻求上市的企业们，这本书真的起到一定的作用。至少，它简单的介绍了企业上市学。基本上，很多企业家对于上市这一块还是懵懵懂懂的。很多时候，很多企业甚至不知道上市的可行性，而一味的寻找银行的庇护。善于运用资本运作才是企业的王道。

这本书除了写的好，内容确实很丰富。作者在书里还独家专访五种证券交易所上市案例。这五个个案有它各自独特的一面。读者肯定能从五种不同的上市个案中了解到整个上市学的精髓。

整体来说，这本书根本找不到任何瑕疵。唯一美中不足的是，这本书的字体也太小了吧。对于老花越来越严重的我来说，阅读时其实挺吃力的。基于这个小瑕疵，10分满分，个人给与9分。这本书开拓了我许多视野。这类指南在市面上是少之又少。因此，很期待作者继续出版更多这类型的书籍。

我在投资银行的黑色闹剧：关于那些华尔街混蛋与几亿美元的交易

我很少购买翻译书。但是，这本书的褒贬不一。因此，最后选择购买价格较低的翻译版。而且，好久没有阅读繁体字书籍了。因此，这本书来的正是时候。

这本翻译书买对了。第一，这本书整体上不会有太多金融术语。因此，翻译的难度不高；读者也不需要谷歌来解答里头的术语。 第二，最近挺闷的。因此，这类“闹剧”书籍来的真是时候。这本书基本上和【华尔街之狼】有异曲同工的效果。作者的胡闹和【华尔街之狼】简直就是一体的。毒品，嘲弄，欺诈等等，的确造就了这本书所谓的闹剧。第三，这本书如果是以原版英文版价钱购买（比较贵）其实并不划算。都说是闹剧了，当然只值得闹剧的价钱，呵呵。

老实说，这本书娱乐性非常高。这是一本名副其实看看就算的书籍。里头没有太多的启发性。作者和我们分享的仅仅是投资银行不择手段的一面。除此以外，整本书基本上都是闹剧。因此，这本书其实是毫无教育性的。充其量。。。只是一本有趣的轻松读物罢了。

本人其实挺享受这本书籍的。但是，看完了之后，这本书的确没给我留下什么影响。而且，我很肯定未来我也绝对不会再翻阅此书。因此，10分满分，只能给个两分。这两分也纯粹只是娱乐效果罢了。。。

Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History

"One of the world's most infamous rogue traders"... This is how Sky News describes this book. But... I honestly think it is oversold. Well, it is a nice story that exposed the darker side on a trading floor. However, for those in the similar industry, there is really nothing new under the sun.

Having said that... I would not claim that this is a bad book. After all, the readers of this book may not belong to the same industries as mine. As such, it could be an interesting book to them.

The author did his best to expose all the darker side on his personal journey.  In this book, we have the author's biography on his trading life. At the same time, the author tried to point out the roots of the manipulation scandal. In short, we have the best summary on the on the shameless collisions to manipulate the financial market.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate it at 6. Overall, this is a good read as the author covered the details of the whole scandals from the perspective of a trader. Unfortunately, this book may not be so attractive to those who know the dark side rules inside the financial world. I would recommend this book for those who want to venture into derivatives and forex stuff. It is a must read before you step into the cruel part of the game... 

Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters

The title of this book is so serious. In fact, after finished the whole book, it was a real serious issue to ponder about...

First of all, traders around the world realized that rules and regulation are ready to serve any traders when things gone wrong. However, the facts that many "good" traders ended up facing charges are happen now and then. So, what is the real justice especially when we see that money games are all over the world with better and easier route to escape...hmm...

Secondly... as a trader, the more you read on this book, the worst fears as a trader will haunt you throughout your career. One mistake not only damages your career. You could lose your freedom, family and your entire life too. Sounds scary, but true...

I am very much sympathized with the author of this book. The justice system did not provide adequate justice to him. To make things worse, the family support particularly from wife changed overnight eventually. End of the day, a simple justice system damaged a life of an ordinary human beings. Sigh...

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 8/10. This is a book with full of excitement, emotional and tons of humor too. I appreciate the author for sharing his stories. The only flaw perhaps lies with the fact that the justice system and execution may differ in our country. As such, certain aspects may not be applied here. However, I highly recommend this book to all traders. It is a story that needs to be heard... 

The Future of Finance: How Private Equity and Venture Capital Will Shape the Global Economy

This book attracted me when I notice the author ran the Asian Venture Capital Journal for fifteen years in Hongkong. With such a background, the author should be able to provide us in-depth coverage with the help from dozens of industry experts.

At the end... yes, the author did it. Since he had access to all of the top players in financial world, we have a lot of case studies and details discussion throughout the whole book. The author is very brave in this case. First of all, he needs to dig deep into the entire information gathered before expose it out to the public. Secondly, the author gathered the said info and provides his own forecast and prediction towards the future. Since this book was written many years ago (the subprime era), certain things may not be applicable to the current environment. However, it is certainly not out-dated. That tells the whole story.

Rating wise, I am going to rate this book at 7/10. This is actually an excellent book to read when it was published. But, since we are half way towards the end of 2017, the forecasting by the author may sounds not so interesting. After all, we more or less found the answer in the real world. Having said that, I have no hesitation to recommend this book. This is a well written book with deep insight on the world of finance. 

华尔街第一个华人大亨

这本书挺过瘾。怎么说呢？从书名来看，它本该是一本非常励志的华人奋斗史。结果，原来是一本负面教育。再来，这本书应该是一本自传，但是我读到的不只是一本自传，还包括很多金融历史。第三，这本书刚开始挺闷的。作者长篇大论的探讨美国金融历史。但，原来其长篇大论是为了铺陈后面主角的事迹。过瘾，哈哈。。。

故事主人翁基本上是一个超级投机家。因此，个人认为书名的“大亨”并不是很贴切。或许，把菜至勇称为“华尔街第一个华人枭雄”会更适合一些，哈哈。故事主人翁整个人生就是伴随着美国各大牛市熊市而活。更凑巧的是，故事主人翁的起落几乎和美国股市是一致的。中华民族始终没能像西方大亨般把企业做大做久。更多的时候，短浅的目光吞食了原有的使命。荣华富贵，菜至勇是赚到了。但是，流芳百世方面，菜至勇是彻底失败了。

竟然是这样，这本书值多少分呢？满分10分，我给予9分。其实，这本书真的挺好看的。书中主人翁的确称得上华尔街的一个传奇人物（现任美国总统还曾是他的超级粉丝）。有一点我是很赞赏的。作者很用心的运用大量历史背景来衬托故事主人翁的反面教材。虽然过程烦闷了点，但是读者可以更明确了解整个事迹的来龙去脉。重点是，作者还加入了许多自身的观点。看完了整本书，对于从事金融业的哥儿们，这本书肯定有共鸣。赞！

解读量化投资

上一本关于量化投资的书籍太令我失望了。于是，忽然兴起阅读这一本书的念头。想看看，经过这么多年，这本书还能起到什么作用呢？

结果。。。这本书好多了。作者用尽一切方法把所有关于量化投资该说的，不该说的全部都一网打尽。最有趣的是，每一章的开头，作者很创意的用了四川妹的小故事来做个开端。四川妹最终的故事还是美满的。哈哈，有趣！！！

关于量化投资，作者是一一揭破。关于西蒙斯的量化投资，尽管市面上每个投机者都在绞尽脑汁的寻找它的蛛丝马迹，但作者提供了尽可能的一切资讯。同一时间，作者不只讨论西蒙斯。作者还把相关性的人物和事迹一并讨论。最绝的是，最后一章还特意讨论了谁会是下一个西蒙斯。这么有深度的书籍，试问读者怎能错过呢？

10分满分，个人给足10分。距离上一次阅读这本书籍，应该至少都是五六年前的事了。想不到，隔了那么多年，这本书还是带给了我意外的惊喜。只能这么说。。。好的书籍的确值得一看再看。赞！！！

The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable

This book was recommended by a buddy recently. Few years back, I read about "Quant Investment: How did James Simons Beat the Market By Using Maths?". Those days, I tried everywhere to get an English version of similar books. I failed and it ended up remains as my only references to the great James Simons. Coincidentally, I was in the Futures Trading Competition and the champion (who beat me off, LOL) is actually the one who buys into James Simons' idea. So, the whole thing remains a myth to me until today. Well, hopefully this book can open up all my doubts and brings me to another world of speculation...

Ended up... this book disappointed me so much. I did not get what I want from this book. Well, I admit that I did not flip through in the first place since it was a recommendation by a buddy. But, I do expect it is more related to the finance and investment side since the title itself consist the wording of "Wall Street". At the end, it is just one of those histories and summaries that we can get from a lot of other books. The author just rearranges it as according to the chronology. Of course, the author does so with considerable style. But, to me... it is just some historical materials that I am so familiar with...

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 2. The fact that this book does not meet my expectations contributed to the low rating. For those who are keen to explore on the history of predicting models, this book may still be a good choice. To me, I am too familiar with the said histories and I do not have the intention to dig further into it. It is just not my cup of tea... 

One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading

I read this before... In my last review, I mentioned that repetition in reading this book is an absolute no-no. Well, life changes...now, I am with one excellent guy (sort of proprietary trader) who keeps on mentioning this book. As such, I decided to revisit this book.

As a result... surprisingly, I ended up love this book. I am not sure whether it was pure influences by my buddy. But, I found a lot of gem this round. Those days, a good trade never appeared in my mind as I prefer to quantify everything with statistical figures (that is where I started and where I am now...). Now, I realized that when the frequency of trading increased, the importance of a good trade follows with another good trade is so much crucial. One thing I have to admit... the born of algorithm tends to change a lot of things. As long as our main concepts are still there, I do not find any reason to reject extra elements...

The only flaw perhaps lies with the fact that this is definitely not a book for beginner. An intermediate trader at least will find this book much easier to digest. In fact, an advance trader would pick up at least one or more great stuff in this book. I personally pick up few good points to add on to my current strategy. But, to fully apply the so called "good trade", I need to adjust my whole belief... Unfortunately, I am not preparing to shift gear yet, LOL...

For a full rating of 10, I am going to changed my mind this round and rate it at 7. After finished this round, I do find myself picking up a lot of stuff that could further enhance my career. However, I am still very doubt on predictive elements presented all over this book. After all, I still with my strong belief that human beings just cannot predict. Hence, I decided to deduct 3 point from the full rating of 10. As a conclusion... thank god that I did not gave away this book. This book will definitely become my reread book in the future. 

The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess

By coincidence, I flipped through few pages of this book in bookstore. It caught my attention immediately and I think this could be one of those books that deserved my time to read it on.

End up... yes, it is! This book is in fact more like a novel stuff. As such, readers would not feel boring as the bright side as well as dirty side of Wall Street was fully reveal in this book. Not only that... In fact, readers will be fascinated by the excitement, entertainment, profanity, drug use and explicit sexual contents. Call it a crazy world? I guess it is the intention from the author...

The only flaw is the author did not reveal as much as I expected on the maneuvering and manipulation of Wall Street trading. In fact, the author focus more on his personal story (which qualified itself as an awesome memoir) and the so called "buy side" is just a small part of the book.

Overall, this is an excellent book to me. The moment I started it, I just cannot put it down. There is one excerpt from the book, which I think the best quote to conclude this book: "Real success on Wall Street is measured not in bonus or salary but in photographs on desks of children wearing soccer uniforms and caps and gowns. Success on Wall Street is measured the same way it's measured by a factory worker, a math teacher, or an engineer with four children in Maine." For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 9. I enjoy reading this book. It serves as a good reminder on the dirty side of any capitalism market. 

Market Sense and Nonsense: How the Markets Really Work (and How They Don't)

Jack D. Schwager... wow, my all-time favourite author behind Michael Covel... This book ate up a lot of my time. The moment I started it, I just cannot put down. However, the ending was actually very disappointing (LOL). To sum it up, I think I was misled by the topic of this book, haha...

The title of this book made me genuinely curious. As I flipped through the few chapters, I am attracted by the tons of investment misconceptions. Some good examples are listed below:

People are risk averse when it comes to gain, but are risk takers when it comes to avoiding a loss. It explains why traders tend to let their losses run and cut their profits short.  

Bankrupt stocks continue to trade at some level meaningfully above zero for quite some time before finally fading into oblivion. Why? Because even though the likelihood of the stock eventually going to zero is virtually 100%, people will rationalize: "I bought it at $30 and it is down to $1. I have already lost $29, and the worst case is only a $30 loss. I might as well take a chance." People are risk takers when it comes to trying to avoid a total loss, a fact that explains a lot of market behavior. 

In a chess tournament, all the players know the same rules and have access to the same chess books and records of past games by world champion, yet only a small minority excel. There is no reason to assume that all players will use the same information with equal effectiveness. Why should the market, which in sense represent an even more complex game than chess (there are more variables, and the rules are always changing) be any different?

Some market participants, however, are not seeking to maximize profits, but are operating on different agendas. We consider two such classes of market participants: hedgers and government. 

Although it is open possible to identify when the market is in a euphoric or panic state, it is the difficulty in assessing how far bubbles and panics will carry that makes it so hard to beat the market. One can be absolutely correct in assessing a fair value for market, but lose heavily by taking a position too early. 

The best prospective years for realizing above average equity returns are those that follow low-return periods. Years following high-return periods, which are the times most people are inclined to invest, tend to do slightly worse than average on balance.

The reason why risk assessments based on the past track record so often prove to be fatally flawed is that they are based only on visible risk - that is losses and volatility evident in the track record - and do not account for hidden risks - that is, sporadic event-based risks that failed to be manifested during the track record period. 

Good performance is not necessarily a positive attribute. Sometimes superior past performance may reflect the willingness to take on greater risk rather than manager skill.

It should be noted that because of their much more greater high frequency of trading, hedge funds account for a much larger portion of each market's trading activities. Big fish can do very well in a small pond, but if there are too many of them, they will starve. So, the advice that investors should include hedge fund allocations in their portfolios will remain valid, as long as this advice does not become too popular.

Investors always seem to ask hedge funds the question: How much leverage do you use? This question is flawed on two fundamental grounds. First, the question is meaningless, given that it ignores units of measurement: the underlying investment (that is, what is being leveraged). Second, it implicitly assumes that there is a direct connection between leverage and risk. Not only is this assumption false, but it is even possible - in fact, entirely common - for a higher-leveraged investment to have low risk.

A maximum leverage constraint applied uniformly to all prospective investments regardless of portfolio content is analogous to a traffic law that applies a 40 miles per hour speed limit to all roads, in all conditions. 

Increasing leverage can increase risk if leverage is used to increase net exposure to the market. If, however, leverage is used for hedging to reduce the portfolio's next exposure, then it actually reduce risk.

Although leverage can be dangerous, the knee-jerk reaction many investors have to leverage can lead to nonsensical investment biases. Investors need to focus on risk, not leverage.

There is a common belief that hedge fund managers will object to managed accounts because they will be concerned about the confidentiality of their positions. This perception is based on faulty logic. How many hedge fund managers don't have a prime broker? Presumably zero.

A portfolio with a small number of uncorrelated holdings is effectively more diversified than a portfolio with a large number of significantly correlated assets.

With such a long list of great examples, this book must be super good to me? The answer is no. As I mentioned above, I was misled by the topic of this book. I thought it is a pure rational versus irrational stuff in regards to financial markets. Ended up, I think the author mainly focus on investing in hedge funds. This is the main thing that disappointed me at the end. After finished the book, I have a weird feeling that the author is pushing hard for hedge fund in general and fund of funds in particular.

Overall, this is still a nice book to explore. At least, the 55 investments misconceptions will get readers to think (think hard) and there are definitely certain values behind it. As such, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate it at 8. Frankly, I prefer Jack D. Schwager's other books... 

Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader

Due to hectic schedule for the past 2 months, I actually run out of books to read on my shelf. At the end, I decided that time is just right to visit some of the old books that I read 10 years ago. So, here I am with this "old" book... In fact, I am pretty exciting to revisit these old books. After all, time changes and I may not rate it as high as I rated it 10 years ago.

Ended up... amazing... this is still one of my favorite books behind "Reminisces of Stock Operator". The only differences perhaps lies with the facts that I started to find little and little inspiration compares to the moment I read it 10 years back (perhaps more than 10 years ago...). Those days, I remembered the appendix on "Livermore's Laws and Trading Secrets Revealed" was very much appealing to me. This time around, I actually take a glance and flip through this topic with little interest...

On the pro side... this book refreshed tons of sweet and bitter memories on my personal journey. I started to appreciate what I had gone though. This book came at the right time since I started to forget one principle that I hold since day one ~~~ "Success is just as hard to deal with as failure." Yup... this book reminds me that: "It was not that he could not deal with failure - he had been dealing with failures all his life - what he could not deal with was success." 

Apart from the above mentioned, this book is still an excellent book to explore after so many years. Inspiration although less, but I still manage to fork out few excellent quotes from the book:

Livermore noticed that the novices never asked the simple questions:

- Why have u chosen me to receive this priceless advice?

- If you have this information, then why aren't you rich? 

- What is driving you to give me this advice to buy a stock? Are you secretly selling it to me at higher and higher price?

- If capital gains are easy to make, then why are you only interested in your commissions? 

Livermore always silent about his trades. If he had won, well, then he had done the right thing. If he lost, he had done the wrong thing. Why complain? Why explain? 

There were some things that he could not predict, and therefore he could not guard against them. He could only react. Livermore also was convinced that there was no one powerful enough to control or fix a market for long. 

Livermore loved the fact that in trading the market there was no end to the learning process. He had learned this lesson the hard way, and that was why he never considered himself a market master. He always considered himself a market student who occasionally traded correctly. 

Only speculate if you can make it a full time job. Don't take any tips. Don't worry about catching tops or bottoms, that's fool's play. Keep the number of stocks you own to a controllable number.

The tape is the best means of getting tips spread.

It's not the thinking that makes the money - it's the sitting and waiting that makes the money.

The market often moves contrary to apparent common sense and world events, as if it had a mind of its own. Remember, it is designed to fool most of the people most of the time. Eventually, the truth of why it moved as it did will emerge. 

One of the problems with looking too deeply into economic news is that it may plant suggestions in your mind, and suggestions can be dangerous to your emotional stock market health. 

The words bull and bear cause a trader to get a fixed mind-set. And there is a good chance the speculator will blindly follow that trend of direction, even if the facts change. 

I firmly believe that there are always clues as to what is going to come next. The clues are buried in the bahavior of the market - what the market actually does, the here and now -not what is predicted that it will do.

Always remember; you can win a horse, but you can't beat the races. You can win a stock, but you cannot beat Wall Street all the time. Nobody can.

I never thought my instincts were that special. In fact, I consider farmers to be the biggest gamblers in the world. Planting their crops, gambling on the price, choosing the right crop, gambling on weather and insects, the unpredictable demand - what could be more speculative? So after twenty, thirty, forty years of growing, a person naturally develops a sixth sense, an intuition, experience-based hunches about the business. I consider myself no different.  

Reading this book is like reading an amazing journey by a genius. (a myth perhaps...) However, the ending part is really sad. 10 years back, I will blame the tragedy on the depression and family chaotic issues. Right now, I think the fact that speculation can bring huge success (monetary as well as status and the proud of being a speculator) indirectly causing the depression and unmanageable life style. Like I mentioned above, "Success is just as hard to deal with as failure"... every speculators with tons of experiences will realize what it means... However, it is always right to focus on the failing part. After all, it is so much easier to avoid failure than to copy various ways of successes. Having said that, this book (as well as "Reminiscence of Stock Operators") required right mentality to digest the whole story. It may bring a lot of wisdom. But, it may bring a lot of puzzles too...

Ten years back, I rated this book at 10/10. Despite the above-mentioned flaws, I still rate this book at 10/10. Inspiration getting less... but, I benefited by triggering a lot of food for thought throughout the whole book. Excellent story... no doubt!!!

Risk-Return Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Rational Investing

This may be a topic that I hate most as I read too much this sort of books in the past. However, as a refreshment purpose, I decided to give it a try.

Ended up, it is still not my cup of tea. First of all, this is definitely not a book for math-phobic like me. The tons of mathematical stuff really drives me crazy at times, LOL. Furthermore, although the author did his best in writing this book, I think many of the items discussed are just some repetition in other books that I read. Overall, after squeezing my brain hard, I found I gained not much at the end.

This is actually the first of four volumes on the subject of risk return analysis. As such, after finish this whole book... although it is not thick, I do not think I will explore further on the other three volumes. As mentioned above, the mathematical stuff really scared me off in the first place. So, I do not think I have the determination to dig further into such a "college textbook", LOL.

Rating wise, I am going to rate this book at 1/10 based on my personal preferences. In fact, I may not be the right person to judge this book due to my poor mathematical skill. This book may turn out to be a real jewel for some readers. But, I am the exception...