Trading ETFs

Customer Reviews

• A Simple, Logical & Highly Tradeable System  Oct 30, 2008 (16 of 17 found this helpful)

  Deron Wagner,in Trading ETFs, has presented a very simple, logical and, I think, successful approach to trading ETFs. In a very readable and understandable style and utilizing numerous chart examples, Mr. Wagner describes how he goes about finding the highest probability trades, how he determines the optimum entry point, how he manages open positions, and how he exits positions be they big winners, breakevens, or losers.
  
  He describes his approach as being a "top down strategy". His first step is to determine the direction of the broad market trend; then, once the trend is determined, he finds those indexes that have the most relative strength or weakness compared to the major indexes; then he selects the strongest ETFs within those indexes (or weakest if going short); then he looks at volume for confirmation; and finally he uses one or more of several techniques to properly time the new entry into the selected ETF.
  
  The one thing that I liked most about Mr. Wagner's book was his use of clean and simple charts. He uses almost exclusively only two and sometimes three moving averages, draws simple trendlines and areas of support and resistance, and shows volume levels and averages. He does not "goop' his charts up with additonal indicators such as MACD-Histograms, slow stochastics, and RSI. While these indicators are certainly very useful to many traders, Wagner's plain, simple approach of looking only at price action and volume confirmation has a lot to be said for it.
  
  Risk management and position sizing are touched upon only briefly but adequately and his comments about using trailing stops are most enlightening.
  
  The two chapters describing case studies of 10 ETF's bought long and 10 ETFs sold short are most useful in illustrating the use of Mr. Wagner's various setups.
  
  I have read Trading ETFs only once now but I am already looking forward to going through it again a second and third time. It is the type of book that you can only absorb only so much the first time around but pick even more pearls of wisdom on subsequent readings.
  
  Needless to say, I recommend Mr. Wagner's newest book highly.

• Educational and informative ETF book  Aug 19, 2008 (18 of 21 found this helpful)

  As a traditional buy and hold investor, my portfolio has taken a beating over the past several months. So, I bought this book because I was looking for a smarter approach that would limit my risk. I was already familiar with exchange traded funds on a general level, but never thought about capturing shorter-term profits with them, even in my long-term IRA account. After reading the book, I was pleased to see it covered just the right amount of technical analysis strategy. The book made sense to me but wasn't overwhelming. I found the strategies taught in Deron's book were user-friendly and educational. It put everything together nicely.

• A great book for ETF traders  Sep 14, 2008 (20 of 24 found this helpful)

  If you trade ETF based on technical analysis (chart reading), this is a book that you must read. I've been trading ETF for almost a year. As I'm trying to develop my own trading rules, and strategies, how lucky I am to be able to read a great book like this. It reinforces what I've already known, and completes what I don't know. To me, a successful trading system must clearly define all the following issues, and this book covers them all:
  
  1. How to choose a trade. The book presents a top-down strategy based on relative strength, which is a very reliable indicator.
  2. When to enter a trade. The book shows you how to enter on either pull back or breakout.
  3. When to exit a trade. The book shows you how to exit a winning trade, as well as losing trade.
  4. Position size. The book shows you how to calculate the position size based on volatility of the ETF so that the maximum risk of each trade is the same.
  
  Armed by what I've learned from this book, I hope I am on the way to trading with consistent profit.
  

• Decent, not spectacular  Dec 22, 2008 (12 of 15 found this helpful)

  Pros
  - good information on ETF's
  - a trading strategy backed up by explanations and examples - charts with winning and losing trades
  
  Cons
  - not very well laid out, important information is concealed within the body of the book, I would have liked a more clear and concise approach.
  - lacked some explanations of the basic principles;
  - the chart examples are not always easy to follow.
  
  All in all this book could have been much better simply with better layout and better formatted illustations. I think I will need to re-read it with a highlighter pen and some post-its
  
  The content is good and the cons should not preclude you from buying the book if you are interested in trading ETFs be it on a day, swing or position basis.

• A Disciplined Process for trading ETFs  Jan 9, 2009 (6 of 7 found this helpful)

  The book explains Deron's disciplined process for trading ETFs. We are talking about trading, not investing. There is a difference. For a long term investor, the book provides some good background on ETFs, their growth and use among both private and institutional investors. The strength of his strategy is the understanding of relative strengths of ETF price action versus the overall market and versus each other. That's just the beginning. I was interested in subscribing to his service but thought it might be a good idea to read his book. I'm glad I did. Monitoring supply and demand are the underpinnings of successful trading. He provides real-life examples of trades that worked and trades that didn't. I highly recommend this book and his website for sophisticated traders and investors.