Book Review: Beginner’s Guide To Short-Term Trading

Toni Turner, the author of A Beginner’s Guide to Day Trading Online (2nd edition), Short-Term Trading in the New Stock Market and SFO Personal Investor Series: Online Trading, has been in the investing industry for more than a decade.  Toni has appeared on CNBC, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and appears regularly on FOX Business News. She has been interviewed on dozens of radio programs and featured in periodicals such as Fortune magazine, Stocks and Commodities, SFO, MarketWatch.com, Fidelity Active Trader, and Bloomberg Personal Finance.

Author: Toni Turner

Toni’s credibility is clearly reflected in her multiple appearances on major investing publications and TV networks.  She runs a website called www.toniturner.com, which contains wealth of information including the learning center, the market education, and her education materials like the DVDs and her books.  Reading the book written by her myself, I have to say she knows what she’s talking about, and I really appreciate her style given I am a short-term investor myself.

Content: Toni makes sure the book contains information not only regarding the book topic itself but the basic information around it as well.  She starts out writing about the basics of investing such as different stock exchanges, the concept of supply and demand, and even the history of The Great Depression and its market collapse.  She details many of the websites and tools you can use as an investor, both short-term and long-term traders.

As far as information on short-term trading, she discusses:

• Candlestick chart basics to popular candlestick indicators
• Different cycles of stock price
• Popular technical indicators such as head-and-shoulders and cup with handle
• Identifying resistance and support levels
• Basic money management techniques
• Technical analysis terms

Pros: Thorough and complete content.  The book doesn’t assume you’re a seasoned investor while making sure it’s catered to the more intermediate investors as well.  The author lists all of the terminologies used in the glossary section with definitions.  She also uses real chart examples as a reference when talking about the different techniques and definitions.

Lastly, the book is CHEAP.  If you buy them via Amazon you can get it for $11! I assure you, the book is worth the price and more.

Cons: First, the book is definitely not the most advanced in its class.  As you can tell from the title, it is for the beginner, intermediate at best, investors.  If you’re looking for more advanced short-term trading techniques, look elsewhere.

Also, the book is rather becoming outdated.  While I’ve never read the 2nd edition that came out in 2008, the version I read contains many links to sites and tools that are becoming obsolete.  In this competitive and ever changing online environment, many new tools and websites surface with a big presence.  Therefore, I’m not so sure whether some of the references she points out are still up-to-date and the best in class or not.

Overall this book is definitely a good starting point for investors interested in short-term trading.  I certainly benefited from this book, and I recommend it to anyone starting out in this market.