futures

I found this book far more useful and informative than any of the many books available on trading psyche.The author's ideas and strategies ring true.If you've read any of the recently popular electronic or day trading books and don't know what is the next step--This book is for you.It is well written,concise,thoughtful and will make you a more profitable trader.

If all the books on trading ever written were ranked in numerical order, this book would fall right in the mediocre middle. There is nothing new, insightful or noteworthy in this book, and even though it is short it felt like a chore to read. I rank it in the middle and not near the bottom of the pile simply because there are so many trading books out there that are pure hype and trash. This book at least highlights some worthy points, albeit in a dull and tired fashion.

Melamed aside, the traders interviewed in this book do not seem worthy of interview caliber. I get the feeling that Koppel and Abell were trying to think of a way to cash in on having Leo's number in their rolodex and built this book around it. Another thing that bothered me is that profanity is sprinkled throughout this book in pointless places. I'm no shrinking violet, but what is the point of that? To give the book "street cred?" It just seemed unprofessional and childish.

In Schwager's classic book of interviews "Market Wizards," every trader interviewed had a great track record, and at least one interesting insight into the markets or something unique to say that was worth reading. That book seems to have spawned an innumerable series of poor quality knockoffs, including this one. The traders in "Innergame" have no track records posted, and nothing worthwhile to say. The trader commentary is mostly inane, with many boring side trips into irrelevant or unexplained subjects, and most of the observations are either trite or downright goofy. For example, a cattle trader talks about how even if he is only entering the market with 5 or 10 contracts, he places the trade as if he were doing a 10,000 contract trade. And when he sells, he tries to sell in the same way as if he had 10,000 contracts to unload. Wonderful. These are the kind of insipid observations that neophytes get snowed by, because they just assume there is something there of value that they are missing. There isn't. It's just dumb.

If this is one of the very first books you read on trading, you might think it is ok simply because most of the generalizations made are based on truth. But those points have been beaten to death a million times over and this book does little more than recycle some old lines, then tacks on some lame questions at the end. The self assessment / workbook section of the book has the flavor of a poorly put together motivational / self esteem seminar. Think about yourself. Think about your goals. Visualize cutting your losses and letting your profits run....blah blah blah....

In my opinion books like this are low effort cash generators that prey on the indiscriminate reader attracted to the mystique of the markets. Pick up the original Market Wizards or Reminiscences of a Stock Operater instead- or if you have already read those two, then there is no need to read this one.

Another "Me Too" book. Nothing new in this book that you can find in a hundred other better books.