Full disclosure: This is not an unbiased perspective, as the reviewer has developed a warm friendship with the author (Peter Brandt).

With that said, hopefully you can overlook the bias for two reasons:

• Having read literally hundreds of trading books over the years – most of them mediocre, a small handful worth revisiting – your reviewer knows excellence when he sees it. By any standard, this book stands out.

• The author, Peter Brandt, has the ultimate in trader bona fides: An audited track record, spanning 30 years, of better than 41% compound returns! (No, that is not a typo.)

So with that out of the way, let’s begin…

There is an old saying among professional racetrack handicappers: The losing player is the one who tells you he breaks even; the breakeven player is the one who tells you he is a consistent winner; and the winning player is the one who tells you it’s a tough, tough game, with great dedication required for success.

Peter Brandt, a lifetime winner in the great game of trading, falls in the third category. While clearly someone who loves the game, he does not shy away from the hard realities of trading.

In describing his method of trading, Brandt comes across as refreshingly humble, underscoring that his approach is far from the only approach, cheerfully adding that other methodologies may be superior. (Though of course the vast majority of money managers would give a kidney, or maybe even a lung, for compound returns like his.)

From a position of humility, sincerity and strength, Brandt successfully explodes the following myths:

• The myth that inside information, hidden keys, or some other form of “secret knowledge” is what matters.

• The myth that percentage of winning trades is a meaningful measure of long-run trading success. (In fact the opposite may be true – an unhealthy focus on winning percentage can NEGATIVELY impact one’s chances of success.)

• The myth that winning traders never experience setbacks, periods of trading frustration, or emotional challenges as “mere mortals” do.

Next to honesty, what shines forth from “Diary” is a stunning sense of clarity: Clarity of purpose, clarity of execution and methodology, and clarity of operational procedures from start to finish.

It is a beautiful thing to approach markets with a quiet confidence. Not every day will be a winning day, but every day can be infused with a sense of deep calmness, in respect to having a good plan and executing on that plan.

As a thirty-year veteran trader who understands the vital importance of comprehensive planning, Brandt exudes this desirable sense of calmness and, through the explanation of his methodology, teaches others how to cultivate it.

Just consider how many traders (perhaps you at one time?) have gotten lost in a fog of anxiety, or otherwise lost on the murky unmarked byways of an endless holy grail quest. Method after method, indicator after indicator… or consider how many traders agonize over the decision making process, never 100% clear what a “signal” is or whether the present signal is worth taking.

If you have uncomfortable familiarity with any of the above issues, this book could be a drink of cool water in the parched desert (or perhaps a bucket of refreshing ice water splashed in one’s face). With sufficient methodological development and consistent planning, there is no need for ambiguity. As Brandt shows, a skilled trader can develop sufficient insight, conviction and rule-based engagement tools to know EXACTLY what a signal is, and exactly how to act on it.

And finally, last but not least, Brandt’s book is a wonderful, powerful testament to price.

In earning his stellar compound returns over the course of three decades, Peter Brandt more or less did it via “price and price alone.” The charts presented are beautifully unadorned, as is Brandt’s methodology in general. There are no esoteric tea-leaf concoctions here – the regular hodge-podge of indicators that clutter up most charts are completely absent (and not at all missed). Hawkers of complicated bells and whistles should fear this book!

Brandt also does a service to traders in drawing attention back to classical chart patterns, in the context of the extended time frames required for full development of those patterns. Whereas “too fine an eye for pattern will find it anywhere,” as the old saying goes, Brandt is very selective in the patterns he acts upon, preferring development time of weeks to months for the generation of true “best dressed” or “best in class” trades.

In conclusion: No matter your present depth of trading experience, this book could open your eyes. (If you can already “see,” they may be opened a little wider.)

Anyone who seeks a path out of the dead-end labyrinth of esoteric guru methods, impossibly precise “can’t lose” systems and convoluted trading predictions should read this book – as should those successful traders who already know and walk the path, yet simply seek to elevate their game.

JS

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