Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Reference
  • Good Even for a Random Walker
  • Everything a beginner needs to know
  • Classic Technical Analysis Book
  • Excellent introduction to TA - an easy read
Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance)
John J. Murphy
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0735200661

Book Description

John J. Murphy has now updated his landmark bestseller Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets, to include all of the financial markets.

"If one could read only one book on technical analysis, this should be the one." --Knight-Ridder Financial Products and News (on the first edition, Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets, 0-13-898008-X)

This outstanding reference has already taught thousands of traders the concepts of technical analysis and their application in the futures and stock markets. Covering the latest developments in computer technology, technical tools, and indicators, the second edition features new material on candlestick charting, intermarket relationships, stocks and stock rotation, plus state-of-the-art examples and figures. From how to read charts to understanding indicators and the crucial role technical analysis plays in investing, readers gain a thorough and accessible overview of the field of technical analysis, with a special emphasis on futures markets. Revised and expanded for the demands of today's financial world, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in tracking and analyzing market behavior.

"One way to get started in technical analysis is to read a good book on the subject. One of my favorites is Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications by John J. Murphy. It's an easy read." Ralph J. Acampora, CMT, Managing Director, Prudential Securities Inc.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Reference.......2007-08-13

If you use the charts to look for trades, you have to buy this book. It's an awesome reference for charting.

4 out of 5 stars Good Even for a Random Walker.......2007-07-22

This book is a very well written introduction to the Technical Analysis of the financial markets. It covers a lot of ground and for a text book style layout, it is surprisingly easy to read. Murphy starts with a solid introduction including the philosophy of technical analysis and a defense against the criticisms from academics and followers of the Random Walk Theory. The meat of the book is a comprehensive treatment of the core components of technical analysis including Trendlines, Reversal and Continuation Patterns, Moving Averages, and Oscillators. The author continues to dig deeper with Point & Figure Charts, Japanese Candlesticks, and Eliott Wave Theory.

As a big fan of Malkiel's "Random Walk Down Wall Street," I started reading this book with some healthy skepticism. While I was not converted to the chartist's philosophy, I felt like I did pick up some tools that could still be useful in a buy-and-hold strategy.

5 out of 5 stars Everything a beginner needs to know.......2007-07-07

John Murphy's book explains nearly everything anyone who is looking to understand the technical side of the market could ask for.

PROS: Easy to follow. Starts from the ground up into the complicated stuff. Feels like a year's worth of college courses finished in a few weeks time. This is far and away the best overall stock book I've read to date. I'm making money now!

CONS: Spends a bit too much time on futures trading (for which the book was originally written) Doesn't get far enough into how much time should lapse as a pattern unfolds. Doesn't get much into the psychology of the trader's mind. Somewhat outdated on computer advances (not a big deal)

4 out of 5 stars Classic Technical Analysis Book.......2007-06-28

I received 4 copies of this book during my course work at the NYIF, its an excellent referance manual for anyone applying Technical Analysis to the financial markets.

5 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to TA - an easy read.......2007-06-27

This is the first book I bought on TA and, honestly, it looked intimidating. It's not. Open it up and it reads cover to cover very quickly. Not too technical - not too basic. Just right. This is an excellent introduction to technical analysis: easy to read language, large print, nice heavy bright white pages. Oh, and the content is excellent as well: worded well, good organization, understandable examples and illustrations.
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Calculations are only as good as your numbers
  • Pants on fire?
  • Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
  • Very Interesting
  • History as Science Fiction
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

5 out of 5 stars Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

5 out of 5 stars Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

5 out of 5 stars Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

4 out of 5 stars History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
7 Chart Patterns That Consistently Make Money
Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • Do not waste your money on it!
  • Chart Patterns are key to a profitable trading system
  • A Joke
  • Simple but Sublime
  • DANGER: AVOID
7 Chart Patterns That Consistently Make Money
Ed Downs
Manufacturer: Traders' Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1883272610

Book Description

Ed's new trading booklet is an outstanding collection of perfectly illustrated classic chart patterns that will serve as a great reference for any trader. This booklet contains the essential techniques that Ed uses everyday in his market analysis.

Some of the topics covered include: - How to Determine Market Direction
- Basic Money Management
- Setting Profit Targets and Stop Loss Points
- The 7 Most Profitable Charts
... all condensed into just 42 pages!

After some 20 years of study including more than 100 books on technical analysis, Ed Downs has now condensed his most successful techniques into a practical, easy to read desk top reference that will help traders become experts at reading charts.

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars Do not waste your money on it!.......2007-04-04

This 88 pages brochure, that includes 18 pages of advertises, does not worth anything. The author is definitely out of touch with the reality of trading. All the information in this book (and much more) one can find on internet free and in much detail from real traders. Do not waste your money on it! The book has a very impressive Contents sheet but that is all. If you want to return it, it will cost you more than the book it self.

5 out of 5 stars Chart Patterns are key to a profitable trading system.......2005-04-29

Ed Downs has found the "Holy Grail" to profitable trading! If you are not using chart patterns to make your trading decisions then you are put at a disadvantage to the traders that are using chart patterns. Chart patterns "show" the psychology of the market!

Ed Downs has recently just released a software module that has automated the process of finding the 7 patterns in his book . . . this again has given me an advantage by allowing me to do a quick scan over the world of stocks and future contracts looking for the best opportunities with the least amount of risk. You can see this new 7 pattern software module at Ed's website at http://www.omnitrader.com/omnitrader/Addons/cprm.htm

****************************************************************
Here's a few lines from Ed's website-

NEW Chart Pattern Recognition Module . . . Finds and Displays the 7 Chart Patterns that Consistently Make Money.

After many man-months of development, I am thrilled to release our new Chart Pattern Recognition Module. Powered by this amazing add-on, OmniTrader 2005 quickly identifies the best patterns to trade and ranks their performance on a simple scale from 1 to 5. Now all OmniTrader users can see ALL 7 CHART PATTERNS displayed in their charts and apply the Power of Patterns to their trading!

See the 7 Chart Patterns Come Alive in OmniTrader
The significance of this new Chart Pattern Recognition Module is enormous. No other trading software does a robust and complete job of pattern recognition. Not only have our researchers solved the pattern recognition problem, the new module is tremendously affordable when purchased with the upgrade. Supercharge your trading with OmniTrader and the power of Chart Pattern Recognition!

New Focus List
Perhaps the most powerful single feature of the Chart Pattern Recognition Module is the enhancement to the Focus List. At a glance, you can tell if a given OmniTrader signal is confirmed with a Chart Pattern-You get the best of both worlds-the ability to confirm signals with patterns AND the ability to find the most powerful patterns on their own.

When the ToDo List runs through your list of symbols and finds all chart patterns in the data, it also calculates relative performance of the patterns and converts this information into a strength rating from 1 (low) to 5 (high).

The Pattern Tutor
The educational benefit offered by the Pattern Tutor is enormous - you will quickly understand why (for example) consolidations and saucers are so powerful and predictive in certain market conditions. This will in turn help you confirm your trades more quickly and lead to higher profitability in your trading.

A FABULOUS learning tool. The Pattern Tutor lets you quickly review examples of any pattern in your data. Just click the arrows to see the next example of the pattern that was selected.
****************************************************************

Thanks Ed for creating such a great product.

1 out of 5 stars A Joke.......2004-06-22

I worked for the author. I think the most telling point is he does not trade. He sells software and writes books for you to trade but very rarely executes trades himself. That should tell you a LOT.

5 out of 5 stars Simple but Sublime.......2003-07-15

I agree whole-heartedly with the writer above who stated that this book is simple but gets right to the point. These are the basics, of course you want to build on it by reading other books, but you will rarely find this much helpful imforation in so few pages. (While curious about his software (Omni-trader) I don't think I would leave Tradstation for anything else.)I've read hundreds of books on trading and sometimes I have to put everything aside and review the basics and this book is quick at hand. If you master his simple techniques and use good money management you will be a successful trader. I'm sure many traders want to feel what we do is far more sophisticated but it doesn't have to be. That's the point. Don't stray far from the basics taught here.

GAD

GAD

1 out of 5 stars DANGER: AVOID.......2002-04-25

... I wasn't happy with the software design or signals, but when the data download software stopped working only months after I bought the product making it useless, they told me they didn't know how to fix it? and I would have to "upgrade" for more money, eventually they kept all the product cost without resolving the problems and ignored all my correspondence. I am a Tradestation Easy Language expert, I have been trading and investing now for over ten years including consulting with online sites, and I know for myself how important it is from the very start to cut losses, but just as importantly to cut costs, because reality check, I never found any "system" in my own exhaustive testing that works consistently well. So if I could do it all over, as Trader Vic Sperandeo points out, capital preservation is bottomline crucial for success, I would buy absolutely nothing except a few good inexpensive books with all of the core technicals and fundamentals thoroughly covered. A somewhat useful free book is Charlie Wright's "Trading as a Business" from Omega Research, customer support has always been acceptable to me, and my brother likes his Supercharts software, a relatively inexpensive way to test ideas and find out there is no "system." This "Seven Chart Patterns.." book was mailed to us free of charge by the way and I think it is worth reading for free, probably by contacting Nirvana Systems, but I will personally never do business with them again. "Piranha" Systems demonstrated to me through their business character and my bad experience just how much they support, value, and respect me the customer.
Value-at-Risk: Theory and Practice
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • The Bible
  • Not helpful
  • A good book on VaR
  • A Smart Book
  • no words needed - just buy it!
Value-at-Risk: Theory and Practice
Glyn A. Holton
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0123540100

Book Description

Value-at-risk (VaR) is a measure of market risk that has been widely adopted since the mid-1990s for use on trading floors. This is the first advanced book published on VaR. It describes how to design, implement, and use scalable production VaR measures on actual trading floors. It takes readers from the basics of VaR to the most advanced techniques, many of which have never been published in book form.

Practical, detailed examples are drawn from markets around the world, including: Euro deposits, Pacific Basin equities, physical coffees, and North American natural gas.

Real-world challenges relating to market data, portfolio mappings, multicollinearity, and intra-horizon events are addressed in detail. Exercises reinforce concepts and walk readers step-by-step through computations.

Sophisticated techniques are fully disclosed, including: quadratic ("delta-gamma") methods for nonlinear portfolios, variance reduction (control variates and stratified sampling) for Monte Carlo VaR measures, principal component remappings, techniques to "fix" estimated covariance matrices that are not positive-definite, the Cornish-Fisher expansion, and orthogonal GARCH.

* First advanced text on Value-at-Risk
* Practical, detailed examples drawn from markets around the world
* Exercises reinforce concepts and walk readers step-by-step through computations

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The Bible.......2006-03-30

I work in finance as a software developer. I had done some work with risk management and had read Jorion's book and Butler's. When I had to do my own VaR implementation, a colleague recommended Holton's book. It is amazing. The level of domain expertise is above anything else out there. It is sophisticated and well written. I thought I knew about VaR before reading Holton, but I didn't really. Now I know about VaR.

I noticed that someone has been posting negative reviews of the book here on Amazon. Those reviews are blatantly dishonest. I assume they are posted by a jealous competing author.

Holton is the bible.

1 out of 5 stars Not helpful.......2005-06-27

This book looks good only at first sight. However, try and solve the exercises and you see there is more to VaR than the author wants us to believe. This book is too incoherent to be of any use. Just take a look at the index: A lot of things are introduced but are never used again later in the book. This makes me wonder why they were introduced at all. Some examples from the index: Hessian, GARCH, Markov process, etc.
The biggest fault however in my opinion is the treatment of Monte Carlo, the most essential tool for VaR calculation: Condensed in roughly 30 pages compared to roughly 110 pages for mathematical preliminaries and probability cannot cater to the same audience.

2 out of 5 stars A good book on VaR.......2005-06-25

A good book on VaR, but finally lost its charming. Incomplete and solved cases in a pathetic manner. Theory: 80%, Practice: 10%, pathetic exercises 10%. This book doesn?t reflect its complete main purpose: theory and practice. I would choose mastering Value at Risk by Cormac Butler and Value At Risk by Jorion. My rate is 2 stars. Do it again. Don?t forget solved cases in spreadsheets.

5 out of 5 stars A Smart Book.......2005-06-08

There are plenty of elementary books on VaR. This is an exception. It is a smart book for practitioners. It covers practicalities such as data cleaning, day counts and modeling intra-horizon events. It explains cutting-edge theory such as quadratic VaR, variance reduction techniques and holdings remappings. It introduces all the mathematics you need to know.

The prerequisites are modest -- about the same as for John Hull's book "Futures, Options and Other Derivatives." Holton does use some more advanced concepts, such as the Cornish-Fisher expansion or moment generating functions. He explains all of these before using them. Actually, he goes out of his way to make the mathematics accessible, devoting several chapters to explaining essential concepts. There are chapters on probability, statistics, the Monte Carlo Method, etc. Later in the book, whenever technical concepts come up, you will find an accompanying reference to an explanation in one of the earlier mathematics chapters. In this regard, the book is wonderfully self contained!

The author does make extensive use of matrix notation. This may take some getting used to if your background in linear algebra is limited, but it is worth it. Formulas that would be extremely complicated become simple when expressed with matrices. The author's notation is intuitive and used consistently throughout the book. If you see a symbol on page 10, it is going to mean exactly the same thing on page 310.

If you are serious about value-at-risk, this is the book to read.

5 out of 5 stars no words needed - just buy it!.......2005-01-18

the ultimate resource for VAR theory and practice.
excellent writing, math and all.
don't spend time and money elsewere, just buy it!!
The Art of Better Retail Banking: Supportable Predictions on the Future of Retail Banking
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • THE BEST modern book on retail banking
The Art of Better Retail Banking: Supportable Predictions on the Future of Retail Banking
Hugh Croxford , Frank Abramson , and Alex Jablonowski
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470013206

Book Description

"This new book on retail banking is both readable and innovative. Its analysis is unusually accessible in its style, and the book's conclusions and predictions will be rightly thought provoking. The customer is gaining real power and this new book's insights on the importance of leadership, the need to unleash creativity and to make a bank's IT and people resource work together more effectively for customer satisfaction are important pointers to the shape of future competitive differentiation."
--Sir Mervyn Pedelty, Recently retired Chief Executive, The Co-operative Bank plc, smile, CIS and Co-operative Financial Services

"A stimulating read. A readable and lively book that is always informative, sometimes controversial and invariably challenging. The authors don't expect readers to agree with it all, but the readers will undoubtedly gain some fresh insights and perspectives on the multiple issues facing management in a rapidly changing industry."
--Chris Lendrum CBE, Recently retired Vice Chairman, Barclays Bank

"This book is clear enough for the layman and thorough enough for any banker to obtain an excellent sense of the options for successful strategies for their retail businesses. The challenges of technology introduction, cost of production and scope of service are driving banks into responses increasingly similar to other industry sectors. These forces have been apparent for some years but are so evident now they can no longer be ignored. This book provides an excellent guide to mapping that future."
--Joseph DeFeo, CEO, CLS Bank.

"This is a useful guide to retail banking that provides a thought-provoking view on the state of The Art (of Better Retail Banking). Clearly retail banking can get better, and must! To steal an analogy from the conclusion, there is a sea change going on - consumers are looking more and more for greater simplicity and value, and so many banks are still making such heavy weather of it. This book does a good job of charting the current developments."
-- Lindsay Sinclair, CEO, ING Direct UK.

"A whistle-stop tour of all aspects of retail banking. This is a very readable and insightful real world mix of theory, strategy, tactics and practice. They have even managed to make banking sound exciting. But mostly they have been able to cut through the complexity to remind us all that success in retail banking is not just about finance and efficiency - it is about customers and staff, who are all too often forgotten about."
--Craig Shannon, Executive Director - Marketing, Co-operative Financial Services.

"The authors live up to their promise of providing managers and students with a clear exposition of the retail banking sector and how banks can confront the challenging future they face. This book is a practical manual with lots of useful advice. I was looking for new insights in this book - and I found them!"
--Professor Adrian Payne, Professor of Services Marketing, Director, Centre for Services Management, Cranfield School of Management.

"A key determinant of any organisation's success will be an enhanced understanding of 'value' as defined by customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. Value can mean different things to these different groups, and this book has set itself the objective of identifying the approaches that will improve the value proposition for all of these interested parties. It achieves this objective."
--Professor Steve Worthington, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University.

"An enjoyable and useful read. It provides a good perspective on the role of IT and how IT suppliers and professionals need to contribute to future developments in retail banking strategy and implementation. It helps provide guidance for the significant challenges ahead for both suppliers and the Banks."
--Nick Caplan, Managing Director, Global Financial Services, LogicaCMG.

Download Description

Over the last decade, high-sensitivity calorimetry has developed from a specialist method used mainly by dedicated experts to a major, commercially available tool in the arsenal directed at understanding molecular interactions and stability. Calorimeters have now become commonplace in bioscience laboratories. As a result, the number of those proficient in experimentation in this field has risen dramatically, as has the range of experiments to which these methods have been applied. Applications extend from studies in small molecule and solvent biophysics, through drug screening to whole cell assays. The technology has developed to include higher levels of sensitivity (and hence smaller sample size requirements) and a drive towards high-throughput technology, creating a very large user base in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. This book is a fully revised and updated edition of the successful Biocalorimetry:Applications of Calorimetry in the Biological Sciences, published in 1998. Since then, there have been many advances in the instrumentation as well as in its applications and methodology. There are general chapters highlighting the usage of the isothermal titration calorimeter and the differential scanning calorimeter, more advanced chapters on specific applications and tutorials that cover the idiosyncrasies of experimental methods and data analysis. The book draws these together to create the definitive biological calorimetric text book This book both explains the background to the method and describes novel, high-impact applications. It features works of interest to the experienced calorimetrist and the enthusiastic dilettante. The book should be of interest to all working in the field of biocalorimetry, from graduate students to researchers in academia and in industry.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars THE BEST modern book on retail banking.......2006-11-28

By far the most informative and interesting book on retail banking currently available. Written by practitioners and not "dry" scholars. A must-read for bank management, marketing, retail, IT, ops, etc...
Futures, Options, and Swaps
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Much better than many realize
  • This book delivers on its title
  • I bought it becasue I had to....
  • Comprehensive book on Derivatives
  • Expensive Books
Futures, Options, and Swaps
Robert Kolb , and James A. Overdahl
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1405150491

Book Description

Written in an accessible, non-technical style, Futures, Options, and Swaps is the most comprehensive text on derivatives markets available. As the only book to utilize such a reader-friendly, instructive approach, students will find the material readily comprehensible without a professor's guidance, thereby freeing instructors to cover only the vital topics, or to teach a more technical course. This fifth edition has been extensively revised to address the most recent developments in this rapidly evolving field. New and updated information reflects current conditions in a variety of areas, including electronic trading platforms, globalization of markets, hedge funds, financial scandals involving derivatives, and government regulation. Also new to this edition are text boxes containing anecdotes or vignettes related to topics discussed more formally in the text, and product profiles to describe some of the more successful contracts around the world and to highlight innovative or unusual features of traded contracts. The treatment in this text emphasizes financial derivatives, but it does not neglect traditional commodity futures. An accompanying website can be found online at www.blackwellpublishing.com/kolb, containing the OPTION! program that allows the user to compute virtually every option and swap value discussed in this book, as well as many of the relationships among different option prices. The website also includes more than 80 exercises designed to enhance the understanding of option pricing principles and applications.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Much better than many realize.......2005-09-19

Let's face it: the big Kahuna in this space is Hull's 6th Edition of "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" (I actually prefer the 5th Edition), which is frequently referred to as "The Bible" by financial quants. Paul Wilmott's two volume "Quantitative Finance" also has a solid following, in addition to growing appreciation for Mark Joshi's "The Concepts and Practice of Mathematical Finance." Robert Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps" therefore is often confined to an "also-ran" and treated as unserious because of its inclusion in the CFA curriculum. This is unfair, and for most undergraduate and MBA students who are not destined for derivatives dealing desks, and even many who are, Kolb is the better volume.

Critics of Hull frequently cite that he is dry and technical to the point of somnolence. For Wilmott the opposite is the case. Critics hold his tone is flippant and that he glosses over major dimensions. My own view is these harsh reactions to these fine authors are exaggerations, but do have some evidence to support their expression. This, as a professor, leads me to the conclusion that for many students the author's tone is a major factor in their successful engagement with a fundamental teaching text.

This leads me to Kolb's excellent works. Many undergraduate and some MBA students of derivatives use "Hull lite" ("Fundamentals of Futures and Options Markets"), but I encourage the wider adoption and use of Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps." Kolb is superior to Hull for tone, accessibility, lucidity, and utility. Where Hull reaches for a completist coverage of obscure pricing models, Kolb's coverage is instead complete in a practical sense, while not abandoning treatment of less well-known options and their pricing models. Kolb's clarity is commendable, and never dry. Kolb does not gloss over or ignore difficult topics, and his style is never pedantic or superficial.

This text does, however, contain any number of horrible errors and editing snafus that frustrate the reader. The errata sheet from the publisher does little to ameliorate the pain from these howlers. One wonders how a book can contain so many errors in such a competitive field. But it is fairly easily explained: because of Kolb's adoption by the CFA curriculum, there is a floor of near guaranteed sales that creates a non-competitive economic rent.

I particularly recommend Kolb over Hull and Wilmott for those students whose background is not mathematics, engineering, or hard sciences. While the book is technical, it is not written in near-code geek speak. For my MBA students who are "poets" rather than "rocket scientists" Kolb wins as hands down favorite. Hull remains excellent for experts, PhD students, technicians, and pricing specialists, however, Kolb certainly deserves wider respect and use by the majority of students of derivatives. In short, while flawed, Kolb is an excellent and accessible work. I recommend the wide adoption of Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps," and in fact, all his other works, for most students of finance.

4 out of 5 stars This book delivers on its title.......2003-05-29

After studying this book, you will know the technical intricacies of futures, options, and swaps. It has also excellent definitions of all the "Greek" risk measures (Delta, Vega, Gamma, etc...).

The book is well organized. The chapter sequence makes good sense. This is a good book overall.

1 out of 5 stars I bought it becasue I had to...........2001-06-21

Many of us ended up with this book on the shelf because it was recommended by the AIMR for the CFA course. This book was so badly edited that it was distracting - figures in tables not matching figures in the text, some calculations just plain wrong, and everything covered at a very superficial level. This had the potential to bridge the gap between a Hull-type presentation and an undergrad-type. Sadly, this book really disappoints.

5 out of 5 stars Comprehensive book on Derivatives.......2000-04-13

Got many books on derivatives, but Kolb's is my favourite one. He covers the topic in a slightly less quantitative way than Hull does and goes straight to all the different derivatives while avoiding any further explanations like Ito's Lemma etc. I especially liked the part on swaps with many examples like flavoured swaps or equity swaps. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a good software, than I would recommend The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas (build on Excel VBA).

4 out of 5 stars Expensive Books.......1999-10-29

This and four other books required for the CFA level I exam are priced a lot more than that offered by the AIMR
The LIBOR Market Model in Practice (The Wiley Finance Series)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Helpful addition to comprehension and discussion, but with frustrating errors....not for amatures
The LIBOR Market Model in Practice (The Wiley Finance Series)
Dariusz Gatarek , Przemyslaw Bachert , and Robert Maksymiuk
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470014431

Book Description

The LIBOR Market Model (LMM) is the first model of interest rates dynamics consistent with the market practice of pricing interest rate derivatives and therefore it is widely used by financial institution for valuation of interest rate derivatives.

This book provides a full practitioner's approach to the LIBOR Market Model. It adopts the specific language of a quantitative analyst to the largest possible level and is one of first books on the subject written entirely by quants. The book is divided into three parts - theory, calibration and simulation. New and important issues are covered, such as various drift approximations, various parametric and nonparametric calibrations, and the uncertain volatility approach to smile modelling; a version of the HJM model based on market observables and the duality between BGM and HJM models. Co-authored by Dariusz Gatarek, the 'G' in the BGM model who is internationally known for his work on LIBOR market models, this book offers an essential perspective on the global benchmark for short-term interest rates.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Helpful addition to comprehension and discussion, but with frustrating errors....not for amatures.......2007-04-02

Pricing interest rate derivatives with short term interest rate models has been like a game of FANTAN for nearly a decade, until the LIBOR Market Model (LMM, aka the BGM model) came along. Before, everyone was using Vasicek and periodically someone would sweep the table of everyone's winnings. In the discrete world of increasingly complex structured trades and advancing "mark to market" mandates driven by bank regulators and BASEL II, the seat of the pants confessions of exotic interest rate traders using cobbled together non-published short term interest rate models for valuation fell under justified suspicions.

Along comes BGM (Bachert, Gatarek and Maksymiuk)....while not exactly "to the rescue" giant sighs of relief were expelled worldwide as it has been widely adopted, as the ghostly hand of Fischer Black almost endorses it from beyond.

BGM is especially beloved by those who have to price complex derivatives and exotics because fundamental inputs are a snap to observe: a set of LIBOR forward rates. (Actually, anyone should love this feature). Then the fun starts, each forward rate is modelled by a (pesky, defensible, arguable) lognormal process first made famous and advocated by Fischer Black. The LMM (BGM) model therefore is simplistically looked at as a collection of little Black models. The trouble is, how do we collect them and calibrate them?

So it isn't just that simple, and this book explains in more detail just what the BGM model is, explores uses and limitations, etc.

Use the "LOOK INSIDE" feature to see the contents, but briefly there are three parts - theory, calibration and simulation. Drift is the topic of the day, and BGM don't disappoint. The parametric and nonparametric calibrations section is impenetrable to me, but this isn't my space.

Smile modelling has gotten into a chant at a football match: "uncertain volatility approach" shouts one side, "ARCH, GARCH, FART" shouts the other. Whatever. If you really want to dig into the volatility argument I suggest Knight & Stachell's third edition of "Forecasting Volatility" but you'll need your head examined before you can keep the players straight and need a scorecard handy. A discussion and comparison of HJM (Heath-Jarrow-Morton) in comparison and contrast with BGM is covered here.

Okay, the problems: this book is written in Engrishlovakian, not English. The copy editor should be shot.

There are lots, and I mean LOTS of typos, of which about 50% are easy to figure out what was intended. The other 50% enjoy too high an uncertainty coefficient to be comprehensible. An ERRATA sheet should be inserted into copies of future shipments ASAP.

Which leads me to my gigantic Grand Canyon-size hole in my knowledge: I just skip about 60% of the equations I read in any book, expecting the narrative to support what is explicit in the equations. I have no idea if these equations are edited correctly, and I suspect they are better than the English...but on the other hand, the English is so poor it makes you suspect the whole darn thing.

Who is this book for: general quantfin readers like me will find this tough sledding, this is a printed whiteboard and marker walk through of BGM from start to finish with current state-of-the-art discussions (with unfortunately a lot of whiteboard sloppiness mapped into the "book" state space). I suspect that as a conversation among experts, this book is a nice round-up straight from the source. Experts can probably see past the errors easier than others and both find it sloppy, but still comprehensible. I would dis-recommend this book for a clueless beginner, as the text assumes a readership pretty familiar with the complex and not-inconsiderably large discussion of forward rate and term structure models. For example, maximum smoothness of cubic splines are pretty much assumed and quite possibly laughed at by this crowd.

James "Not-Vasichek"
The Future of Retail Banking: Delivering Value to Global Customer
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The Future of Retail Banking: Delivering Value to Global Customer
    Joseph A. DiVanna
    Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 1403911266

    Book Description

    This book arises from an event on the future of banking which included leading figures in the industry. It addresses current trends influencing competition including globalization, market structure, technology, and demographics and how these will impact upon companies and their organization, business opportunities, revenue streams, branding, and customer behavior. It will also show banks how to develop strategic initiatives for future competition. This will represent essential thinking for the banking and financial services industry.
    Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive, Dynamic Environment with Maple V and Matlab
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Ok,but..
    • Not sure who this book is for
    • Pricing Derivative Securities
    • Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive Dynamic Envir
    • Pricing Derivative Securities if You Can't Program at All
    Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive, Dynamic Environment with Maple V and Matlab
    Eliezer Z. Prisman
    Manufacturer: Academic Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 0125649150

    Book Description

    Pricing derivatives theory comes alive in this self-contained interactive experience in financial pricing. The no-arbitrage perspective in a one-period state-preference model drives the book, and the Maple® and Matlab® programs help readers visualize payoffs and respond to various constraints and conditions. With clear explanations and lavish illustrations, Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive, Dynamic Environment with Maple V and Matlab teaches the core theoretical concepts so often disguised behind difficult terms and institutional details.
    Readers can experiment with the electronic packages forever, using the book and its solutions manual as a tutorial that can help solve problems of increasing complexity.

    Key Features
    * Enclosed CD-ROM includes the student version of Maple V; it provides an interactive, dynamic and friendly environment allowing students to learn through hands on experience
    * Enhances learning by altering the commands in the on-line files, varying them at will, in order to experiment with applications of the concepts and different (reader-generated) examples, in addition to the ones already in the prepared file
    * Provides both the framework and the tools, based on the no free lunch concept, by which readers can analyze and appreciate different scenarios, including those that are not covered in the book, related to derivative securities
    * Basic concepts of stochastic calculus are enriched with demonstrations using animation, simulation and three-dimensional graphs thereby overcoming mathematical complexity
    * The MATLAB® Graphic User Interface provides the ability to bring to life on the screen the theoretical material of the chapters

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars Ok,but.........2006-11-14

    For the mathematically oriented reader there are much better books around, like Wilmott's and books on the more numerical and easygoing side and Shreve and Bingham-Kiesel for example on the analytic side.

    This book could be useful as a first introduction to derivatives especially for someone who hasn't studied mathematics all that much. But this book doesn't go too much into the methods that are really used in practice, like Monte Carlo.

    2 out of 5 stars Not sure who this book is for.......2004-10-13

    This book is far too advanced for undergrads or even MBA students. It's not really an introductory book on derivative pricing, but is an excellent supplementary book to, say, Hull's text ("Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives").

    This text provides a solid foundation for considering any derivative security in a no-arbitrage market. It then goes on to cover the Black-Scholes model and derivative pricing based on the price distribution of the underlying.

    Here's an anicdote from my experience: I wanted to learn the fundamentals of a (Cox-Ross-Rubenstein) binomial pricing model. I opened up the Prisman book and was thoroughly confused with what I understood to be a pretty simple model. The text referenced previous chapters, which referenced previous chapters - you get the picture. It was very unreadable. I then opened up a Hull text and in 3 pages I had a full and sound understanding of a simple binomial model. (-1 star)

    I agree with a previous review that "Matlab" has no place in the book's description, let alone in the title. I am a long time Matlab user. There is no Matlab code in this book, no Matlab CD, and the Maple CD that's included cannot be used with an existing Matlab license! (-1 star)

    I have also come across a few serious typos in equations that make this text a subpar publication. (-1 star)

    5 out of 5 stars Pricing Derivative Securities.......2002-06-03

    For when life throws you that derivative that you just can't look up in some book...
    This book provides the building blocks on both the practical and theoretical levels that one needs to price derivatives. The book provides an essential combination of three things: 1) clear explanations and examples of fundamental concepts, 2) a hands on approach to software and pricing algorithms, and 3) emphasis on graphic visualization in understanding the behavior of derivatives in general. While clearly a textbook for a Master's level course, from the point of view of a practitioner, this book has also become my first reference source at the office for those times when I can't just look up the answer, and have to resort to first principles.

    4 out of 5 stars Pricing Derivative Securities: An Interactive Dynamic Envir.......2001-05-31

    The theory of financial derivates is now much easily understood by combining mathemtical models with the symbolic, numeric and visualization capabilities of a CAS such as Maple. The author made an excellent choice to select Maple (primarily) and Matlab. Maple is used extensively in many academic and industry settings, and its integration into the presentation of the materials makes the content come alive. Great addition, that (even) every mathematician should read! I highly recommend it.

    3 out of 5 stars Pricing Derivative Securities if You Can't Program at All.......2001-03-21

    Based on the title and description of this book, I bought it hoping to learn more about developing financial tools, specifically interest rate models, in Matlab. After working through most of the book, I have concluded that the use of the name "Matlab" in the title is misleading: it only means that Maple, the main tool of the book, may be accessed via the kernel of Matlab.

    The book appears to be targeted primarily at undergraduates and MBA students, not practitioners in the field. Such an audience may have little interest (or need) in learning to develop code or the intricacies of the underlying mechanics of financial models, and for them, the book would no doubt be very helpful. The software that comes with the book includes a stripped down version of Maple, (which is nice, since you can't really use the book without it), and author-developed analytical tools. These tools support the goals of learning through the ability to quickly vary inputs and see the impact on the output, but as they are more or less a black-box, do not add much to one's independent ability to model new financial objects or extend existing ones.

    The book includes the de rigueur definitions of typical financial instruments and explanations that facilitate understanding of these instruments (such as how to read and understand option data in newspapers, the mechanics of currency swaps and so on), but one really has to follow along with the Maple commands page by page to derive benefit. The fixed income section is very skimpy. It seems like the book is best suited as an extended set of lecture notes.

    I like the book but would not recommend it to practioners looking for insight on tool development or to extend knowledge of cutting edge interest rate models (as these are not covered here). I would recommend it for newcomers to the field having mathematical or quantitative backgrounds who want a reasonably good introduction to financial instruments. It would also be useful as a companion text in master's programs in financial engineering or financial mathematics. Derivatives and Maple with training wheels.
    A Practical Guide to Collateral Management in the OTC Derivatives Market (Finance and Capital Markets)
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      A Practical Guide to Collateral Management in the OTC Derivatives Market (Finance and Capital Markets)

      Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 1403912033

      Book Description

      This is the first book of its kind on the market and is aimed at collateral management professionals in the OTC derivatives markets. It is a guide to the key topics involved in establishing and running a collateral management function and is clear, comprehensive and practical. A Practical Guide to Collateral Management will also be of value to those professionals working in product areas applying collateral management techniques including repo, securities lending and exchange traded products.

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