Part Three - Planning and Record Keeping
The third and final section of the Stock Trader's Almanac provides various blank worksheets for both planning trading strategies and trading record keeping.
The third section does not provide any more almanac information, but instead it provides several different types of worksheets that are designed to be completed throughout the year. The worksheets include tasks such as trading logs, probability outcomes, and trading checklists. In addition to the worksheets, there is some general information, such as the most actively traded ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) based upon their average daily volume.
A Lot of Information, but No Trades or Charts
The Stock Trader' Almanac is not like most trading books, in the sense of providing example trades and explaining those trades using grahical charts. The almanac provides a large amount of information about the historical patterns of the markets, but leaves the use of the information up to the trader.
I would have preferred some of the information to have been presented using graphical charts instead of (or at least in addition to) the tabular format that is used throughout the book. For example, monthly closing prices for a series of markets would have made perfect information to display both as text and as a graphical chart.
Writing Style
The writing style of the Stock Trader's Alamanac is very concise. This makes it easy to find the information that you might be looking for, but some embellishment would have made the almanac more entertaining. There are a few references in the almanac that require some trading knowledge to understand, but nothing that prevents the book from being used as a reference.
As the almanac is designed for US traders, it includes several references to US events, such as US elections. This is especially so with the 2009 edition, because 2008 is a presidential election year, and several of the probabilities are derived from US politics. Non US traders that are not familiar with US events may find some of this confusing, but should still be able to understand the information that is being presented.
Conclusion and Recommendation
In conclusion, I think that there are two reasons why a trader might want to read the Stock Trader's Almanac 2009.
Firstly, the almanac is packed full of probabilities and statistics about the US stock indicies. Traders that trade the US markets, and that use this type of information in their trading, will find the almanac very useful as a reference book. Secondly, the almanac contains some interesting information about the historical behavior of the US markets. Even traders who do not use this type of information in their trading, or do not trade the US markets at all, can still appreciate the information for its curiosity factor.
In other words, I highly recommend the Stock Trader's Almanac 2009 to US traders that use historical probabilities or historical market behavior in their trading. I also recommend the almanac to US traders who are simply looking for some light reading material that has some reference to trading. However, I do not really recommend the almanac to non US traders unless you have a particular interest in the US markets, and how they react to US events (such as US elections).
Having said that, any trader would be happy to receive the Stock Trader's Almanac 2009 as a Christmas gift (I already have a copy, so think of another gift for me :-) ). If you are looking for a Christmas gift for a trading friend, the Stock Trader's Almanac (and possibly the upcoming Commodity Trader's Almanac) would be a good choice, and at $39.95 it is well priced to be affordable but not appear cheap.
