I found the overall organization of his book to be eminently readable as well as significantly infomative with knowledge that only a real professional could possess.In my opinion,based on 20 years of first-hand experience,this is the only book currently available that fully captures the psychological and methodological understandings of the professional trader.
The chapters on technical analysis,though very competent, are a mixed blessing:there is too much information for the novice and the seasoned pro will crave more detail about Mr. Abell's elegant technical approach to day trading.
The interviews with Kirchner,Jamail and Shallowitz--all seasoned pros-- are also highly infomative but in truth require some market knowledge to fully appreciate the subtlety of their thinking.Individuals with little or no experience may not realize how infomative these interviews are really as it relates to the imperatives of psychological considerations and risk calculation.
I believe almost any trader or would be investor will benefit from reading Abells fine book.
Mr. Abell has the knack of taking difficult trading ideas and then crystalizing them to their essence.He deals with day trading issue by issue:
a)The psychology of successful day trading b)The essential strategies and tactics of winning day trading c)How to use price charts and technical analysis profitably d)How to exploit a market set up and directional trade e)How to read Nasdaq level 2 screens and react to them like a market-maker f)how to calculate risk and adhere to workable money management principles
I believe the true an d continuing value of this book(you will want to refer to it repeatedly as a trading manual)is in its very realistic and business-like approach to day trading.Day trading is very profitable but you must realize it is not a get rich quick scheme--I believe that is why Digital Day Trading is the best of all the current tading titles.
The first 35 pages (sec. 1-3) is a broad introduction into the psychology of successful day trading, which says all correct things but its style is so dry that you would rather skip to the next section than to read it carefully. Even if you do read every word, you will get such absolutely correct but next to useless statements as the following recipe for successful trading (p.33): "1) identify an opportunity, 2) take immediate action (buy or cell), and 3) feel good no matter the result as long as the trade is consistent with you specific method or technical bias and was based on probability".
The second part of the book (Sec. 4) uses another 50 pages for interviews with several successful traders. This section is not too bad, although one cannot expect to learn much about techniques of successful individuals (even assuming that they are willing to disclose all their secrets) from 6-10 page-long interviews.
The third part on technical analysis is the most useful part of the book. It discusses how to identify trends and select entry points. Unfortunately, the charts used to illustrate the text are too numerous and large, and the text itself tends to be somewhat on the side of general statements. It is sufficient to say that about 50 out of 80 pages in this section are charts, and in my opinion only about 10 pages contain really useful concrete practical wisdom. These 10 pages were very useful since they suggest analysis techniques which I have not seen anywhere else, but its only 10 pages out of 260!
The rest of the book, about another 100 pages, is essentially a large appendix with lists of all NASDAQ and S&P-500 stocks, long excerpts from the TradeCast 3.0 user manual (who needs this section? those who bought this program had presumably gotten the full manual, and those who do not own it do not need these excerpts), and a glossary.
My advice: don't waste your time and money, there is so many better books around than this one.