How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market

I'm new to investing and trading, I will admit it, I've been doing it for a few months now, and I started with only a thousand dollars, even though Darvas once said that if you don't have five thousand you shouldn't even step in--though I'd say that was probably because the cost of the commission made it so much more difficult. I've read this book four times, once out loud to my mother who has also opened an account, and used this strategy with William O'Neil's CANSLIM to start growing her retirement, already up five thousand from the twenty thousand account she opened. This book helped me spot stocks like FUQI at ten to fifteen, STEC at twenty. I had lost five hundred dollars of my thousand before I found this book and started reading it, with it, I was able to use it to catch the trend upwards on Borders Group and ALD from April to May which turned my five hundred into twelve hundred. Through a series of stocks, I'm up to nearly three thousand, I also put a little money in the account, about a hundred and twenty, for full disclosure, but this book is excellent. I understood it right off the bat, and along with William O'Neil, I have been very profitable. I bought fifty shares of STEC it up to thirty four, FUQI is up to twenty five and I bought a hundred shares of that. I'm up to nearly five thousand dollars. This small bull market has been doing me great, and I've been prospering in it, making sure to keep my stop losses reasonably close so not to give back all my profits. I have taken a lot of losses, nearly fifteen hundred dollars worth of losses, but I've always made that back with my winners. I was trading small cap until I had a good deal of money, and used to get stopped out at thirty five cents daily. This book should be required reading for anyone considering getting into stocks, its an uplifting story, its entertaining, its fun, it lets you get a good look into the work it takes to become very profitable in the stock market. The rules I come away from with this book are simple. 1: You're going to be wrong half the time if not more, so always make sure you cut your losses. 2: Only buy into rising stocks. 3: Use volume, new products, earning growth, and price to decide if the stock is about to move. 4: Never listen to the news or analysts, they're human and can be just as wrong as you, and their information is usually late and of no use. 5: Annual Reports and Company Records mean nothing about the companies future. I've used these rules and I plan to keep using these rules. This is an excelent book, and at 8.99,7.99, its too cheap not to buy.

Darvas' book flows along making it very easy to read and understand. I found this book to be inspirational. Darvas' system is nothing new or complicated. Considering he managed to find stocks that met his criteria without the aide of computers, easily accessible stock charts and scanning software, it is amazing he accomplished what he did. His approach, learned through trial and error - lots of error - was to look for a stock that was in a consolidation after a move up and then look for that stock to break out. He used price and volume to ascertain the breakout and patiently waited for confirmation by using what he termed, The Box Theory. This approach is not something revolutionary as it is suggested in most credible trading books. What makes this book special is how it is laid out in the easy to read story format. The book is more of a story rather than dry, jargon filled information. Obviously, Darvas was a very smart man and he was educated in finance and economics but as he humbly points out, he started like most traders - doing all the wrong things - and his results were like most traders, he lost his shirt. The sole advantage Darvas had over most present day traders is that he started with a substantial sum. His first stock was 6000 shares of a 50 cent Canadian stock. He got into owning this stock almost by accident but it turned out to be a very profitable trade and that got his curiosity going, From there he tried different thing until he formulated his theories and system. I enjoyed the book and already benefitted from the information presented therein. I would recommend this book to anyone whether they are a novice or an experienced trader. It more likely reinforces methods the reader is aware of instead of introducing a new system, but if the reader is smart enough to work with the same system until he becomes proficient, rewards will follow. Now that it has been a few days since I finished the book, I find myself reflecting back on the concepts and realizing what a great message this book offers. If I could give it 10 stars I would. A really terrific book.

I have a very special place in my heart for any book with "million" in its title. Perhaps this sum speaks to the greedy little capitalist in me. At the same time, my higher brain functions always kick in, and always being skeptical and somewhat leery of such tomes, I have to ask aloud, "OK, where's the gank (scam) here?" As it turns out, there is no catch, no scam in Darvas's delightful and entertaining little book on how he, by himself, stumbled upon an oft-tried (and somewhat true) trading strategy through admittedly much trial and much more error. Nowadays, I believe those in the know refer to it as momentum investing, but Darvas is arguably the first person who put the basic method on paper for the lay person to follow. Since he first published his book, there have been many imitators and would-be pretenders to the throne, such as Get Your Share: A Guide to Striking It Rich in the Stock Market , but none of these challengers has written a book as entertaining, accessible and straight-forward as this one. Withhout giving too much away, the book presents a method that pursues capital gain and relies heavily on the use of automatic buy and sell orders as a kind of insurance policy against catastrophic losses. As a precursor for using the method, one has to look for rising trends in a given stock, both in its price and trading volume. Truthfully, I found the narrative surrounding how he stumbled upon this simple and straight-forward (but difficult to successfully execute!) method more interesting and enlightening than the method itself. Potential readers and careful, thoughtful students of the market should take note of the following merits and demerits of the text. First, those of us who are fans of fundamental analysis are out of luck here; Darvas dismisses this pursuit as fool-hardy. Second, those of you who are fans of technical analysis (you FOOLS- shows where my bias resides, doesn't it?) will find precious little vindication within its pages. Darvas also basically dismisses technical analysis out of hand. Indeed, Darvas does not have very many kind words for securities analysts of all stripes- be they technicians or fundamentalists, and through carefully recorded experiences as his technique slowly evolved, he gradually develops a well-deserved contempt for hot tips (and the tipsters), the advisory rags, brokers and the casual musings of insiders and the so-called 'knowledge-able people' in business on where to invest. Finally, perhaps of greatest importance to those looking to use this method and maybe tweaking or modifying it is this: it apparently misses more often than it hits. Given the very real and crushing effects of transaction costs and taxes, one's grubstake can potentially suffer 'death by a thousand cuts'- a total capital loss inflicted by numerous small losses along the way. I heartily encourage non-believers to grab a copy of the book, and see for yourselves. Admittedly, trading costs and capital gains taxes were much greater in his day, but then, trading volumes were smaller and volatility, as measured among individual shares and by the broader market, was much more muted. Basically, after reviewing his trading record, one can clearly see that it relies on a few big hits to cover up many small misses. Plus, according to him, it requires hours of poring through lots of boring stock tables filled with numbers, making lots of charts, and most unpleasant for me, daily communication with one's broker. It all sounds like a lot of activity for maybe, possibly a big score, over and above the demands of your day job (which in his case was the ever-strenuous professional dancing at night). In sum, I found the author's remarks on the markets very amusing. Moreover, I deemed quite a few of his hard-won and independently derived (but by no means original) insights very worthwhile. Many of the latter have support from no less than super-investors like Gerald Loeb, author of The Battle For Investment Survival , John Train, author of The Craft of Investing: Growth and Value Stocks * Emerging Markets * Funds * Retirement and Estate Planning and the various writings of Warren Buffett. This book deserves to be read, and the author gets my respect partly for its candor (he presents the full record of his trades, good and bad, in all their painful glory), partly for its wit and borderline uber-jaded sarcasm with regard to markets and brokers, but mostly because the author did the hard work of thinking and learning independently, doing things on his own, taking his lumps with honesty, clarity and grace, and best of all, admitting his basic humanity (laying bare his foibles, his misguided arrogance in the face of the market and his fool-hardy notions). As such, he has about him the glimmerings of an unabashed, unrepentant contrarian.

I've been a trader for many years and have read hundreds of books on trading and looked at many "systems." Many, many times I've used the approach in this book. Written in the late 1950s-early 1960s, the advice here is still good. In fact it is as good as most of the "modern" approaches. Further, the book's style is absolutely charming. Darvas may have been the first to use the term "techno-fundamentalist." His approach is essentially a trend following scheme focusing on stocks showing recent increased interest (volume) and prices. These stocks tend to be concentrated in leaders of emerging industries with reasonably good financials. It is also important to see how he developed discipline and overcame his initial losses. It's worth looking at where he set his stop-losses and where he sold. For instance, he generally set his stop-losses about 3% under the purchase price which may be rather thin in today's markets. But, his methods are simple and fruitful To be fair, he made his money principally during a "growth stock" phase of the market and over half of his gain came from two stocks. One of them had a peculiar rights offering which I doubt occurs today. He also used margin, and had a very nice outside income (as a professional dancer in shows). The former I don't recommend, and the about the latter I have no opinion other than to note he and his sister demonstrated ball room dancing in night clubs and TV -- very well paid. Perhaps the real secret to his success is that he kept it simple, was patient, and avoided a lot of confusing information. Especially revealing is what happened when he changed his habits away from viewing stocks from afar and took up hanging around a broker's office in New York. It's both very amusing and very, very instructive. In my opinion this book is terrific. It's not long ... and you can't go wrong if you take its lessons. It's worth reading again from time to time.

What this book is about: Simply put, it walks through one man's adventures getting rich in the stock market. He starts making an accidental small fortune (he was paid in stock that took off in value before he even knew anything about the stock market), immediately sees the value in the stock market he has ignored his whole life, and then begins his learning process from there. I saw some reviews that state that he never explains how he gets his "feelings" about stocks to pick. Well, he does actually. What he explains in the book is that he looked for stocks that were resisting the declining indexes and he reasoned these stocks would be the ones to take off when the market recovered. This is where he developed what he felt was his "sixth sense" after awhile, where he could begin to see these stocks without tons of effort. This book was written in the 1950s, so it is certainly dated. There are concepts that I think we can all apply to our trading though. The symbiosis of technical and fundamental investing is something I've thought about in the past but never really made any serious attempt at developing a system for. Well that's what Darvas does after a fashion. And what could really be more powerful than that? Combining the best of both worlds to come up with a unique system of your own that no one else is doing (or maybe some are doing but they aren't sharing the knowledge). Anyways, it's a great read. The real value of books like this, in my opinion, isn't that they walk you through by the hand and explain how to do this stuff --- it's that they get your mind thinking in different directions. Rich Dad / Poor Dad was the same way for me. This book had more "meat" to it that Rich Dad / Poor Dad, however. By that I mean that it feels like there is more real life stuff you can start exploring right away in the stock market that Darvas's book will help you think about.

I rarely give 5 star reviews but this book was truly an enjoyable read that taught me alot. Here are the key lessons: 1). ALWAYS have a stop loss order in place when you buy stocks, about $1.50 to $2.00 under your purchase price, this safeguards you against the huge losses people experience in a bear market. 2). Watch unexpected volume surges in stocks that push the price up, this is a sign that other investors know something that you do not.You can partner with insiders and people in the know with out knowing what is really driving the price. 3). Never sell a stock that is rising in price.Only sell on declines. 4). Watch price boxes that develop in stocks, if a stock is trading at $66 to $70 for 6 months then suddenly goes to $72 it is likely the sign of a new price range box, buy at break outs. 5). Take emotion out of tading set your rules and follow them. 6). Stay away from the rumors and mob mentality of Wall Street, get your information from Barron's weekly and daily quotes, everything else just leads to confusion. 7). Watch stock prices and go with the patterns you watch develop. 8). Look for the break away stocks that will make you rich, trade the stocks that are at their 52 week high if they are growth stocks and if they appear to be breaking new highs. Darvas has an entertaining writing style and gets to the point. 5 strong stars, this is great information to tie in with what can be learned from Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher, William O'Neal and Jim Cramer.

This weekend I had assigned myself the task of reading what many consider to be some trading classics, including this one by Darvas. First, let me get my criticisms out of the way: On this particular Kindle version, there appears to be many textual anomalies. They do not make it unreadable, but they are distracting. I don't believe Darvas fully divulges his stock picking strategy. Without that, a lot of the book was meaningless to me. Now the positives: I really was floored by how insightful this man was into trading, especially when it came to what I would consider a topic which resonates today: information overload. This man specifically regimented himself to only receiving updates through telegrams, and he was still able to trade the markets successfully. If this isn't a case against trading off CNBC, I don't know what is, and was very surprised to find this here. I found this to be worth the price of the kindle download alone. For me, it wasn't a huge negative to discover Darvas traded off price breakouts, and used a stop loss strategy. When I read the other negative reviews, you can almost read between the lines that they were expecting some secret potion, or something they haven't heard before that'd answer the question for them, and make them billionaires overnight. There is a basic principle in life about learning and it's this: Information you may read either supports and reinforces an existing belief, or may challenge and change a belief. HOWEVER, if it reinforces, it's actually better, because it means you're on the right track. If you are looking for a magic bullet, you are probably never going to find it. Don't be afraid to hear what you've heard before. If it's in a different voice or different experience, it is just further evidence you are doing the right thing. Takeaway: Two thumbs up on philosophical trading content Two thumbs up on the technical aspects of implementing trades Two small thumbs down on kindle version Two thumbs down on position sizing and pyramiding strategy (seemed very discretional) Two thumbs down for clarity on his stock screening methodology (wasn't clear how he picked stocks)

I am a trader who is still seeking to establish a method that works for him. I had to radically change my approach about one year ago, as I, very foolishly, let the market whip me around the summer of 2011. The path and history the author had to take was reminiscent of mine (except for reaching $2 MM - yet!), and, so, it was very illuminating and encouraging. Some key insights for an individual investor are: - Never take big losses. Darvas had to struggle and lost when he was not doing right. But even then, he was able to limit the size of losses by getting out of losing positions relatively quickly (usually after a few points down). From what I read, he never averaged down, and remained very disciplined. Averaging down or sticking with losing positions is, as Darvas says, a pure gamble that should never be allowed. I had to admit this was one of my most egregious mistakes till a year ago. - Study price charts carefully. Be patient and observant, and let the market (- not news media) tell you new trends. Become a partner with the smart money that moves the market and identifies leaders. Again, until a year ago or so, I was too anxious to find and enter market bottoms - such a useless exercise! - Let winners run as long and far up as possible. You must learn how to keep winning trades if you want to make big profits. I tend to get too nervous and be quick to close winning positions, only to realize later that it was just a minor correction. I still think, though, it's good to take some profit if your gains get huge in order to secure a psychological advantage, but you will need to see whether your stock's character still remains OK to hold. Lastly, I read this book because it was one of the readings suggested by Daniel Zanger (- Google him), and I agree it is totally worth reading for all swing traders. For me, this book was an affirmation of the direction where I'm seeking to establish my trading method.

libro storico che illustra una tecnica di investimento long only che può dare i suoi frutti e che rimane ad oggi ancora valida, lettura interessante e istruttiva.ottimo libro.

A gem of a little book. I hadnt expected much, as I don't intend to invest this was but a nice book that really does explain the value of not listening to hot tips and the mistakes that can be made. Doing your own research is far more preferable to listening to other people who may have large biases. A good story that can be read quite quickly, I would definitely recommend

This book is very informative for a new trader. Presents the possibility for any person to become a trader or investor, as long as, you are willing to do some study, dedicate time and effort. Learn from your mistakes and keep learning with a realistic and positive attitude. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to have some exposure to a great investment mind. Cheers

Excellent book, is a good read for anyone interested in stock markets.

Une histoire incroyable qui nous rappelle encore une fois les règles élémentaires du trading et l'importance de l'analyse technique ... validée d'un contrôle des fondamentaux. À lire sans aucun doute.