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Market Wizards #3
Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders
The third in the bestselling Market Wizards series, this time focusing on the barometer of the economy - the stock market.
It has been nearly a decade since the publication of the highly successful The New Market Wizards. The interim has witnessed the most dynamic bull market in US stock history, a collapse in commodity prices, dramatic failures in some of the world′s leading hedge funds, the burst of the Internet bubble, a fall into recession and subsequent rumblings of recovery. Who have been the market wizards during this tumultuous financial period? How did some traders manage to significantly outperform a stockmarket that during its heyday moved virtually straight up?
This book will feature interviews with a variety of traders who achieved phenomenal financial success during the glory days of the Internet boom. In contrast with the first two Market Wizard books, which included traders from a broad financial spectrum - stocks, bonds, currencies and futures - this volume will focus on traders in the stockmarket.
It has been nearly a decade since the publication of the highly successful The New Market Wizards. The interim has witnessed the most dynamic bull market in US stock history, a collapse in commodity prices, dramatic failures in some of the world′s leading hedge funds, the burst of the Internet bubble, a fall into recession and subsequent rumblings of recovery. Who have been the market wizards during this tumultuous financial period? How did some traders manage to significantly outperform a stockmarket that during its heyday moved virtually straight up?
This book will feature interviews with a variety of traders who achieved phenomenal financial success during the glory days of the Internet boom. In contrast with the first two Market Wizard books, which included traders from a broad financial spectrum - stocks, bonds, currencies and futures - this volume will focus on traders in the stockmarket.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
397 people are currently reading
3334 people want to read
About the author
Jack D. Schwager
32 books767 followersJack Schwager is a recognized industry expert in futures and hedge funds and the author of a number of widely acclaimed financial books. He is currently the co-portfolio manager for the ADM Investor Services Diversified Strategies Fund, a portfolio of futures and FX managed accounts. Previously, Mr. Schwager was a partner in the Fortune Group, a London-based hedge fund advisory firm, which specialized in creating customized hedge fund portfolios for institutional clients. His prior experience includes 22 years as Director of Futures research for some of Wall Street’s leading firms and 10 years as the co-principal of a CTA.
Mr. Schwager has written extensively on the futures industry and great traders in all financial markets. He is perhaps best known for his best-selling series of interviews with the greatest hedge fund managers of the last two decades: Market Wizards (1989), The New Market Wizards (1992), and Stock Market Wizards (2001). The latest book in the series, Hedge Fund Market Wizards is due to be released in May 2012. Mr Schwager’s first book, A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets (1984) is considered to be one of the classic reference works in the field. He later revised and expanded this original work into the three-volume series, Schwager on Futures, consisting of Fundamental Analysis (1995), Technical Analysis (1996), and Managed Trading (1996). He is also the author of Getting Started in Technical Analysis (1999), part of John Wiley’s popular Getting Started series.
Mr. Schwager is a frequent seminar speaker and has lectured on a range of analytical topics including the characteristics of great traders, investment fallacies, hedge fund portfolios, managed accounts, technical analysis, and trading system evaluation. He holds a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College (1970) and an MA in Economics from Brown University (1971).
Mr. Schwager has written extensively on the futures industry and great traders in all financial markets. He is perhaps best known for his best-selling series of interviews with the greatest hedge fund managers of the last two decades: Market Wizards (1989), The New Market Wizards (1992), and Stock Market Wizards (2001). The latest book in the series, Hedge Fund Market Wizards is due to be released in May 2012. Mr Schwager’s first book, A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets (1984) is considered to be one of the classic reference works in the field. He later revised and expanded this original work into the three-volume series, Schwager on Futures, consisting of Fundamental Analysis (1995), Technical Analysis (1996), and Managed Trading (1996). He is also the author of Getting Started in Technical Analysis (1999), part of John Wiley’s popular Getting Started series.
Mr. Schwager is a frequent seminar speaker and has lectured on a range of analytical topics including the characteristics of great traders, investment fallacies, hedge fund portfolios, managed accounts, technical analysis, and trading system evaluation. He holds a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College (1970) and an MA in Economics from Brown University (1971).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
June 4, 2018
Schwager interviews and reviews the absolute top stock market traders providing a unique insight direct into the mindsets of the very best performers of this domain. Some traders interviewed in the book are very restrictive on disclosing their strategies due to the fear of losing the functioning of their carefully polished strategies when the masses start copying them, and I agree on that consideration. However, there are still many very useful hints and trading philosophies, behavior considerations, habit descriptions revealed by clever questioning and comment of the author.
Each trader has their own style and edge, many of their suggestions and theories are contradictory, but all of them, no matter those differences, are making huge amounts of money, just proving the point that everybody must have their own style to succeed in this hard endeavor. Some of the traders in the book seem to be so unbelievably stupid in their decisions that you really wonder how they survived, maybe, it was just a pure luck in some cases. And then, there are many traders interviewed in this book that will really inspire the reader. For example, Mark Minervini, one of my favorite traders is one among them.
It is a must-read trading book. Read it carefully and find your gems which has a huge potential of improving your way of thinking and your trading process.
Each trader has their own style and edge, many of their suggestions and theories are contradictory, but all of them, no matter those differences, are making huge amounts of money, just proving the point that everybody must have their own style to succeed in this hard endeavor. Some of the traders in the book seem to be so unbelievably stupid in their decisions that you really wonder how they survived, maybe, it was just a pure luck in some cases. And then, there are many traders interviewed in this book that will really inspire the reader. For example, Mark Minervini, one of my favorite traders is one among them.
It is a must-read trading book. Read it carefully and find your gems which has a huge potential of improving your way of thinking and your trading process.
November 19, 2019
“There’s no definite path to success”
Schwager’s Stock Market Wizards echoes the idea that there is no singular path to being a successful trader. The fifteen interviewees, from quantitative traders to gut-feel corporate raiders, demonstrates the aforementioned idea nicely. That being said, Schwager states that there are fundamental qualities and habits which merit success in trading, or in any endeavor. After reading this book, I concur.
Schwager’s Stock Market Wizards echoes the idea that there is no singular path to being a successful trader. The fifteen interviewees, from quantitative traders to gut-feel corporate raiders, demonstrates the aforementioned idea nicely. That being said, Schwager states that there are fundamental qualities and habits which merit success in trading, or in any endeavor. After reading this book, I concur.
December 11, 2018
Steven A. Cohen: "If I am in the trade because of a catalyst, the first thing I check is whether the catalyst still applies."
"If you think you’re wrong, or if the market is moving against you and you don’t know why, take in half. You can always put it on again. If you do that twice, you’ve taken in three-quarters of your position. Then what’s left is no longer a big deal. The thing is to start moving your feet. I find that too many traders just stand there and let the truck roll over them. A common mistake traders make in shorting is that they take on too big of a position relative to their portfolio. Then when the stock moves against them, the pain becomes too great to handle, and they end up panicking or freezing."
“The basic idea is that you trade your theory and then let the market tell you whether you are right.”
"If you think you’re wrong, or if the market is moving against you and you don’t know why, take in half. You can always put it on again. If you do that twice, you’ve taken in three-quarters of your position. Then what’s left is no longer a big deal. The thing is to start moving your feet. I find that too many traders just stand there and let the truck roll over them. A common mistake traders make in shorting is that they take on too big of a position relative to their portfolio. Then when the stock moves against them, the pain becomes too great to handle, and they end up panicking or freezing."
“The basic idea is that you trade your theory and then let the market tell you whether you are right.”
April 25, 2020
Instructive, especially for a naive like me who has fumbled many lucrative deals and opportunities. Mastering trade in the markets requires self-cultivation (something I'm big on) and that's where the appeal is to me. That's where the real riches are.
May 30, 2021
Những bài phỏng vấn đầu tiên của sách khá hay, càng về giữa và cuối sách thì đọc càng chán. Một số nhà đầu tư trả lời phỏng vấn kiểu giấu nghề hoặc đưa ra các lời khuyên sáo rỗng. Nói chung, cuốn này chỉ giá trị ở phần đầu.
Ý tưởng chính của cuốn này là bạn phải chọn phong cách đầu tư hợp với tính cách của bạn. Hết.
Ý tưởng chính của cuốn này là bạn phải chọn phong cách đầu tư hợp với tính cách của bạn. Hết.
next
October 7, 2014the last chapter, Wizard Lessons, alone is worth the price!
January 16, 2016
Interviews with the best traders and investors.
February 15, 2016
Real stories for serious market participents
February 28, 2018
Good set of interview with timeless trader tips. Looking forward to the new market wizards.
September 30, 2022
Another fun book by Jack Schwager, not so good as the others, I think.
There is some interesting stuff here, some counter-intuitive advice like Ahmet Okumus who buys into weakening, opposite to Mark Minervini.
A good idea some traders use is tracking insider trading, if insiders are buying a significant amount relative to their annual salary.
It seems option traders are the ones who makes the most return relative to risk, quants also. The concept of making your own probability function for options is interesting and challenging, like Bender does. Like D. E. Shaw, who has a good point on not using data mining to discover new strategies, as they probably won't be statistically significant, something that David Aronson points on his book too. Shaw prefers to first develop a hypothesis of market behavior to be tested.
There is an interview with Ari Kiev, M.D., who used to coach olympic athletes and now coaches professional traders, with great results, like Steve Cohen (who is also interviewed on this book). What I thought it's nice is lowering your expectations, specially for traders who have been very successful before, otherwise you enter in a mental down spiral when bigger/longer drawdowns come.
Many traders here keep developing strategies, even if the old ones are still working, you never know when they will cease to work.
Confidence and specially hard work is something a trader must have to succeed.
We see here that usually stock market traders make less money than forex/futures/bonds traders, as shown on previous books.
It's always good to read Jack's books, because even if most of the advice is generic, we can usually get some useful insight from successful traders.
Estimated reading time: 7h30m
There is some interesting stuff here, some counter-intuitive advice like Ahmet Okumus who buys into weakening, opposite to Mark Minervini.
A good idea some traders use is tracking insider trading, if insiders are buying a significant amount relative to their annual salary.
It seems option traders are the ones who makes the most return relative to risk, quants also. The concept of making your own probability function for options is interesting and challenging, like Bender does. Like D. E. Shaw, who has a good point on not using data mining to discover new strategies, as they probably won't be statistically significant, something that David Aronson points on his book too. Shaw prefers to first develop a hypothesis of market behavior to be tested.
There is an interview with Ari Kiev, M.D., who used to coach olympic athletes and now coaches professional traders, with great results, like Steve Cohen (who is also interviewed on this book). What I thought it's nice is lowering your expectations, specially for traders who have been very successful before, otherwise you enter in a mental down spiral when bigger/longer drawdowns come.
Many traders here keep developing strategies, even if the old ones are still working, you never know when they will cease to work.
Confidence and specially hard work is something a trader must have to succeed.
We see here that usually stock market traders make less money than forex/futures/bonds traders, as shown on previous books.
It's always good to read Jack's books, because even if most of the advice is generic, we can usually get some useful insight from successful traders.
Estimated reading time: 7h30m
July 30, 2020
One of the better books about trading. You will pretty much get 1-2 good tips from each interview. I actually was hesitant going into a book which is just interviews but it is actually an genius template for even other industries. Reading interviews of the best people in your field is just an amazing resource.
Some of the traders's returns sounded crazy unrealistic and I could not dig up anything about them in the internet which is weird but most of them have some articles or bloomberg about their fund so they are legit.
You won't get something out of every interview because some of them just do a very niche or complex trading strategy like abritrage during mergers or finding loopholes in option's black scholes pricing method.
But if you take notes from every trader you will notice few things that they all have in common, let's call it a trend. They all have AMAZING risk management for their specific styles. They all have SPECIFIC STYLES for themselves. Trading is more like an art than science that's why I believe it's more reliant on the person's character and biases which style they will succeed.
IF you are a low risk long term trader you will not be using options or futures. You will stock to trading blue chips or buying massively oversold or undervalued companies.
Anyway the best way to get something out of this book is not to take advice from any single interview but notice the things they all agree upon and implement that to your game.
Some of the traders's returns sounded crazy unrealistic and I could not dig up anything about them in the internet which is weird but most of them have some articles or bloomberg about their fund so they are legit.
You won't get something out of every interview because some of them just do a very niche or complex trading strategy like abritrage during mergers or finding loopholes in option's black scholes pricing method.
But if you take notes from every trader you will notice few things that they all have in common, let's call it a trend. They all have AMAZING risk management for their specific styles. They all have SPECIFIC STYLES for themselves. Trading is more like an art than science that's why I believe it's more reliant on the person's character and biases which style they will succeed.
IF you are a low risk long term trader you will not be using options or futures. You will stock to trading blue chips or buying massively oversold or undervalued companies.
Anyway the best way to get something out of this book is not to take advice from any single interview but notice the things they all agree upon and implement that to your game.
February 15, 2023
Amazing book, enjoyed every single interview
Occasionally you get to read a book that you want to rate as 6 out of 5, it's that good. That's how I feel about this book.
People that will benefit the most from this book are ones that are already trading actively and are experiencing mixed results, or failure. The book is filled with specific advice that all the traders would benefit from, but I don't think a novice would appreciate it as much as someone that's in the business and is trying to get better.
It's incredible to witness a variety of styles and approaches that work, and work incredibly well. The results that these traders generate are mind boggling, and the amount of work each and every one of them do is humbling to say the least.
You will not walk away with specific trading strategies, but instead will get a type of tenants to follow to reach success. Then it will be up to you how far you will go, and if you will commit to become a successful trader.
Can't wait to read and go over my notes from this book just to let the ideas sink in one more time.
Occasionally you get to read a book that you want to rate as 6 out of 5, it's that good. That's how I feel about this book.
People that will benefit the most from this book are ones that are already trading actively and are experiencing mixed results, or failure. The book is filled with specific advice that all the traders would benefit from, but I don't think a novice would appreciate it as much as someone that's in the business and is trying to get better.
It's incredible to witness a variety of styles and approaches that work, and work incredibly well. The results that these traders generate are mind boggling, and the amount of work each and every one of them do is humbling to say the least.
You will not walk away with specific trading strategies, but instead will get a type of tenants to follow to reach success. Then it will be up to you how far you will go, and if you will commit to become a successful trader.
Can't wait to read and go over my notes from this book just to let the ideas sink in one more time.
March 27, 2020
A similar vibe to Market Wizards, this time entirely focused on stock traders. A lot of the individuals interviewed in this book are day traders with a few that are a bit longer term. Overall, some of them have views that are antithetical to my own, but still, quite interesting and relevant given how Schwager deliberately covers a wide swath of “strategies”. Again, his skill in getting interviewees to drop their guard and provide more interesting commentary is quite evident.
I hesitate to rate this higher as there really isn’t much relevant “analysis” or true educational parts of the book. I’d say every person probably gets a different lesson or takeaway from these interviews. Overall, it’s still worth reading as the chapters speed by, but I wouldn’t consider this a core text by any stretch of the imagination. Also, the focus on Cohen is a bit off-putting again given what we now know today.
I hesitate to rate this higher as there really isn’t much relevant “analysis” or true educational parts of the book. I’d say every person probably gets a different lesson or takeaway from these interviews. Overall, it’s still worth reading as the chapters speed by, but I wouldn’t consider this a core text by any stretch of the imagination. Also, the focus on Cohen is a bit off-putting again given what we now know today.
January 30, 2020
The fourth edition of the Market Wizard series offered some unique perspectives from a rather diverse pool of stock traders in the market. The diversity in this book, for the first time includes a successful female, an African American, a Turkish and Italian immigrant and a quant hedge fund money managers. Kudos to Schwager for his never-ending quest to educate the main-street about the Market through conversations with the professionals. However, only less than half a dozen of the case studies in this book I find interesting particularly Minervini and Lescarbeau. A lot of the Wizards did not disclose any specifics about their trading regiment. (which is understandable) Thus some interviewees offered little to no value/insight apart from some anecdotes and generic advices. Nonetheless, a solid 4/5.
March 20, 2018
A delightful read!
Focuses on how there is no hard and fast rule for successful investment/trading other than having the right mentality, discipline and hard work.
The interviews included are not necessarily on how successful individuals have invested to teach the reader their methods but rather how important it is to build and evolve your own investment philosophies and not take things at face value (reports will tend to be biased / when an investor is being interviewed either most seem to have already picked a side / popularity can destroy a sound approach / it is important to analyze your own past trades to understand where the mistakes lie).
Will definitely be referencing this book in the future.
Focuses on how there is no hard and fast rule for successful investment/trading other than having the right mentality, discipline and hard work.
The interviews included are not necessarily on how successful individuals have invested to teach the reader their methods but rather how important it is to build and evolve your own investment philosophies and not take things at face value (reports will tend to be biased / when an investor is being interviewed either most seem to have already picked a side / popularity can destroy a sound approach / it is important to analyze your own past trades to understand where the mistakes lie).
Will definitely be referencing this book in the future.
September 27, 2021
Cuốn sách là tập hơn những bài phỏng vấn của tác giả với những "phù thủy sàn chứng khoán" về quá trình giao dịch của họ. Không có quá nhiều tips được chia sẻ trong cuốn sách bởi tóm gọn lại mỗi nhà giao dịch đều sẽ tự chọn cho mình một cách thích giao dịch riêng phù hợp với tính cách của họ, đặc điểm chung nhất của họ là đều có "tính kỉ luật". Chương cuối là chương quan trọng nhất tóm tắt ngắn gọn nhất về cả cuốn sách, những lời khuyên và bài học rút ra từ những câu chuyện của các nhà đầu tư.
October 24, 2021
I am a fan of the Market Wizards series - but honestly if you have read the other ones (the original Market Wizards or Hedge Fund Market Wizards) then this one is worth a skip. Beyond the cliches and traditional lessons (hard work, loss management), the interviewees here do not really elaborate much and stick to the aforementioned topics. I was excited to read the interview with Shaw, but it was slightly disappointing. Which is kind of my feeling as a whole for the book.
January 9, 2021
Excellent Summary of lessons From Top Stock Traders
Several interviews with some of America’s top stock traders. An opportunity to learn similar strong traits and divergent strategies. Highly recommend for any individual who wants to educate self about successfully investing in the stock market.
Several interviews with some of America’s top stock traders. An opportunity to learn similar strong traits and divergent strategies. Highly recommend for any individual who wants to educate self about successfully investing in the stock market.
September 18, 2024
It's always great to learn from the experience and learnings from someone who had spent their whole life to gather that knowledge, within a single book, if those someone are the GREATEST TRADERS OF ALL TIME, then nothing is to be said.
November 1, 2019
Very good and diversified book. However - readers should in my opinion keep in mind that there is a difference between investing in trading. This book is about trading but it does make this clear.
February 24, 2020
Best book. It is like reading multiple biographies at the same time.
June 1, 2020
Full of useful nuggets on Trading process
July 23, 2020
This is essential
November 1, 2020
it is quite weak compared the others. most of them dont say anything useful at all. only alphonse fletcher and john bender parts are interesting and useful otherwise it is a sham.
August 8, 2021
There were a few gems I picked up when I was reading the book - just can't remember what they were.
August 23, 2022
시장의 마법사들도 정말 재미있게 읽었지만 이 책이 더 재미있고 더 많이 배웠다. 시장의 마법사들은 주로 선물시장인 탓에 덜 와닿았는데 이번 책은 주식과 주식 베이스인 옵션이 대상이라 정말 많이 공감되었고, 바로 적용할만한 아이디어가 많았다.
February 3, 2023
Written in interview story form. It is an engaging read on how regular people ending up dominating the jungle of the stock market.
October 1, 2023
True wisdom pouring out from the pages. Just devour the book taking notes constantly if you have any ambition making money in the market. Jack’s summary at the end is a good one too.
August 18, 2024
Fun Read
April 2, 2025
Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews