Book Review

As well Arabian revolution and cats that look like Hitler, the internet has given birth to widespread day trading.

It?s come in two phases. Firstly, thanks to zippy 56k net connections, traders in the ?90s and early 2000s were able for the first time to buy and sell shares as many times a day as they liked, using their own research, and all from the comfort of their own home.

The boom was phenomenal. Day trading was the trendy self-employed career of the day. Unfortunately, it also coincided with the tech bubble, and a lot of those internet-enabled traders ended up trading heavily in internet-based businesses.

So the bust, too, was phenomenal.

Since then, of course, there?s been economic recovery and economic collapse again. But all the while, the tools available to traders have carried on improving, and now, in the second phase, an even better-equipped day trader has emerged.

They also need to be more savvy, and learn from the triumphs and failures of the past, which is where Mark Ingebretsen?s fascinating book comes in.

Originally written in 2001, in The Guts and the Glory of Day Trading Mark Ingebretsen interviews 12 real-life day traders and shares their stories: the strategies they use, the mistakes they?ve made, the triumphs they?ve earned.

It offers an up-close look at what it took to be successful the first time round, when so many failed; something that will prove of immense help to anyone looking to be successful today.

A critical insight that emerges from the book is that, as the author says, ?an average intelligent person can indeed succeed at trading?. By the end, you?ll be persuaded of this too ? and much better armed to be one of them.