Automated Stock Trading Systems

Automated Stock Trading Systems: A Systematic Approach for Traders to Make Money in Bull, Bear and Sideways Markets, Laurens Bensdorp, Lioncrest Publishing, 2020

This book presents one person's automated method to make money in the stock market under any sort of market conditions.

The author emphasizes that his system should not be copied. You, the reader, have to decide what works best for you. Do you want to make big profits from few trades, or smaller profits from multiple trades? What is your tolerance for risk or volatility? It's easy to say that you accept the possibility of losing lots of money. Will you still feel that way, and stick with your system, when the balance in your trading account drops by, say, 25 percent? Do you want to specialize in one type of stock, like penny stocks or the S&P 500?

It's very acceptable (it's also a good idea) to have several different trading "systems" going at the same time. You don't want to put all your money in one place, for instance, betting that the S&P 500 will continue to go up. What if there is a major sell-off, like during the 2008 Great Recession? It's very reasonable to bet that the market will go up, or down, at the same time (you make money either way). Everything is based on what a stock has done, and not on trends, or fundamentals or Secret Tips available only from the author.

This is a very interesting book. For anyone who is serious about stock trading, reading this book is a very good idea.

Introduction to Econometrics

Introduction to Econometrics (The Complete MBA Course Work Series Book 1), Hicham and Mohamed Ibnalkadi, 2020

First in a series that attempts to provide an entire MBA course, as taught by top universities, This book is all about econometrics. It is "the unified assimilation of economic models, economic data and mathematical statistics."

An important part of creating these economic models is the quality of the data ("Garbage In, Garbage Out"). Is the data clean and legitimate? Is it reliable? Is it usable by the company creating the model? Is the data in the right standard of measurement? Make sure of the quality of the data before creating a model that ends up being worthless.

Now what do you do with this data? Do you know calculus? There is a lot of it in this book. The data goes into models with names like Linear Regression  Model and Classical Linear Regression Model. The reader will also be introduced to Ordinal Regression Models, multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity.

This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys calculus. It is also recommended for anyone who has started the journey toward getting their MBA. For the average reader, well, maybe not. This book gets four stars, maybe four-and-a-half stars.

The 30-Minute Stock Trader

The 30-Minute Stock Trader: The Stress-Free Trading Strategy for Financial Freedom, Laurens Bensdorp, Lioncrest Publishing, 2017

This book is the story of how one person, after much trial and error, came up with a computerized system of stock trading. He has been very successful, and has it set up so that he has to work for only 30 minutes per day (I know what you are thinking).

What is your trading philosophy? Do you want to make a small profit from many trades? Do you want to make a bigger profit from fewer trades? Do you want to monitor your trades every day, like the author? Would you rather do it every week, or every month? There will be days, or weeks, when you lose money. Are you going to stick with your computerized system when your trading account actually drops by, say, 25 percent?

The book goes into detail about when to sell this stock, or buy that stock. It is based on actual numbers, and not overall trends, or Secret Internet Tips available only from the author. It is then necessary to give all of this to a computer programmer, who will create a program to do the actual trading. This is not the sort of thing that the average person can put together in a weekend. After the program is unleashed, much testing is needed to make sure that it actually works.

This is a very interesting book. The author is good enough to keep the advertisement until the end. For anyone interested in trying their luck with the stock market, reading this book is a really good idea.