Markets In Profile - Dalton, Dalton and Jones

[TinGull 10]

This is a partial review, as I haven't had time to finish it just yet, but wanted to share what I have read so far, and get some people interested in this amazing book.

 

Dalton, once again, has given indescribable insights into the market place via Market Profile. His previous book, Mind Over Markets, was the bible for MP followers, and this is like making MoM the old testament, and Markets In Profile the new testament. It's an amazingly holistic look at the market place and shows how simple it can be to see if a market is eroding or if it is still going strong. While much of the concepts still remain, he provides insights that were not covered as thoroughly as in Mind Over Markets. The writing style is a bit different as well, seemingly more conversational than textbook-ish.

 

All in all, this book is amazing! Keep in mind, it's about the same size as MoM and retails at 65 bucks...but this book is by far about quality versus quantity. Each page is packed with amazingly insightful information that gives the trader the ability to see the whole picture.

 

If I had 10 thumbs, I'd give it 10 thumbs up, but since I've only got two....

[keymoo 10]

Nice review Tin. I will buy this book once I've read Mind over Markets and digested it. Market Profile takes a while to sink in, and although I am using the VAL and VAH areas as support/resistance levels and seeing how the tape reacts to these areas, I don't yet have a thorough understanding of Market Profile. One to put on my Buy list for sure. Thanks for the review.

[Soultrader 12]

Another great book by James Dalton. Alot of new insights in this book and the material is not repetitive from Mind Over Markets. There are several parts of the book which I found tremendously useful. First thing was understanding different timeframe buyers/sellers further, second was the volume analysis on brackets, and third was the balancing of price during a trend.

 

This book is definitely not for the new market profiler learner so I would recommend you to read Mind Over Markets first. I would also rate it 5 stars.

[TinGull 10]

Thanks keymoo. I've just about finished the book now and...wow! This is amazing stuff. As Soul said...not for the first time Market Profile guy, and Dalton even states early on the book...if you haven't read Mind Over Markets, do that before proceeding. Very insightful and really has laid a better foundation to my market understanding.

[bobajob 10]

Guys - just out of interest. Which parts of M in P did you find so enlightening. I have to say that after waiting for it I was very disappointed. I have been looking at MP for a number of years. I really wanted there to be something concrete that I could incorporate into my work. Unfortunatley I found that it did not build on the previous work, in fact it was a shadow of the previous work. Could you help me out with the good bits - maybe I just missed them?

[TinGull 10]

MiP repeated very little of what MoM had. MoM was a very technical, "this is this and that is that" sort of thing. MiP shared a lot of insights as far as how to apply the thinking of auction theory for me. Maybe I'm just not as "seasoned" a pro as you and I took that much more out of it. Could be. I found it very enlightening for my trading, though.

[momentom 10]

MiP was, for me, a completion of what was left out of MoM. Having been at Jim's seminar and at Pete Steidlmayer's a few times, I found that MiM really locked it in for me.

 

It was the stuff that created the image in my mind of the moving value area I think that did it. I used to concentrate too much on TPOs which are reaqlly not so relevant in index trading although they were more relevent for T-Bonds when they regularly moved $1k+ every day.

[bobajob 10]

Watching value area movement is fine in a trend but pretty useless in a choppy market. What specific information did you get from this that you didn't get from the first book. Sorry to go on but it reflects my frustration of the book. Give me just one concrete thing. If the main point of the book is to think of MP in a more generic form than a rule based system than that should be clear after trying to trade with MP.

[TinGull 10]

You're right. MP is not supposed to be a rule based system...it's a way to think. That was the biggest thing I got out of the book. I had been trying to set up rules to trade value areas and POC's and all...and now I look at the chart and volume relationships at key levels and can see the auction participants feelings. For me, MiP was all about changing my mindset rather than giving me rules to trade with.

[bobajob 10]

OK TinGull I agree - all my point was is that you probably had to change how you thought by your own trading - not because it was written in the book. But I suppose that is good for more inexperienced traders with MP

[TinGull 10]

It did help to solidify things. Also, I'd love for you to post more on your experiences with MP and what you trade using it since I'm the "inexperienced" MP trader around here. I'm always up for learning from the pros that use it.

[bobajob 10]

I'm certainly not a pro - but I think that certainly the stuff in the book was just confirming my own thoughts and experience. I've just been relooking at the book and have to say I'm probably being harsh. It does give some great things to start looking at with profiles. The best way to learn to trade I have found is to take this book and the first and a few other bits of input - from myself and maybe somebody else - and to just look at how the market develops every day. As I said in a previous post I want to put together a manual to describe this process - specifically with the MP process in mind. I will however post a few pdfs showing my views on market development.

[TinGull 10]

Also to your comment before...it didn't change the way I trade, this particular book anyhow. MoM was the book that changed the way I traded. This book carried on and as I said...solidified things. I guess I kind of got caught up in my getting called an "inexperienced trader with MP". I feel my understanding of it goes much further than being an inexperienced user of that way of understanding markets.

[Reaver 10]

Great book. I am reading it now. I find it most insightful.

 

Already well on its way to securing a place on my top 5 list.

 

I plan on posting more once I finish, but I really really like what Dalton has to say. This, in my opinion, is a much "easier" read, not referring to the subject matter, but to the conversational writing style vs the somewhat academic one in MoM.

 

I really like the ideas, as it allows for the smart and clever to exploit their strengths, rather than learning the market as some sort of rote process.