Larry Pesavento - Great Books from the Past
by Larry Pesavento
Successful traders like Larry Pesavento have accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of books that enable them to examine the countless trading systems and ideas that each one contained. Most books contain some valuable tidbits. The joy for Larry Pesavento and other traders comes from finding one that lays a foundation of understanding that enables you to grow as a trader; according to Pesavento, there are three such books. Each will be discussed briefly. They are not listed in their order of importance because each is equally important. They are all thirty to sixty years old!
Profits in the Stock Market, by H.M. Gartley was published in 1938. It was the basis of a trading course in stocks taken by hundreds of traders like Larry Pesavento. It cost $1,500.00 in 1938. (About the cost of three new automobiles) The seven hundred plus pages contain most of what the modern day technicians' use in their analysis of the stock market. But Gartley went one step further. He included stock and stock index charts from the 1800's through 1938. These charts are illustrated by swing charts, point and figure charts and bar graphs. My favorite is the 1906 — 1936 time period where you can see all swings with the date of every significant high and low. The charts are large and are worthy of framing. Pages 200-250 in Gartley's book have yielded more commercial trading systems than any other book every written such as, The Tubb's Stock Market Course, The Trident System, and The Reverse Point Wave just to name a few. Gartley's book is a must for serious technicians from Larry Pesavento to Warren Buffett.
The Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing by James Hurst was introduced thirty years ago and is still read by traders like Larry Pesavento. His work focused on the cy¬clic nature of stock market cycles. Hurst explained his theo¬ries of nominal cycles, periodicity, and synchronicity and at the time it was the most widely followed trading system for commodities for several years. Hurst developed a trading course with his use of cycles and entitled it Cycltec. A vast number of audio cassettes and manuals were included in this course. According to Pesavento, it has some of the most interesting and useful mate-rial for those interested in cycles. Traders Press has recently re-introduced the material at a fraction of the original cost.
The last book, The Torque Analysis of Stock Market Cycles, by William Garrett, was also introduced thirty years ago. Larry Pesavento and others note there were a lot of coincidences with the other books of that time. Each book was written by an engineer, each of the authors was a trader, each book talked about cycles, and the books were issued by the same publisher. Pesavento and others have pointed out that Hurst's book was easier to un¬derstand than Garrett's. The Hurst book was priced at $10.00 and the Garrett book at $30.00. Garrett's book sold only a few hundred copies but Hurst's book sold thousands.
Larry Pesavento recalled having a copy of the Garrett book on his bookshelf for eight years not knowing its value until a peer; Bryce Gilmore — developer of the Wave Trader and author of sev¬eral books on market Geometry — demonstrated its significance. Page eighty-nine of the Garrett book illustrates the "Golden Spiral" better than any other book of its era. In fact, it was the only book at the time that touched on the subject. According to Pesavento, it is the essence of the Elliott Wave principle.
Bryce, Pesavento and others were fortunate enough to contact Clarice Garrett (the author's widow) and the book has been beautifully repro¬duced in leather for $100.00.
If you're serious about trading, experts such as Larry Pesavento will suggest that you add these books to your personal library. If you make a commitment to studying the material, you can build the foundation you will need to be a successful trader. Consider it an investment in yourself, as successful traders Larry Pesavento have done.