I’m having hard time comprehending the Al Brooks’ book

Greetings fellow traders,
So recently I started reading Al’ “Reading price charts bar by bar”(2009, Wiley) and to be honest, I’m having real hard time wrapping my head around the concepts introduced. I believe at the same time that the book isn’t properly edited and that a lot of fellow readers might be going through the same problem of having hard time going through it. Either that, or, may be I do not have the necessary foundation to take on the Brooks’ work at the time.
I was wondering if anyone would help me out with the issue. That is to say, that whether I need to read some preliminary work on the subject or that I just need to keep at it — that is keep reading until it starts making sense at least quite a bit?
I’m planning on to reading all of the Brooks’ work, that’s this one book and the most famous price action trilogy. So I just don’t want to end up banging my head up on the wall, while there was a better approach.
Please help me out here! Thanks in advance!
Have a good time traders!

-Mayur

Edit: Fixed some typos and added a little bit of clarification.

Al brooks found a method that works for him and he has written a book on it.

This does not mean it will work for everyone who reads the book.

you have to take what works for you and make your own strategy/method that suits your psychology.

Don’t bother breaking your head with his books. They are needlessly complicated. you are not the first to have a hard time.

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Absolutely!! I totally agree with you. Finding tools that fits to your personality is the way to go. For that matter, I’m trying to understand as many tools as I can, so that I can equip myself with those that suits to my personality. That is to say, that I can’t say that I will indeed use price action as a primary tool in the future. But by missing out on price action or Al brooks’ work, I’ll be paying a huge opportunity cost. And that is something I definitely don’t want to end up with. So I might as well spend a couple weeks or a month if required getting to know Brooks’ methods. You never know what tool will work for you, until you get know the tool itself in the first place.
Anyways thanks for your reply.

There are tons of traders who are not even aware of Al brooks work and they are doing just fine.

What i suggest is go through his books and if something sticks , great else move on.

Remember its not the strategy or method. Its the trader.

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Exactly!
I do really appreciate your support. It’s people like you who really makes these forums worthwhile. Thanks a lot for sharing your wisdom. Have a good time ahead.

-Mayur

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I learned price action trading by studying Al brooks 2009 Reading price charts bar by bar back in 2014. The way the books is cramped up with all sorts of information it will take you atleast 2 - 3 re-reads to properly understand. Cause he just keeps on giving new information after information regarding each candles that he sees during the day how it forms a Low 2 or a High 4 or a Final flag etc. etc.

Do one thing. Download the charts that are given in this book from Wiley website. And keep it ready and to the right hand side when reading. As you read each section of the book in front of you constantly refer to the charts given in the Fig. And try to atleast re read each chart explanation he gives 2 times by matching it with the charts downloaded. If possible also mark your own understanding and then tally back with what Al Brooks says in the book. That way the concepts and the methods will be absorbed better and faster.

And the next 3 volumes are just expanded upon this inital book. Each three has different focus on Trends, Reversals or Trading Range. I only own the 2009 book and thats basically enough for me. Gives me more information than i need to formulate a sound strategy around the concepts he provides.

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First, Your words are really encouraging! In particular the fact that Brooks’ work has helped you in your endeavor, and Second, your tips for approaching the book from a particular angle seems really useful to me.
For example,

This is exactly what I’m going to do from the next reading onward. This is not to say that I won’t be employing other tips, it’s just that I will consider everything with a grain of salt. Appreciate your wisdom. I often keep it saying, and it’s worth repeating here as well, that people like you with a great amount of knowledge/wisdom makes these kinda forums invaluable!
Thanks a lot. Have a good time ahead. And most importantly, Happy Trading!

-Mayur

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UPDATE 1:
I have read through the first book(Trends’ Book) of the series of three books. There were many ups and downs along the journey but finally I persisted and I think it has been worth the efforts so far. I can’t say I fully understood the content, but Al Brooks surely knows what he is talking about and there’s a vast amount of valuable information available in these books.
If you’re serious about trading and are dedicated enough to read through the Al Brooks’ material which has it’s own reputation as being badly edited and highly unstructured, it’s worth the time & effort. I also feel that these books will take at least couple of reads to grasp the content in greater detail, and I’m willing to go to that length.
Also, now I’m almost quarter way through the second (Trading Ranges) book.

That’s all I can think of right now, I’ll make another update when I’m done with the second book.

In the meantime, wish thou trading success!!

Cheers
-Mayur

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Hi Mayur,

Hows your trading going on ? Are you still sticking with Al brooks ?

This can be a coincidence, but I came across a thread on future io on al brooks. Was it you?
Anyways, I would love to discuss on his books. Lets keep this thread alive?

His books are complicated. I’ve tried it. But never been able to read them. Also, you must first watch his videos, the price action course.

But please , don’t rely more on charts and techniques. It’s all useless in real world. The more you try to learn about markets and charts, the more difficult it will be to get into trade.

so how to trade , give some your experience

First of all, I’m so sorry I’m writing so late in response to your message. But, I guess, better late than never, right!!

Okay, So back to the subject. About futures io thread, Yes, I’ve made some posts there in the Brooks’ regarding thred. You may be right about that.

About Brooks’ books, I cannot say that I’ve completely dropped reading the books, as I have hold them back for a while. Just to pickup later if and when I feel the need to. After completing two of his books(I didn’t exactly finish the second book, but I can say that I almost did) I dropped him to pick up reading Lance Beggs.
Actually Lance’s writing was on my radar even before I picked up Brooks. And now I’m halfway throug’ Lance’ stuff. And I must admit that I’m pretty impressed with Lance’s style of writing and the structure in which he presents everything. Maybe because he was a military veteran in his former career. Although, he himself trades using very short timeframes(like 1 and 3 mintues, recently he’s started trading even 15 seconds timeframe) that shouldn’t bother you from getting the knowledge. That is because, he himself admits that his methods works on all the timeframes across all the markets in the world.

Following is just my opinion about Al Brook’s material:
From a lot of forum posts I’d build the impression that Al’s books are pretty dense and dry. And I can assure you, from my own experience of reading two of his books, the statement is every bit as valid as the existence of the Sun. At least that’s what I think. BUT, it’s a big BUT, the material is so much useful in your price action analysis that even if others didn’t read him, they’re basically trading his way. I don’t think you can directly apply his methods to the markets of your choise. In fact I don’t think there’s any market that will allow you to trade using Al’s bare methods. You have to build upon his methods. And that’s the gist of what I learned from two of his books, bunch of his Youtube videos and more importantly his BPA forum.

Now I’m into Lance Beggs’ YTC 6-volume book course and I’m also reading along the way Anna Coulling if that makes sense.
You see, the thing is, I don’t think there’s any book that will single handedly help you build a system from scratch and trade that system successfully. I’ve read a dozen of books about trading, that includes trading psychology, tech analysis, inner workings of the exchanges, about market makers, tape reading, volume sh#t, and a lot of other books.
As they say, the problem is your personality. Now bare with me here for a moment. This personality sh#t used to annoy me so much that whoever was talking about, I’d just ignore it altogether. But now it has started making sense. When you read a lot of different authors I think It will make sense to you too. Just stick to it.
I know this post is getting long, so I guess I’ll stop here.
Anyways, thanks for reading.
(NOTE: English is not my first language, so please don’t pick on my mistakes.)

-Mayur

PS: If anyone is interested in Lance Beggs’s material and want to continue the discussion, we may as well do that in separate thread if there isn’t any already existing.

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How & what u learned about “inner working of exchanges”?

@mayur-b
Can u share that AI brooks book here…
I want to read it…

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kM1EadwSMFG68lXlbYFeFkLlCjRwj-lb?usp=sharing

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You can start with the zerodha varsity. It’s one of the best place to start and has lucid explanations for almost everything related to trading business. Good luck.

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@mayur-b I agree with you about AL brooks books, only he can understand what has been written :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy:
it is really a tough read I had almost given up on his books after reading your opinion I guess I should finish it
thanks for creating this thread

Hi Mayur,

Can you please share Lance Beggs’ YTC book. It would be of great help. Thanks in advance

Hello Mayur,I hope you are doing fine. It would be of great help if you can share Lance’s book.

Hello Mayur!
I have been trying to find lance beggs ytc books which I never found online. It would be really grateful if you could share the books here as I have a hard time affording it being a college student.

Thanks in advance

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