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 Michael Jenkins, an accomplished technician and a serious full-time trader, has produced two books of particular interest to traders interested in Gann and Fibonacci-based trading methods. These two books, though titled differently, are really two parts of the same intellectual tome. The primary difference between the books is that Geometry is more detailed in its description of geometric formations from which predictions are derived than Chart Reading.
In my opinion, the methods in these books work some of the time and are somewhat accurate in some time frames. This is not to say that they are useless. Traders for whom the big picture is helpful (most of us) may find luminaries such as Gann provide a comforting substrate against which more specific techniques can be employed.
Such filtration is not to be underestimated and is the kind of thing in which Jenkins is engaged in these books. He deals with the nitty-gritty of the time-price amalgam and demonstrates diagrammatically that relatively simple methods applied to a price chart can reveal a number of market turns to
fall at constructed intersections.
These works have a two-fold character.
First, they are an agglomeration of methods for determining the direction of the current trend and
for predicting the extent of price moves. Second, interspersed among these methods are many specific ideas and tips that fall into the category of trading tactics.
The treatment of trend and extent
of move occupies the major portion of these books. It relies heavily on the author’s take on Gann’s
work and Fibonacci-related predictive methodology. Of special note is the discussion of arcs and circles used
as measured-move indicants, wherein the author develops a couple of interesting wrinkles retargeting the end of a move.
General Comments
These books present a rather fragmented, generalized
view of several trading approaches. This impression may be due to a lack of cohesion among the techniques.
The discussion of circles and arcs is fascinating and often proves amazingly accurate as a target predictor.
However, some of the statements reveal a dated outlook, such as the statement that one strategy “focuses on
scalping 80 to 100 points per day (day trading the S&P).” Such remarks might be a problem only for
the neophyte, for whom they would be misleading.
On the positive side, I believe that some specifics and a
number of the techniques are found in few other sources. For example: A bullish trend is revealed by higher
bottoms; whereas, it takes lower bottoms AND tops to define a bearish trend…There are a number of such
tidbits, but the reader must dig them out and differentiate them from the rest of the verbiage.
Some of the techniques and tips should prove useful.
The section on arcs and circles in both books is potentially useful and academically appealing. Traders interested
in the work of Gann and Fibonacci will find much material of interest and use, such as the construction and use of
the Gann Square and Gann angle lines.
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