in his first book "reading price charts bar by bar" he dedicated 9 pages to it. I'm not joking, the chapter on 'breakouts' is literally 9 pages. The book is 400 pages long. So tell me how this makes any sense? Why would anyone that preaches traders focus on breakouts for the largest edge there is dedicate 9 pages to how you trade breakouts? I'm at a loss.
I've never read the book and doesn't see the connection why 9 pages on any particular topic would leave you confused unless you wanted to see more discussion on the topic or more chart examples. Regardless, is Al preaching going with the flow of the breakout only, fading them or teaching both sides of the coin (hopefully the latter). ? Breakouts are great. You can go with the flow of the breakout or fade them. The best breakout trader (Treasury ZB futures / Eurex BUND futures trader) I ever met was primarily fading them on range days and had a good understanding of the price action to know when its a trend day to go with the flow of the breakout.
I've read als books and if I am not mistaken he talks a lot about fading them! Not really why people make such a big deal about brooks if you don't like him don't read his books!
we make a big deal about him because he claims to take about 10-15 ES trades per day and says he goes many days without a losing trade. so its worth examining these claims. he also claims the edges are small, how can the 'edge' be small yet you do not lose? again, makes no sense to me. that is a mathematical impossibility. he also claims he has a friend that makes 10 pts per day, again, if the edge is so small how can that be possible? so this is my interest in brooks. these grand claims without any logic behind it.
to have an opinion - whether to like him or not one has to read them unless you do it some other way, care to tell us how?
he straight flat out said he takes about 10-15 es trades per day. and has also stated without question, i did not hear him wrong, that he has many days without a losing trade. thats what he said, im not making this stuff up. now you could argue some of those trades are scaling in, some are scratching out at break even which is fine but yes, he said he goes many days without a loss. i would also like to go many days without a loss, but after years of following his work, i still have no idea how to do it. i find that interesting. one minute he says the edges are small, the next minute he says he does not lose much and his friend makes 10 pts per day.
Impossible, with the incredible liquidity of ES he would be topping Forbe's list, yet he is in the snake oil selling business. During times of a very high vix, doable, every day, not a chance. Common sense ChkitOut.
Perhaps every trading book ever written makes or implies audacious claims. The only trading book(s) that don't fall short of such claims provide actual performance data that the method(s) within the pages actually work. You can probably number such books on one hand. Stop looking for some book seller to put you on the right track. Trading is mostly a journey of self-discovery.