- Market Predictions
- Publications
- Focus of This Book
- Trading Rules
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Publications
W.D. Gann wrote several books. Of these, five open with a portrait of Gann. Every time I see one of those portraits, I feel that his expression conveys the following—“Trading is serious business. Get ready to work hard and come out a more successful trader on the other side.” To impart his trading wisdom, Gann published the following titles:
- Truth of the Stock Tape (1923)
- Tunnel Thru the Air (1927)
- Wall Street Stock Selector (1930)
- New Stock Trend Detector (1936)
- How to Make Profits Trading in Puts and Calls (1937)
- Face Facts America (1940)
- How to Make Profits Trading in Commodities (1941)
- 45 Years in Wall Street (1949)
- Magic Word (1950)
He also put together market courses. Both his Stock Market Course and his greater Master Commodity Course were ready for purchase by 1950—the Stock Course for $2,500, and the Commodity course for $5,000. According to the U.S. Inflation Calculator (www.usinflationcalculator.com), in today’s dollars, those values equate to more than $23,800 and $47,700, respectively!
All these books and courses are available for purchase through the Lambert-Gann Publishing Company (www.wdgann.com). Generally, experts recommend studying Gann’s works in the order in which he wrote them. All his books present trading tools and ideas that can be directly applied to the markets. However, I focus primarily on How to Make Profits Trading in Commodities because it is the book my father first handed me when introducing me to Gann’s works. I asked my father why he chose this particular book, and he said he had come to learn that it clearly delineated rules pertaining to a few important topics. The first was on protecting a position in the market by using stop orders. The second category was “buying points,” the terminology Gann used to describe signals to buy into the market, or go long. The third category was “selling points,” describing how to sell into the market, or go short. My father said the Commodities book not only explored these key topics, but also presented many examples to reinforce the stated rules, making it easier to directly apply the concepts to any market.
In How to Make Profits Trading in Commodities, the following always jumped out to me in the Foreword, written by Gann himself: “I do not believe in gambling or reckless speculation, but am firmly convinced, after years of experience, that if traders will follow rules and trade on definite indications, that speculation can be made a profitable profession.” Right there we have the keys—follow the rules and trade on definite indications. But what comprises that? The chapters ahead explore those rules and tenets.
Gann also wrote, “Trading in commodities is not a gambling business, as some people think, but a practical, safe business when conducted on business principles.” You may be wondering, just what are Gann’s “business principles”? You will discover these in the pages ahead.