Winning On Wall Street

by Martin Zweig

Renowned financier Martin Zweig guides readers to smart investing in the 1990s stock market with proven strategies on how to make informed buy and sell decisions, pick winners, spot major bull and bear trends early, and more. This constant bestseller was first published in 1986 and first revised in 1990, with 77,000 trade paperback copies sold.

Genres: Finance, Business, Nonfiction, Money

Paperback

First published April 10, 1986

About the author

Martin Zweig was a financial analyst, investor, and author of the book Winning on Wall Street. He also created the Zweig Forecast in 1971, which ran for 26 years. In 1987, Zweig famously predicted the stock market crash known as Black Monday. Zweig was known as a pioneer in technical analysis.

Reviews

[David Benkert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t pick up the book expecting to use his exact strategy in hopes of beating the market - if you are you’ll probably be disappointed because a lot has changed since then. If you do want to understand the psychologies and philosophies behind his trading success, or what I believe is behind most trader’s success - you’ll find it here.

[Alexander Ruchti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but also probably quite outdated at this point.

Key summary points from his trading system:

• Prime rate indicator: It is the interest rate that banks charge their best customers. Buy signal if the rate is below 8%, has been rising, and has just been cut. Sell signal if the rate is above 8%, has been falling, and has just seen the first hike.
• FED indicator: an increase in the discount rate or the reserve requirements is bad news for stock prices.
• Installment debt indicator: YoY changes in consumer installment debt. Falling below 9% is a buy signal and going above 9% is a sell signal.
• Advance/decline indicator: Ratio of stocks going up in price to stocks going down – over a ten day period. Positive momentum feeds more positive momentum.
• 4% indicator: When the weekly Value Line Composite Index rises 4%, it’s a buy signal
• Investors´ intelligence of Lachmont: They publish a sentiment evaluation. When the ratio of bullish opinions to bearish opinions is <40%, buy signal. Above 75% is a sell signal.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated but still worth reading

You can tell the book was written quite a while ago. There are references to looking up quotes in the newspaper, prices are referenced in fractions, and examples are from the 70s and 80s. However, the points make are as relevant today as when they are written.

[Mike Morgenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an older book - written around the mid 80's - with still pertinent insight. Marty Zweig is not purely fundamental, but isn't heavily technical in his approach either. Zweig's mainstream success comes from his ability to predict the bigger picture (i.e. trends in the broader market). The combination of his stock picking acuity, and general market understanding that accentuated his timing, made him into one of the great investors of stock market history. He was heavily influential to other money managers that took interest in his newsletters. This ability to communicate translated into a very understandable, clear, and well-written book.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, uncomplicated book outlining the fundamentals of Fed-based momentum trading in stocks. As recommended by Druckenmiller, the book provides many insights into the building blocks of his investment style.

[Jeff Bower · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in technical analysis of the stock market.

[Ethan Lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book for novices to acclimatize with market analysis. Keep in mind it's quite an old book. Lot has changed both wrt macro & market structure.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Interesting reading on Martin and his investing.

[Rob Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book where the late, great Marty Zweig walks you through his approach to investing. The book was published in '94, so a bit of a time warp as he talks about how to get government data, which newspapers to buy, and how to use index cards to follow stocks. Pretty fun stuff if you're a stock nerd. He goes through his system and it seems applicable to today, though I think I might reset some of his rate pivot points given ZIRP.

[Javier Villar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book on picking the right stocks; therefore, a book on being right and not a book on being surrendered. Anyway, it's not completely awful since suggests to buy high and to sell lows, which is an expression of inner serenity and acceptance of reality.

[Vasile-Simion Sularea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book exposes you to concepts of macroeconomics that are driving the stock market but because it's been written so long time ago the numbers and the models presented in it are very outdated. 4% base interest rate would be golden now

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is outdated for 2009 market. The indicators he taught his readers to use need to be adjusted or else we can just wait for Treasury bills to pay 8% again.