How Markets Really Work: Quantitative Guide to Stock Market Behavior, 2nd Edition

Common wisdom holds that the stock markets are ever changing. But, as it turns out, common wisdom can be wrong. Offering a comprehensive look back at the way the markets have acted over the past two decades, How Markets Really Work: A Quantitative Guide to Stock Market Behavior, Second Edition (Wiley; March 2012; $49.95; 978-1-1181-6650-5; Hardcover; Ebook) by Laurence Connors with Cesar Alvarez, shows that nothing has changed, that the markets behave the same way today as they have in years past, and that understanding this puts investors in a prime position to profit.

Written by two top financial experts and filled with charts and graphs that illustrate the market concepts they develop, the book takes a sometimes contrarian view of everything from market edges to historical volatility, and from volume to put/call ratio, giving investors, traders, and advisors all they need to truly understand how the markets function.

“Passive, buy-and-hold strategies have outlived their usefulness, if they’ve ever served the investor at all,” Mr. Connors said. “The markets have shown, time and again, that the only way to achieve absolute returns in any environment, without leverage or derivatives, is to apply a quantified and systemic active investing approach. This book gives insight into the strategies that have historically outperformed the market and shows them how they can put them into play within their portfolios.”

Fully revised and updated, How Markets Really Work, Second Edition takes a level-headed, data-driven look at the markets to show how they function and how to apply that information intelligently when making investment decisions.