Book Review: Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets

Pin It now!

Book Review: Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets

I’ve just finished going through Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets by Carley Garner. This is the second of Carley’s books I have read following A Trader's First Book on Commodities. That book, and her regular article writing, motivated me to include Carley as a contributor to my Trading FAQs book and to do an interview with her in support of that. As you will soon find out, this existing relationship has little bearing on my objectivity where this new book is concerned.
On the plus side, this book does a pretty good job of outlining the different ways one can trade the currency market (spot, futures, options, ETFs). There are good explanations of the mechanics of forex trading in its different forms, as well as the primary methods used in the analysis of the market. This includes an in-depth discussion of the Commitment of Traders (COT) report as well as a limited section on forex seasonals.
My major issue with the book is the author’s bias. She is a futures broker, which puts a major lean in her perspective. This is not unexpected, but the blatantly manipulative fashion in which she casts retail spot trading in a negative light is something I find distasteful. She does it repeatedly in the early parts of the book by presenting some of the often-discussed concerns that have come up in the spot arena over the years (mainly related to forms of potential dealing-desk broker manipulations) with full commentary about how and why this could be a risk for someone getting into the market. Then, at the very end, after ratcheting up the reader’s fear level, she finishes with a line something like, “But that almost never happens.” This is the sort of thing I come to expect from politicians, not from book authors.
The casting of spot forex in a negative light, either directly or specifically relative to futures, happens throughout the conversation. I don’t mind that she has a preference, but I’d like to see a more objective discussion with less of an outright attempt to influence the reader. (I personally have traded forex through all the markets she discusses and continue to do so in different ways based on what I’m trying to do in the markets)
There’s also something of an error of omission in the comparison of spot and futures in terms of interest rates. The author rightly comments on the whole roll-over, interest carry mechanism that takes place in the spot market at the end of each trading day. She fails (as far as I saw) to note that the interest rate differential is also a factor in the futures market as it is priced in.
For me the negatives outweigh the positives, so I’m not inclined to recommend this book, though I did like her previous one.
Make sure to check out all my trading book reviews.