WHEN TO SELL: Inside Strategies for Stock-Market Profits

An unusual and useful addition to the literature of the stock market, a corpus heavily weighted on the buy side. Wall Street and its clients appreciate that equities are bought to be sold. But ""neurotic optimism"" frequently keeps both individual and institutional investors from closing out positions in time either to realize worthwhile profits or to avoid costly losses. The book concentrates on technical rather than fundamental analysis. Corporate income statements and balance sheets, the authors contend, have less to do with stock prices than supply/demand forces--""what's happening on the floor of the exchange."" In making this point, they provide a wealth of detailed information on such diverse indicators as the advance/ decline line, mutual funds' cash reserves, trading volume, and Federal Reserve Board money supply statistics, all of which can prove useful in making ""percentage plays."" Also included is a brilliant analysis of the use of stop-loss orders, plus an authoritative and intelligent guide to short sales. The chapter on the important role played by specialists is a more effective defense of this endangered species than the Big Board's flackery. Moreover, in recounting how floor men performed in Chrysler and other auto issues the trading day after ex-President Nixon unveiled his first economic game plan, the authors provide further insight on successful sales techniques. Their principal conclusion: enter sell orders before the market's opening and don't hold out for an above-market price. Charts and instructive case histories, many of recent vintage, stud the text, which though lively demands a fair degree of sophistication from the reader. While those unschooled in head-and-shoulders formations, wave theory, or congestion zones may find the going rough in places, the Mamis brothers have produced a work of considerable value to serious investors which should last for many years.