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Over the course of my trading journey I’ve probably read well over 100 books on the subject of investment and trading techniques.

Some were great, some were pretty useless – and a handful were life-changing.

This book was definitely life-changing for me:

Unholy Grails is a book written by renowned Australian investor and trader Nick Radge.

Nick has been trading the financial markets since the 1980s and as you can imagine, he has witnessed some pretty crazy things during that time while his trading took him all over the world.

He traded through the 1987 Black Monday crash when U.S. markets fell more than 20% in a single day, he traded through the Dot Com bubble and saw equities rise to staggering highs only to fall to staggering lows within a few years, he traded through the 2008 financial crisis and most recently the 2020 COVID crash.

While trading through all of these market calamities Nick has not only managed to survive, but he has thrived throughout the course of his career.

In Nick’s book “Unholy Grails” he lays out simple frameworks for robust rules-based systematic trading techniques, particularly in the realm of trend-following and momentum systems in equity markets.

I recommend every trader read it, especially traders who are interested in using code to fully automate and systematize their strategies.

But the book is not just relevant to algorithmic traders – all traders would benefit from the knowledge contained inside of it, even if you just want to enhance your discretionary trading or investing by leveraging the power of technology and rules-based systems in your process.

Several strategy lessons in my Pine Script Mastery Course draw directly from techniques I learned from this book, and some of my personal investment strategies are inspired by systems laid out by Nick (particularly the ‘Bollinger Band Breakout’ strategy and the fascinating ‘Weekend Trend Trader’ strategy laid out in a separate eBook which you can find by clicking here).

The key takeaways from “Unholy Grails” for me have been:

• The long-term robustness of trend-following and momentum (it has worked for decades)
• The major advantages of rules-based systems in controlling emotions and risk during chaotic market moves
• The value of simplicity in trading strategies – trading doesn’t need to be rocket science to beat buy & hold
• The importance of proper backtesting techniques in determining a system’s viability and avoiding biases
• The fact that anyone can be a profitable trader if they have a good guide or mentor and put in the time to build a solid foundation

There are other important takeaways from this book, but those are the first that come to mind when I think back on what I learned while reading it for the first time.

If you want to get a copy of the book click here to check it out on Amazon.

It’s an affiliate link so I get a small commission if you use it to buy the book, but don’t feel obliged as Amazon are the stingiest company in the world and I’ll be lucky if I get a few cents out of your purchase. But hey, I appreciate the support and it all adds up, right?

In any case, if you don’t get it from Amazon, try to track it down elsewhere because I truly believe it will add immense value to your trading and investment skills. It sure did for me.

I’ll speak with you again soon, best of luck with your trading journey.

Best regards,
Matthew.

PS. Last year I began writing a weekly email newsletter where I share anything and everything I can think of that has added value to my own trading journey – from simple ideas and techniques to books and podcast episodes (and beyond).

This blog post was an edited version of the very first email newsletter published on the 30th November, 2022.

If you’re interested in receiving these emails before I find time to turn them into blog posts and podcast episodes then you can sign up at my website www.TheArtOfTrading.com

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