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The focus of this book, The Three Skills of Top Trading: Beharioral Systems Building, Pattern Recognition, and Mental State Management by Hank Pruden is based on the Wyckoff method of trading and behavioral finance.

Trading Methods of Wyckoff

Richard Wyckoff was a successful trader during the early 1900’s. His methods centered on accumulation and distribution patterns that repeat over and over in the commodity and stock markets.


The author, Hank Pruden, uses this method as the backbone in his overall trading strategy.

Much of the book goes into great detail on the theory of why markets move up and down. Behavioral finance and the Wyckoff method of trading relate very well together. The third part of the book covers mental state management – the psychology of trading.

I was expecting a unique approach to a complete method for trading when I set out to read this book. Hank Pruden does deliver a trading methodology, but I felt like I was reading a dissertation or an article in a finance journal - not a trading book that just gets to the point. The author is very knowledgeable and extremely well read, as he must have cited 50 different books that cover a variety of topics from behavior finance, trading and psychology.

Hank Pruden is a professor who teaches technical analysis and has very high credentials in the world of technical analysis. I agree with almost everything written in this book, but Pruden’s writing style requires some patience.

He likes to cite quotes and sources, where it doesn’t seem like there is a need for it. The author also spends a good deal of time looking forward at discussions in future chapters and backward at previous discussions. The book could have been whittled down a great deal.

Accumulation and Distribution in Commodities

There is some very good information in this book and every trader should understand the concepts of Wyckoff. Commodities and stocks regularly go through accumulation and distribution patterns. The smart money controls these cycles. The author does a good job explaining how to identify these trading opportunities as well as exploring the risk and reward factors traders should consider. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are the meat of the book.

Overall, The Three Skills of Top Trading by Hank Pruden contains useful and important information on trading commodities and stocks. I had some issues with the author’s writing style, but others might not. The Wyckoff method is the most important part of the book and every new trader should certainly understand this concept.