Trading the US markets

What this book actually teaches

Trading the US Markets (2008) by Paolo Pezzutti is an introductory guide to U.S. equity markets written specifically for non-American traders — particularly European retail traders — who want to participate in U.S. markets but lack familiarity with their structure, trading hours, and institutional mechanics. Pezzutti, an Italian trader and writer, addresses the practical questions that arise when trading from a different time zone and regulatory environment: when the U.S. markets are open relative to European hours, how pre-market and after-hours trading works, what the major U.S. exchanges and market centers are, and how the structural features of U.S. equity markets differ from European counterparts.

The market structure content covers the major U.S. exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX), the role of electronic communication networks (ECNs) and alternative trading systems in U.S. equity execution, and the mechanics of the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) system that governs U.S. equity price display. The 2008 publication date means this was written shortly after Regulation NMS went into effect, and the book covers the new market structure that Reg NMS created — the fragmented, ECN-dominated U.S. equity market — as the current environment rather than the prior specialist-and-market-maker system.

The trading hours discussion is the most practically useful section for the intended audience. Pezzutti covers the seasonal shifts in U.S. trading hours relative to European time zones (daylight saving time transitions in the U.S. and Europe occur at different times, which changes the hour differential between them), the characteristics of pre-market and after-hours sessions (lower liquidity, wider spreads, higher volatility), and the patterns in intraday volume distribution — the U-shaped volume curve with peaks at the open and close that characterizes most U.S. equity sessions.

The technical analysis sections are generic — the book covers moving averages, support and resistance, candlestick patterns, and momentum indicators at an introductory level without significant depth. For European traders who are already familiar with these tools from trading European markets, this content adds little. The fundamental analysis coverage is similarly surface-level, touching on earnings releases, economic calendars, and the major U.S. economic indicators that tend to move equity markets.

The weaknesses are significant relative to the book's ambition. The market structure description, while accurate for 2008, has been partly overtaken by subsequent changes — the rise of dark pools, the further fragmentation of U.S. equity trading, and the changes in ECN and exchange landscape since 2008. The trading methodology content is too generic to differentiate itself from the many other introductory trading books available. The book would benefit from more U.S.-specific content that European traders genuinely cannot find in European-focused trading texts.

For European traders who want a structured overview of U.S. market mechanics — trading hours, exchange structure, Reg NMS-era market fragmentation, and the calendar of U.S. economic events — before beginning to trade U.S. equities, this covers the orientation material adequately. The market structure details require verification against current conditions.

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About Paolo Pezzutti

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