Top 8 Must-Read Trading Books for Novice Traders
New to trading? Dive into our curated list of the top 8 trading books designed for beginners. Start your journey with expert knowledge and boost your trading skills!
How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginner’s Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology
As someone interested in the world of trading, I recently picked up HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR LIVING to gain insights and improve my understanding of the subject. While it may not be the most exceptional or groundbreaking resource, it still offers some value and serves as a decent introduction to trading.
Beginner-Friendly Content: The HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR LIVING does a commendable job of catering to novice traders. It provides a comprehensive overview of basic trading concepts, terminology, and strategies. If you are new to trading, this book can help you develop a foundational understanding of the market and its various components.
Coverage of Different Trading Styles: The book explores a range of trading styles, including day trading. It offers insights into the characteristics and requirements of each style, allowing readers to explore different approaches and determine which one aligns with their goals and preferences.
Risk Management and Psychology: One strength of the HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR LIVING is its focus on risk management and the psychological aspects of trading. It emphasizes the importance of setting risk limits, developing a trading plan, and managing emotions during market fluctuations. These insights are crucial for traders aiming to navigate the challenges and potential pitfalls of the trading world.
Limited Depth and Advanced Strategies: One limitation of the HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR LIVING is its lack of depth when it comes to advanced trading strategies. While it serves as a useful starting point, experienced traders may find that it does not delve into more sophisticated techniques or offer unique insights that can take their trading to the next level.
Outdated or Generalized Information: The book may not cover recent developments or emerging trends in the trading landscape. Additionally, some information provided may be overly generalized, lacking specificity or practical application in current market conditions.
In conclusion, the HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR LIVING can be a valuable resource for beginners seeking an introduction to trading concepts, risk management, and psychological aspects. It offers a comprehensive overview of different trading styles and provides practical examples to reinforce learning. However, more experienced traders might find it lacking in advanced strategies and tailored insights. It is essential to supplement this book with additional resources and stay updated with the latest trends in the ever-evolving world of trading. Overall, as an introductory guide, it serves its purpose reasonably well
Trading: Technical Analysis Masterclass: Master the financial markets
I have been trading for several years and was relying mostly on lower indicators and using stockfetcher to make my picks for trades spanning 1-8 days. Somewhere along the line I read that the analysis of price action is mostly what you need to know. I realized I did not have a really good knowledge of using candlesticks to see what the market was doing and going to do in a particular stock. So I searched for books to help fill in the blanks. I ordered four books and this one was the WINNER. Don't be put off by the book being only 171 pages. The pages are double spaced for easy reading. The information is basic but just what I needed. The author does not overwhelm you, he sticks to the basics and a few hints on how he uses the information in the book.
The only complaint I have is the charts in the book are harder for this older guy to see the shadows on the candle sticks which are very important. But otherwise a great book that easily filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge on reading charts.
Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude
The Author has some really vital information for you to understand, but the manner is which it is presented for you to consume is extremely slow. He takes you through a process of comparing pyschological mistakes to your own trading experiences, trading style, and trading plan and discusses psychologically "why" you do certain things.
Many times through the book, I found myself laughing at the psycho-babble he professes. In my humble opinion, many ideas he postulates on are complete rubbish. Some of his logic is ..uuhh.. weak. For instance he goes into this reasoning of how ideas are energy, because they are intangible and some other reasons, and therefore subject to laws of energy as defined by Einstien. Whatever. Again IMHO, this kind of stuff is irrelevant.
Unfortunately, why he is postulating in this manner is important and therin lies the value of this book. You do have expectations that you have learned throughout your lifetime and they affect you actions. When you are unaware, these expectations or learnings rise to the surface, often in ways that are harmful to traders.
In general, he is trying to teach you to trade without fear but with discipline. These can be conflicting forces, and the Author guides you by telling you where troublesome feelings come from, how to understand them, and finally how to control them.
My recommendation: Read the whole book, look past the psycho-babble, and follow the lessons he is teaching. If you have not yet performed his exercise at the end of the book - do it. If you are serious about trading you will benefit by it.
Who am i? I have been trading actively for 3 years, most recently off 1 hour charts for trades lasting hours or days. I have progressed to this from trading daily charts. I have built a trading method with a strong positive expectancy. However my returns have been flat since I started trading, 3 years running.
This book has immediately given me confidence, as it has reinforced ideas and methods that I have already adopted through my education. My results have been immediate and this book seems to be just the push that I needed to "open up" my trading. I am not afraid of entering a trade, and more importantly I am no longer afraid to exit a trade either.
Day Trading For Dummies
've had friends and family that trade online for years now, but I only recently decided to take the plunge myself. I'm learning from different angles - online tutorials and videos teaching strategies, etc. - but this book was able to teach me a lot about the business of day trading. It is the only material that I've come across that explicitly discourages you from day trading if you have certain strong personality traits that predispose you to failing as a trader.
Of course there are sections I felt no need to read through, because those securities don't interest me, but I was still able to get an overview of how those securities work. There are a few securities however that I'm now open to trading, that I wasn't before.
I'm convinced that this book has helped, and will continue to help my trading journey. Thanks, Ann.
This is a good reference book for beginners. This is not a step-by-step how-to book, but contains definitions and links to references to help you further your research on the topic.
Price Action Trading Secrets: Trading Strategies, Tools, and Techniques to Help You Become a Consistently Profitable Trader
Overall, I don't think there are any real secrets to this book but provides some step by step instruction on how he would do a trade based on price action. It's worth the few dollars. I enjoy Rayner's YouTube videos and bought the book and Kindle version to see what it offered. For a few dollars I think it's a very good deal because there are so called experts out there that want to soak you for hundreds of dollars to teach you the same thing so this is a good place to start.
I found a couple of errors that might confuse a new trader but overall the book provides some good examples. The Kindle version is better in some aspects than the book and not as good in others in my estimation as well. The book is poor quality and the graphs are very poor (I had to use the magnifying glass on my phone to see the numbers that he was referring too). Even worse though, the Kindle version doesn't show the prices that he is referring too! WTI figure 8.5 for example where target prices TP1 and TP2 which he says are 58.00 and 63.00 respectively but not shown on the graph. I know I'm being a stickler for detail!
Can you actually make money applying the principles that he has provided? That's the real question! I think the most beneficial part of this book is that you have to plan the trade and trade the plan and he gives you some ideas on how to do that. That means sometimes losing and getting out of the trade but the idea is to take a smaller loss than win or at least win more to get the odds in your favor. Also, his explanation of multiple time frame analysis, while short, is key. Y
I don't like the idea that it takes 100 trades to find out if your system is right or wrong though! The fundamentals he has taught should lead you to an okay trading strategy right away. The biggest problem that he doesn't cover though is how to find these gems to trade and that's where the real work is. Trading as a job or hobby means looking for the setups first and foremost and that takes time and effort. Good luck!
The Mental Game of Trading: A System for Solving Problems with Greed, Fear, Anger, Confidence
I would give this book 10 stars. So far this book have helped me to humble my emotions, taught me how to be patience and have self discipline. I am taking my time reading this book. After I read it I am reading it 2 more times. Yes it’s just that good frfr. I recommend this book to any trader. Rather u a beginner or a pro this book will help with your mental and emotions. I have only really been trading forex for about 8 months. But since the last 6 weeks I have been serious about it. So I am glade that I am starting early to teach myself how to have self control and discipline through this book. I even order my best friend a copy of this book. So far he likes it. But traders definitely need to read this book. I highly recommend it…
Day Trading QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Winning Trade Plans, Conquering the Markets, and Becoming a Successful Day Trader
This is an amazing book. I learned so much from it. For a quick start guide, this book goes far beyond what I was expecting, offering me some very innovative trading techniques and ideas that have really helped me. Mr. Noonan’s tactics and trading concepts are refreshing and unique. I don’t understand some of the reviews here that would say otherwise.
I think some people are posting their critiques without even reading the contents. If you want to learn how to be a successful trader, with a step-by-step guide to follow, then buy THIS book.
Don’t believe the haters. This will be a resource that I personally turn to regularly as I go through the 'steps to trading success' as taught in this guide. It's like a roadmap, which is what a guide should be. I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to learn how to succeed at trading.
Best Loser Wins: Why Normal Thinking Never Wins the Trading Game – written by a high-stake day trader
I have been trading for decades. Until recently, mostly unsuccessfully. When I read this book, it became very clear my issues were the same ones everyone (70-80% of everyone who tries trading flames out more or less completely) who fails experiences. I had mostly turned my trading around in the last two years but this book spoke to me at a time when I backslid badly.
If you have not traded before, don't waste your time with this book. Until you have been bloodied up some, it won't be very easy to understand. Once you HAVE been bloodied up some, it will prove invaluable. You need to have matured to a certain point in your own trading before this book can really help you get to the next level.
What this book isn't: a primer on technique. The author and I share a pretty cynical view of charting. He has no patience for fundamentals, and I share that even though I swing trade while he day trades. There is no "here is how to make a huge pile of cash in two days" material here. While he shares what he trades, he encourages the reader to find their own trading space, and this is very wise. While most books on trading claim they can teach you to trade (mostly by following some technique that doesn't work outside the back-testing world), this author completely avoids that. Trading is completely individual, in my experience, so what you need is what you get from this book: an understanding of HOW to think, not a primer on WHAT to think.
This is why I say you have to trade first before you read this book. Until you have faced the cold, hard reality of a position collapsing (and the euphoria of a position shooting up in value), you won't understand what the author is telling you. It literally will make no sense.
In just the several weeks since I read this, my trading has improved quite noticeably. I sent the author a thank you note to the email he shares. I never heard back but I also never expected I would. This book will really help you if you have traded and lost, like most of us. If you have only traded and won (there must be at least one of you out there somewhere), keep going until you have experienced that first good hard butt kicking. Then read this and go back and do better. You will.