I read 100+ books on Trading.

Though all were good, only a few gave me the knowledge which I could apply in Real trading.

These are my favorite 10 books that helped to level up my trading. I think you will love them too.

1. HOW TO TRADE IN STOCKS

Written by – Jesse Livermore

Overview

Jesse Lauriston Livermore was one of the darest and legendary traders of all time.

He made his biggest money shorting stocks in the 1929 crash, a whopping amount of $100 million.

Most people have read his book, The reminiscences of a stock operator written by Edwin Lefevre, but I think this book is of the same importance as it explains the fundamental principles of trading.

Livermore explains to us the importance of the trend, Line of least resistance, Breakouts, the power of sitting out and holding your gains while cutting your losses.

He believed in one of the most important principles of Trend following – Buy high and sell higher, sell low, and sell lower.

He was one of the first traders to use the Pyramiding technique, where we buy when the price goes in our favor.

One of my favorite quotes from him is – “Markets are never wrong, opinions often are”

2. WAY OF THE TURTLE

Written by – Curtis M. Faith

Overview

This book was the by-product of the bet between two Friends, Richard Dennis and Bill Eckhardt.

Dennis was one of the Best traders of that time, He made his first million by the age of 25.

They both argued over the Nature vs Nurture debate.

Dennis was of the Belief that Trading can be taught, whereas Bill was always of the notion that Few people are born “PRO” traders and it can’t be taught.

This disagreement led to the Turtle trading experiment in 1983, where Bill and Dennis selected Traders and Trained them with their proprietary methods.

And all these traders were not some Harward MBA’s, Half of them did not have any business background, many did not know about Trading altogether.

But, the experiment was a success, as the Turtle traders did make money following the Rules of Bill and Dennis.

This book could be your introduction to the systematic way of Trading.

3. A COMPLETE GUIDE TO VOLUME PRICE ANALYSIS

Written by – Anna Coulling

Overview

Volume is one of the most important tools in a trader’s arsenal, as it helps you to know about the strength of the trend.

The volume reveals the truth behind the price action and the sentiments.

Though the main reason to use volume price analysis is to know whether the price has been validated by the volume, or whether there is an anomaly with the price.

It gives you an idea of where the general public exits and enters the market, which we call the Buying and selling climaxes.

Don’t miss this book if you want to be a Price action trader.

4. HOW I MADE $2,000,000 IN THE STOCK MARKET

Written by – Nicholas Darvas

Overview

Darvas was a professional ballroom dancer, and he was showing his art to the world going from place to place.

While doing all this, he got introduced to the markets and did all sorts of blunders that you would expect a beginner to do.

He traded by gut feeling, tips, news, and whatnot, but nothing worked out for him in the initial days.

Darvas also tried his hands on Fundamental analysis, by studying a lot of books on this topic he thought that he could decipher the markets.

But, he failed again!

By this time he was beaten by the markets, and he understood that it’s not easy money.

After this, he sat down and focused on the charts of the market leaders, how the prices and the volumes behaved when these stocks moved big.

Long story short, he made a system which we call the “Darvas boxes” and using this system he turned $10000 into $2 Million.

Though My favorite part of the book is after made his biggest profits, His personality and psychology changed, and that affected him badly.

He started to fear losing money.

And this took a toll on his PNL.

And then he made changes to his way of living, the amount of information that he was getting, and again got back into the money-making rhythm.

My favorite quote from Darvas –

“I never bought a stock at the lows or Sold one at the high in my life. I would be satisfied to be along for most of the ride.”

5.TECHNICAL ANALYSIS USING MULTIPLE TIMEFRAMES

Written by – Brian Shannon

Overview

This book is all about the Trend.

This book explains to you the different phases of the trend using multi-timeframe analysis.

It gives you an idea about the psychology behind the Trend.

It will explain to you how to be on the side of the big boys, those forces who move the market.

One of the reasons Traders lose money in the markets is that they have no idea about the trend.

Not only a Technical trader, but a Fundamental Investor should know about the Trend in an instrument, as it helps to time your entries and exits.

I can not find any other book that can explain the Trend better than this book.

6. TRADE LIKE A STOCK MARKET WIZARD

Written by – Mark Minervini

Overview

Mark is one of America’s most successful traders, He was the winner of the US investing championship in 1997, achieving a 155% annual return.

And he made a 220% annual return or a 33000% absolute return, from 1994 to 2000.

He follows the SEPA method of investing in stocks.

Though he looks at the fundamentals of a company, he never invests in it if the charts are telling a different story altogether.

He gives you a trend template in the book, which is a subjective method to find the trend of a stock.

The trend is the most important part of his methodology.

You will learn many more things like Risk management, Pyramiding, entry and exit techniques, Psychology.

He has written some other books also, like Think and trade like a champion and The mindset secrets for winning, I would recommend you to read them all, they are a gold mine.

7. MOMENTUM MASTERS

Written by – Mark Ritchie 2, Dan Zanger, David Ryan, Mark Minervini

Overview

After the success of the book trade like a stock market wizard, many traders from across the world flooded the office of Mark Minervini.

So, he thought of writing another book in which he, with some of the most successful traders in America, like Dan Zanger, David Ryan, and Mark Ritchie 2 tried to answer the questions and explain a bit more about some important topics.

Dan Zanger holds a world record of turning $10,775 into over $18,000,000 in 18 months.

David Ryan is a protege of the legendary Willian O’ Neil, David won the U.S investing championship three years in a row between 1985 and 1987.

In 1985 he was up 161% and in 1986 an almost identical 160%.

Mark Ritchie 2 is the son of well-known Mark Ritchie (Market wizard), he achieved a 100% return in less than six months to win Minervini’s 2010 Triple-digit challenge.

In this book, you will get the insights of these expert traders, on topics like their daily routines, their entry and exit methodologies, which instrument they trade, Pyramiding, Position sizing, Risk management, etc.

8. TRADING IN THE ZONE

Written by – Mark Douglas

Overview

This book is probably the best book ever written on this topic of Mindset and psychology.

It’s important to know that after we find our edge in the market, the next thing we have to do is to properly execute it without deviating from our rules.

Most traders fail to do that and this book beautifully explains, why?

My favorite quote from his book is –

“If you can learn to create a state of mind that is not affected by the market’s behavior, the struggle will cease to exist.”

Some of the key takeaways from this book is –

1. Markets can do anything, it’s the boss, don’t value your opinions more than your stop loss.

2. The only way to become successful in this business is by having a probabilistic mindset, i.e Do not get affected by the short-term outcomes, focus on 1000’s trades.

3. Don’t predict, only react.

4. Never let the outcome of 1 trade affect your approach for the next trade.

I have read this book many times, and I always get to learn something new, so I would highly recommend everyone to read this book, not once but many times.

9. TRADE YOUR WAY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Written by – Van K. Tharp

Overview

Dr. van tharp is a professional coach for traders and a psychology expert.

I got introduced to the method of trading with R multiples through this book. I learned that I don’t need to win 100% of the time in trading to make money, I can be profitable with even a 20% accuracy.

He says that “ Holy grail is not a magical trading system, it is an inner struggle, once you’ve discovered that and resolved the struggle, you can find a trading system that works for you ”

In this book, you will learn how to develop a system and what are the most important aspects of a trading system.

Position sizing, one of the most important parts of the system, is explained well in this book.

You can say that this book is a Holy grail for traders, so don’t miss it.

10. Trading Chaos

Written by – Bill Williams and Justine Gegory Williams

Overview

The book says that –

The market is a creature of chaos—A far from equilibrium soup simmering on the uneven flame of trader psychology.

From this book, You will understand why the majority of market participants consistently lose money?

It will show you how simple the markets are and how complicated we make them.

This book revolves around chaos, Chaos does not refer to randomness; just the opposite is true. Chaos is a higher form of order where randomness and stimuli become the organizing principle rather than the more traditional cause and effect in the Newtonian/Euclidean sense.

The first part of the book is more about psychology.

In the second part, he explains how we can use fractals, Market structures and use them to find entry and exit points.

He was also the inventor of the Fractal indicator that’s why it is called William’s fractal.

It’s a must-read for every trader.

So, that’s it for today from my side.

If you also liked these books, do share this article on social media platforms.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Trader knight.