Top 10 Best Trading Books For Beginners
As a trader, I often receive messages from beginner traders asking:
“Which trading books are best for beginners?”
So I have taken the time to select the top 10 of my favorite trading books.
These books cover subjects like learning how to trade, technical analysis, chart patterns, trading psychology, risk management, trend analysis, simple strategies, beginner-friendly techniques, etc.
Whether you are a beginner or already a profitable trader, there is something here for everyone.
I suggest you practice what you learn in these books using one of these technical analysis softwares.
So which 10 trading books should beginners read to get started with trading and start making profits?
1. Trading In The Zone
This is one of the best trading books trading ever written.
It took Mark Douglas seven years to complete the book.
Mark Douglas' book, Trading in the Zone, is a must-read for both beginners and successful traders.
While bursting with informative advice on various ways of improving your trading skills, this book is primarily designed to adjust your behavior and the way you see things important for successful trading.
For example:
How to get a probability mindset and how successful traders see risk.
The book focuses on the psychology of trading and the relevance of having a healthy trader's mindset.
No wonder it is considered the "bible of trading psychology."
Here's an interview with Mark Douglas discussing some key points in his book:
2. Encyclopedia Of Chart Patterns
As its name implies, Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns is a book covering all the technical analysis chart patterns that every trader should read.
You get statistics for both bull and bear markets, and 33 chart and event patterns are explained.
For example:
You will learn the Dead-Cat Bounce, Three Rising Valleys, Pipe Bottoms, Diamond Bottoms, and more.
It's a complete trading book to chart patterns. With tested and proven chart pattern strategies, Thomas N. Bulkowski also provided relevant explanations on using charts to improve your trading results.
Combining chart patterns with the 10X Trading System buy and sell signals is a great way to add confluence to your trading and find the best trade setups.
3. Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator
First published in 1923, this book is the most widely read, highly recommended, and one of the best books for beginner traders. The lessons and ideas are very much about the mental aspects of trading.
Generations of readers have found that it has more to teach them about markets and people than years of experience. This is a timeless trading book that will enrich your life and make you a better trader.
4. Market Wizards: Interviews With Top Traders
Bestselling author Jack D. Schwager interviews dozens of top traders across most financial markets.
While their responses differed in the details, all of them could be boiled down to the same essential formula: solid methodology + proper mental attitude = trading success.
Jack D. Schwager also distills the top traders’ responses down into a set of guiding principles and trading rules you can use to become an investing and trading star in your own right.
5. Psycho-Cybernetics
As a trader, you need to set and visualize goals to achieve them. You perform at your best when you have a goal clearly in your mind. That's because our subconscious mind works hard at assisting us.
This is not a trading book but I've found it to be one of the books that helped me the most in my trading.
Just as important as setting trading goals, you must visualize yourself successfully reaching those trading goals each day. If you can't visualize and see yourself as a successful trader, there is no chance you will become successful.
6. Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom
This trading book features Tharp’s new 17-step trading model focused on risk management.
The book also addresses reward to risk multiples, and insightful new interviews with successful traders, and features updated examples and charts.
There are very good discussions on position sizing and risk management.
Position sizing and risk management are the closest thing to “The Holy Grail” in trading you will find next to trading psychology.
7. Way Of The Turtle
This book explains the success of the simple trading system used by the group known as the “Turtles.”
Author Turtle Curtis Faith explains the entire experiment in detail, describing how Dennis and Eckhardt could recruit 23 newbies from all walks of life and train them to be successful traders in just two weeks.
If you are a beginner trader and unsure about how to start trading, this book will be of great help in showing you the importance of following a trading plan with discipline.
I often recommend this trading book for those who are beginners to learn about the basic principles of trading psychology, discipline, risk management, and trade management.
It also offers some interesting strategy ideas that can help your trading.
This trading book will also help you overcome some of the most common trading mistakes traders make.
9. Mastering The Trade
In this trading book, you will find and learn some trading techniques that can be used to profit in most markets and discussions on tools and techniques for profiting from intraday and swing trading setups.
It's not that beginner-friendly as the other trading books on this list, but a good trading book nonetheless.
10. Trading Price Action Trends
The ideas, trading strategies, and techniques found in Trading Price Action Trends Bar by Bar can help you take your chart reading skills to the next level. Al Brooks explains his price charts trading system.
It's a great trading book of his system where you can follow his method step by step.
You will learn about institutional piggybacking, trend trading, trading ranges, and reversals.
He is breaking down everything into a beginner-friendly process. The book describes what individual candlesticks and combinations of candlesticks can tell you about what other traders are doing.
Do You Want AccurateTrend Reversal Signals?
I'm a family guy in my early 30's who learned how to trade the markets in a simple yet effective way. During university, I studied investing and graduated with a master's degree in risk management. Quickly, I realized that I was onto something. I started helping friends and taking students. My students started getting results, spent less time in front of their screens, and their accounts grew consistently. Learn more about me here.
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