As with every list, there will be disagreements. ”Why is that book on the list?” ”Whyisn’t that book on the list?” I picked 20 books that stood out for me as a trader, that were a #valueadd (or a #valueloss) for one reason or another. That doesn’t even have to mean that they are about trading. For example, the “General Interest” section is made up of books that I think appeal to a trader’s mindset.
With that in mind, feel free to add your picks to the “comments” section, along with a sentence or two as to why you liked (or hated) them.
By the way, I was too lazy to link all the books, but you can find them all at Amazon.
Old School:
The Market Wizards Series – Jack Schwager: Chances are you will find these books on the shelf of any serious trader. They are without a doubt the most comprehensive collection of interviews with superstar traders ever published. However, their dirty little secret is that although they capture perfectly a moment in time, they are extremely dated and will give you almost no insight into today’s markets or how to trade them. Their value now is in showing how even the greatest traders initially struggled and often blew up (repeatedly) before becoming successful.
Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets – Stan Weinstein: This book was the first to quantify one of the most important concepts in trading; the four stages in which stocks move, which are the basing, advancing, topping, and declining stages. Despite the fact that the cover of this book has not been updated since it was published in 1988, stage analysis is still relevant today.
How to Make Money In Stocks – O’Neil: As an unnamed trader friend of mine recently said, all you need to do is review the charts in the first 150 pages of this book and you will be good to go. These charts along with O’Neil’s annotations, give you a great foundation to understand the patterns stocks form before they go on massive runs. (more…)