Well, I am new to posting here on Elite Trader. I wanted to share some of the books that I have enjoyed reading about trading, some more than once. Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager - This has been one of the most influential books for me so far. I think this is because of the wide variety of perspectives from traders in different markets and career stages. Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre - I know this is a rather obvious choice for almost everyone. I enjoy following the ups and downs of Livermore's career. Obviously a lot of the ups (and downs) encountered are not what a lot of traders will ever see especially considering these trades in today's dollars-personally I read the book right when I first started trading and I think it led me to some irrational trades. Either way, in the long run it is a valuable book to read and I have since read it several more times. I feel it has helped. How To Make Money Selling Stocks Short - William O'Neil - Although there are probably better books by this author, this is the first book by O'Neil that I have read and I am a fan. It is a short read but I like the chart analysis. Wall Street Meat - Andy Kessler - While not necessarily a "trading book" per se, Kessler gives us a very good view of the sell side of this business from an ex-analyst's point of view. How to Trade in Stocks - Jesse Livermore - I enjoyed the book, although it seems much of the material relates back to his first biography. This was my first real reading in applied Dow Theory, other than during investments class in college. Day Trading Online - Toni Turner - It probably wouldn't be on my favorites list, except that it is the first book I ever read regarding retail trading and it was a good, albeit very basic, introduction to Level II, candlesticks, and of course psychology, none of which were mentioned for more than 5 minutes in finance classes during college. Although now it is fairly dated (as it was then), with the tech stocks and fractional quotes, it helped give me an idea of trading in an applied sense. Some other books on the bookshelf include: The Market Maker's Edge - Josh Lukeman - I feel I need to read this one again. I read this in about 3 days during the time I was working two jobs and taking a class as well. With more trading experience and being more rested I think I may get more out of it a second time. All About Technical Analysis - Constance Brown - I felt it was a good overview; its also been a while since I have read it. The New Market Wizards - Jack Schwager - I have not finished it. I am about half way through it and so far I have not found the content that the original book contained, but there are some good points. Fundamentals of the Options Market -Michael Williams and Amy Hoffman - There are some mistakes; from what I understand they were corrected in later versions of the book. For the most part, however, the authors explain the same topics in simpler terms than the long formulas present in the CFA texts, etc. For example, the "synthetic triangle" explains sythetics a bit better than just memorizing the different combinations. I have looked over some of the threads regarding other books. Does anyone have any good recommendations? I have not found any good material regarding foreign exchange except my old economics books and Volumes 2 and 6 of the CFA I curriculum. Most so-called forex stuff seems to be "get rich quick" type superficial material which I'm really not interested in.
I Like the book by Marcel Link also as I like spread trading "The complete guide to spread trading" was good though tough for me
Thanks guys. I think that I will spend some time looking at the Mendelsohn book first. I was looking around at Borders, and the only book I saw was Forex Made Easy and a book Forex For Dummies, or something similar to that. I mostly focus on the USD/JPY currency pair, however I have traded the CAD/JPY as well. As far as charting, I know there are a lot of similarities between any market, so I think that is part of the reason why I have not had a lot of problems adapting from equities to foreign exchange. Now that I've been involved with it for a while, I believe I will take in some reading to try to get some different perspectives.
the old wyckoff, neill, tape books are always good. as is schabacker (spelling?) darvas, weinstein, and then a bunch from the 90s (hit and run, street smarts, advanced trading strategies) not so much for the specific strategies, but what others MAY use to make / design strategies, how to profit from them and the failed breakouts, how to maximize reward/risk potential... i liked the joe ross ones, even though i believe much of the information was gleaned form others. that's fine, it was one of the ones which opened my eyes. and, interestingly enough, there are a zillion online sources which are great, and NOT necessarily from marketwatch/thestreet/etc. my successful entry into shortselling occured because of a couple of them. in completion: focus on if the material works, and what you can learn from it on a 'deeper' level, rather than who authored it. even 1 lesson in a book (i'll cite trader vic's book which had 2-3) can justify reading something multiple times.
on the psychology side, check out the 2 books by Steenbarger. Douglas is ok, but can't match Steenbarger.
Oh, and I forgot to mention another one of my favorite readings is the 300-page Market Profile Handbook on cbot.com. I feel that is very valuable because of the way it breaks down specific market actions and volume activity. I finally finished reading The New Market Wizards. Like I said before, I really got into the first volume a little more, but there were some good interviews towards the end especially. I liked the example Jeff Yass mentioned regarding the old show Let's Make a Deal, where the contestant actually has a better chance by switching doors due to the nonrandomness/history of the host always picking the door with nothing behind it.
Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis - I got this for Christmas and just finished it. Surprisingly, despite hearing a lot about the book, I did not know exactly what it was about until I started reading it. It provides a good insight into Wall Street in the 80's. By the end of the book I felt that I knew some of the characters and it is interesting looking them up to see what people like Lewis Ranieri and others have done with their careers since then. I'm still reading Manias, Panics, and Crashes by Charles Kindleberger, slowly, and will post once I finish.