I seriously recommend reading as few books as possible on trading. I'd suggest one book on each of the following - chart patterns - Thomas Bulkowski / John Murphy candlestick patterns - Thomas Bulkowski / Steve Nison trading psychology - Mark Douglas example strategies - Linda Bradford Raschke / Mike Covel / Mark Fisher / Alan Farley Nothing on indicators, statistics, probability theory, advanced psychology, company accounting, how Warren Buffet got rich, very little by any college professor, nothing on the fundamentals of sovereign currencies or central bank procedures.
Novices think an edge is found in entry signals. Seasoned/profitable traders know the edge lies in the sum parts of the traders psychology and trade/risk mgmt.
I completely disagree with following the end of a trend. The trick is being able to catch the very beginning of a trend or learning to not be reliant on following the pack.
there is not 'an edge', but there is 'the edge', which is the trader himself. 'an edge' can erode. 'the edge' means you read market well as a discretionary, or you program well as a systematic. see my 'trading is easy' thread, an example of how you get an edge.
trend-following is a pattern, it's NOT an edge. check CTA performance in recent years.. no edge there anymore.... that's what I meant by 'an edge will erode'.
When this question is asked, its normally when a novice trader has a little bit of knowledge, nut not enough to know how to create a workable strategy. As someone that's traded successfully for years, the most beneficial thing you can do is to stop looking for edge. Instead, pick an instrument you are interested in trading and study how price moves within the instrument for 2 hours a day for at least a year. Break down the bars bar by bar as each tells a story. Use logical reasoning to determine why these bars form the way they do. Why is important. Once you understand how each bar reacts and why in different areas of a chart, you have enough information to begin to create edge.
Edge... is basically whether or not you have mastered the art of reading price action on a chart to day trade futures/stocks/currencies; or mastered analyzing volatility to trade derivatives. It is not some secret sauce, it is just hard work, effort and vision.