"Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas. Revolutionized my understanding of the markets. Does not cover specific techniques, but great for developing one's psyche for trading.
The best: The books of Nicolas Darvas http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au:Nicolas+Darvas&qt=faceted&fq=ap:Nicolas+Darvas+>+ln:eng
Steve Nison's books, esp. Beyond Candlesticks Tony Oz "The Stock Trader" Barry Rudd's books Darvas' books -k
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist Traders almost universally dismiss anything relating to WB, which I think is a mistake. I've read most of the books mentioned on this thread ... all have their merits. But if a trader wants to break from the pack, he needs to look at his business in an unconventional way. One way is to adopt principles that have been proven over, and over, and over again to provide an edge. Those principles were first laid out by Ben Graham, and most obviously proven by WB. WB was a trader - always was and always will be. As a pre-teen he hung out at the horse track, scrounging for an edge - and he found it. (Read the book and you'll know how he did it.) WB is generally not regarded as a trader because he breaks many of the common rules followed by most traders. Anyway, I'm not out to save the world ... I'll leave it at that. http://www.tilsonfunds.com/superinvestors.pdf
================== Re; 3 ring Helpbul book,i assume those are color charts. I like to hand write data on bluelined 3 ring note-book paper; write the 200 ,50 day moving averages,open, end of day price................................................................................... Jack Schwager top trading books & Proverbs-priceless, rereadING now; but frankly i am giving more books than buying. For fun i read my State Farm insurance agents mag; usually always has some good risk warning info on e-quakes, floods,war on terror, killer storms.Nothing about climate change fraud or rabbit trails. And as the 35 year Futures mag[stocks options, futures] notes; Mr. Bill Brodsky of CBOE quipped; Winston Church hill said @ the end of World War II, history would be kind to him because he intended to write it.
Ben's Security Analysis Livermore How to trade in Stocks; and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Market wizards from Schwager
Long term secrets to short term trading by Larry Williams, allot of people dismiss this book as being BS but IMO it shows the type of simple methods that can and do work in the futures markets, you wouldn't want to trade any of the ideas he presents in the book, well not in there raw form anyway The Ultimate trading guide by Hill, Pruit, Hill, the first half of the book is the standard waffle and doesnt really offer allot but the second half is excellent at showing how to develop and create mechanical trading systems, well worth the money for anyone who trades mechanically or is thinking of doing so. Market Wizards 1&2 by Jack Schwager, think most would have this on there list so enough said. Adaptive Analysis for Australian stocks by Nick Radge, although the title suggest its aimed at the Australian market this book relates to all markets and presents a Simple and easy way to understand what will make you profitable as a trader like no other book Ive read, google reviews on this book I'm yet to see a bad one.