Makes me wonder. What are the five most important books that have nothing to do with trading but you can't trade without them. Ie, psychology, tony robbins type stuff, self introspection, bias in the media, author intent/motive, etc.
Been here all of 8 months and past the thousand mark. Good job. Should I research and see what proportion are worth a shit? As for the OP, most books have a pearl or two of wisdom. But geared toward selling books. Authors that don't trade "speaks" for itself. The first book I'd recommend is entitled "The Taylor Trading Technique". Written by George Douglass Taylor (yess that's two "s"). Circa 1950. A mere $20 or so. Not an easy book to read. Why? Because Taylor was a floor trader not an author. After a couple readings. WITH notes or hightlights, you should get the gist. No computer. No canned indicators. Just mechanics and waiting for your mark. Carrying strong closes overnight. Quickly abandoning those not going as planned. And......... profitable exiting. The essence of TRADING, not investing. Not seeking action. Not succumbing to bullshit news, etc. Waiting for your mark and once having it, capitalizing on it. As for Trading in the Zone, gee, another Douglas, your own inherent "psychology" is learned (generally WITH tuition) from your endeavors, not a book. Fear, greed, paitience, composure, etc. When you have a string of successive gains, you're probably in the............eh...........zone. Probably not the time for self-proclamation of sheer genius. There's a lot to be said, both no specific books, on proper position sizing. The Trading Game by Ryan Jones makes a feeble and distorted attempt. Let's just say 1%/2.5 ATR until you demonstrate to yourself "consistency". As for Graham and Bogle, I'm gonna be kind and stop. But............we can ultimately thank Ben for those cute Geico ads.
My favorite is: A curriculum activities guide to birds, bugs, dogs, and weather and environmental studies (Unknown Binding) by John T Hershey (Author)
The only two I ever recommend: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Wiley Investment Classics) by Edwin Lefèvre and Roger Lowenstein (Paperback - Jan 17, 2006) And, my brother's favorite: Data Driven Investing (Professional Edition) by MBA, CPA, CFA, FLMI Bill Matson, Mitchell R. Hardy, Denis R. Desharnais, and MBA Susan W. Bailey (Paperback - 2004) 6 Used & new from $50.00 Most of the "stuff" out there is devised by brokers and their ilk, or else guys who write but don't trade. IMO. Don
"Been here all of 8 months and past the thousand mark. Good job. Should I research and see what proportion are worth a shit?" All work and no play makes nutmeg a dull boy. The post was sarcasm, usually lost in print and I failed to point out. Re, what proportion are worth a shit, I have my good points but style is style and like you said their are small pearls of wisdom everywhere. Regards
good post and fair assessment. Thank you for not flaming my post, but making a constructive reference. I agree that bogle doesn't provide much insight, just a bit of history on index funds. Graham as well for trading, but for a newbie investor I felt it has its merits and provides some foundation on his concept of value investing, at the minimum some history. When I responded to this post, I copy and pasted my reading list and left it to the OP to decide which may be of interest to him. As I pointed out, I too am a relative newbie and was attempting to contribute to the best of my abilities. I appreciate the fair appraisal and advice given by you and some of the other more constructive posters. It is a shame that the constructive posts are in the minority in these forums.
Its not unique but you'd be surprised how complicated people make things. They rather throw up 100 indicators and have them do all the work (and probably not well) than really get down to the nitty gritty and learn to read charts and price action themselves. It a nutshell, people are lazy. Dont really know why I am responding to you, you think the market is a scam anyways.
After you read some of the books recommended go to StockCharts.com and look at a few thousand charts (6 month or 1 year candlestick). I has been said that an average 5th grader armed with a chart a pencil and a ruler can pick more winners than 95% of the people using all their indicaters.When you have done this if you still want to trade I recommend position trading until you get a feel for the process.Preservation of capital is paramount therefore your first goal should be not to lose money rather than to make money.After you become reasonably good at not losing much then you can try to increase your profits .Basic advice is never sell a stock going up and never buy a stock going down.