[QUOTE="RiggedMkt, post: 4532436, member: 501648"Then use your chart reading skill that you obtain by spending a few thousand hours by yourself and not by some book tell you to see, for entry and exit.[/QUOTE] Be in relationships. Big winners normally attribute part of their success to having surrounded themselves with teachers, mentors, friends; even reading the ideas of smart people. Few lock themselves away alone for a few thousand hours doing anything. "When seeking to be the best, seek the wisdom of more than one master," AnnaMarie Demars, World judo champion.
Traders of the New Era Deals with trading in a high frequency world as well as addresses some of the rule changes affecting traders. I especially enjoyed chapters 6 and 12- equity traders Dennis Dick and Bot Destroyer. Getting good fills is a key topic that comes up over and over and over. The who, what, when, where and why of this is critical. The inability of sim-traders and back testers to get good fills is often a killer. Things have really changed here over the last 15 years. ____ Also, equity day traders can't go wrong reading through the posts of Dustin and Lescor.
You don't learn to trade reading books. The problem here is that with no experience, how do you evaluate whether the ideas in the book have any merit?
Books have helped many trades who went on to make many, many millions. Many years ago, Options As A Strategic Investment helped one group I know of make a fortune- a literal kings ransom. Programing books have helped others. Poster Xela credits a number of books as having helped her. There are many ways to check out if a book might be right for you. Sometimes you can even ask knowledgeable people if they can recommend books.
Not "just" from reading books, for sure. But I'd contend that most people who become successful at it don't learn without some of that, either. I think mostly by relying (rightly or wrongly) on the strength of recommendations from people you trust - and, for some people, doubtless, relying on the strength of recommendations from random strangers in a forum and/or random reviewers at Amazon.
No, you certainly can learn how to analyze and trade from some books. Unfortunately most are attracted to books that promise the reader instant fortunes, and are basically worthless. However there are books that can be of great value to the learner. But then again, such books require hard work to master the contents, which few, very few are willing to undertake.
I did not mean to be harsh in my reply. There is, I think, a worthwhile caveat behind you post: Reading and trusting the wrong material can be a killer. Experience does help! Hooking up with the right people helps! And other things are needed to be a winning trader than simply the ability to read a good book. However, many big, big winning traders have said they have indeed been helped by reading books.
In addition to what Xela so correctly stated, I think that if you are lucky enough to find and read a good book or two early on in your trading education, it will be very easy from then on to determine at a glance which other books are worthwhile reading.