Everybody's got their top books on trading. Most of them are just bookshelf decorations. They look good on a YouTube video and Zoom, but they've never actually been read. And most trading gurus are complete phonies.
Today, I'm laying out the books that actually matter, at least to me, because these books shaped me. These books shaped trading legends.
So here are my favorite books on trading. I've read all of these.
Book #1
How to Make Money In Stocks by William O'Neil. This is the Bible of trading stocks, and that's what I trade. O'Neil built the Can Slim System. It blends fundamentals and technicals, earnings growth, institutional buying, and chart action.
It's not sexy, it's not entertainment, but it's discipline, and it explains the supply and the demand in the stock market like no other book does.
If you skip this book, you're basically playing poker with a blindfold.
Book #2
Part history, mostly trading lessons. It's called Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, the demoralized life of Jesse Livermore.
This guy Jesse Livermore made and lost a fortune so many times, you’d think he was allergic to money. But the lessons, eternal. Fear, greed, ego. These are the ones that have been blowing up traders for centuries.
Again, this book is part history, part therapy, and it's a giant warning label for your trading account.
This guy started trading in the late 1800s. But these rules and lessons are still so valuable today.
Book #3
Jesse Livermore, in his own words, How to Trade in Stocks.
If the book Reminiscences is the story, then this is the rule book. Cut losers fast, trade liquid stocks, and add only to winners.
Is it old? Sure, it is, but people's emotions haven't changed in the last hundred years, so his rules still apply today greatly.
Book #4
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager. This one's like behind the music for traders.
Schwager interviews the greats. What you'll find is that they don't trade the same way, and that's the controversial part.
There is no holy grail strategy. Get that through your head. It's such a big lesson in trading. You're not going to find a magical indicator or a magical robot to trade your account for you and turn your computer into an ATM machine. It doesn't exist.
The real holy grail is the discipline, and it's the risk management, and everything else is window dressing.
Book #5
Trading for a Living by Dr. Elder. He was a psychiatrist before he was a trader, so he knows why you self-sabotage. He knows why you overtrade or undertrade, why you revenge trade, or why you have gambling impulses.
Now if you're thinking, Eddie, where the heck do you even start with all this? I've got you.
Grab my, grab this book for free, The Ultimate Guide to Trading Stocks. Go ahead and grab it here before you forget.
Book #6
The Day Trading QuickStart Guide by my friend, Troy Noonan. This is trading without the jargon. Clear setups, simple risk control, and mindset, which is everything in trading in plain English.
Think of it as training wheels that actually work way better than those so-called YouTube gurus charging $5,000 for nonsense.
Book #7
Yes, I'm putting my own book here. It's called What It Takes: The Secrets of Becoming a Successful Trader.
Why am I putting it here? Because it's the truth that no one else wants to tell you. It's about discipline, it's about habits, it's about the mindset to survive the long term.
I don't sugarcoat it. I don't hype it. I've interviewed seven traders in there, and I lay it out the way it actually is. Am I biased? Of course I am, but if I didn't put this one on the list, I'd be lying to you.
Book #8
It's not exactly about trading. It's called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. I know that's funny because it's not a trading book, but it's absolutely essential for traders.
You need to stop giving a f*ck about being right on every trade, impressing people with your trading calls, and chasing perfection because there's no such thing.
But you should start giving a f*ck about what matters. The process, the risk management, the consistency, when to admit you're wrong, and paying attention to what's going on in here (your mind). This is what drives the whole thing. Everything else, let it go.
Overview
So, there you go, eight books that actually matter. Some are classic, some are curve balls, and yeah, one's mine.
And if you want to shortcut to really learn how to trade, go ahead and grab my book, The Ultimate Guide to Trading Stocks here.
May the trend be with you!
