Key takeaways
- How to Make Money in Stocks, William O'Neil — the CAN SLIM system, blending earnings growth, institutional buying and chart action. The clearest explanation of supply and demand in the market.
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator — the Jesse Livermore story. Part history, part therapy, and a warning label about fear, greed and ego that has not dated in a century.
- How to Trade in Stocks, Jesse Livermore — where Reminiscences is the story, this is the rule book: cut losers fast, trade liquid stocks, add only to winners.
- Market Wizards, Jack Schwager — interviews with the greats, and the uncomfortable finding is that none of them trade alike. There is no holy grail strategy; the edge is discipline and risk management.
- Trading for a Living, Dr. Alexander Elder — written by a psychiatrist before he was a trader, which is why it explains self-sabotage, overtrading and revenge trading better than most.
- The Day Trading QuickStart Guide, Troy Noonan — setups, simple risk control and mindset, in plain English rather than jargon.
- What It Takes: The Secrets of Becoming a Successful Trader, Eddie Z — discipline, habits and the mindset to last, with seven trader interviews.
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck — not a trading book, and included deliberately. Stop needing to be right on every trade and start caring about process, risk and admitting when you are wrong.
- Not sure where your machine stands? The free benchmark test takes about two minutes.
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!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best book for a beginner trader?
How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil is the usual starting point. It lays out the CAN SLIM system, which combines earnings growth and institutional buying with what the chart is doing, and it explains supply and demand in the market more clearly than most books manage. It is a method book rather than an entertaining one.
Is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator still relevant?
Yes, because it is about behavior rather than technique. Jesse Livermore began trading in the late 1800s and made and lost fortunes repeatedly, and the reasons — fear, greed, ego — have not changed. Read it for the psychology, not for market mechanics.
What book explains trading psychology best?
Trading for a Living by Dr. Alexander Elder. He worked as a psychiatrist before he traded, so he approaches overtrading, revenge trading and self-sabotage as behavior with causes rather than as failures of willpower. Market Wizards is a good companion, because seeing that great traders use incompatible methods makes the point that discipline is the common factor.
Is there one strategy book that works for everyone?
No, and Market Wizards is the book that demonstrates it. Schwager interviews traders at the top of the profession and finds they trade in ways that contradict each other. There is no magical indicator and no robot that turns a computer into a cash machine. What the successful ones share is risk management and consistency.
Why is a book about not caring on a trading list?
Because the instinct to be right on every trade is expensive. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is about choosing what to care about, which maps directly onto trading — stop caring about being right and impressing people, and start caring about the process, risk management, consistency, and admitting when a position is wrong.
