Must Read Books for Aspiring Traders

I am looking for a few suggestions on key books that should be read by all those who aspire to become traders. I have already read Reminiscence of a Stock Operator (actually currently on my second time through it) and am half way through Trading in the Zone. Any other key suggestions? Thanks in advance for your responses.

p.s. If there is a thread that already contains the list I am asking for, a link to it is sufficient.

13 Comments
 

Thanks for the response. And I agree with you about the trying to trade like a book suggestion. I am more so looking for books that teach you how to think like a trader rather than a book that teaches a system. I have heard a lot of good things about the Market Wizards series and plan on snagging them soon.

 
Best Response

Fooled by Randomness (yea I'm cynical but this book is great)

Classics: The Alchemy of Finance (Skip to trading journal section... learn about how different asset classes impact one another) Pitbull (daytrader clues in on psychology and intermarket analysis Education of a Speculator (Niederhoffer blew up several times but his approach to the market is very unique, aside the statistical analysis side)

More technical and about the general market: Traders, Guns and Money Tail Risk Killers Misbehaivor of Markets

Historical: Devil Take the Hindmost Manias, Panics and Crashes Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

I own probably over 100 of these popular books (not textbooks) related to the financial markets and these are good ones, albeit an incomplete list... I wanted to work in trading.

The Market Wizard books kind of hint that many "top" traders were in the right market at the right time with the right strategy. It has made me quite cynical of being able to consistently produce alpha. I don't doubt it (read guys such as Ed Thorp) but a lot of these are outliers... many others probably just lost the motivation to track the markets after they make the big $ (usually become asset gatherers and do not generate alpha).

 

Markets Wizards by Jack D. Schwager - the original one focuses on old school legends like Bruce Kovner, Paul Tudor Jones and such and has alot of emphassis on Currency/Commodity trading and it was published in the late 80s

The newer ones, Hedge Fund market wizards for example focus more on equity guys of the 90s and are still probably good but the first one is the most popular

Reminisces of A Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre. A must read, alot of the stuff he talks about are valid today even though the book is over 80 years old.

More Money than God by Christian Mallary, good book to get insight into the hedge fund / investing industry.

The Quants by Scott Patterson. Insights into what you're up against..battling teams of investors who have billions of capital and armies of rocket scientists to crack the codes of the market

I really don't know of any books that 'teach' you to trade that I could recommend..anything you want is on the internet as far as technical analysis goes. The only technical book I have on trading is Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence McMillan and quite frankly its just a manual of every single options configuration you could possibly try and some examples.

alpha currency trader wanna-be
 

Really recommend Street Freak by Jared Dillian (ETF and Index Arb trader at Lehman up until '08). Really funny book that still has a lot of substance to it. Read it in preparation for the WSO Conf and really enjoyed it.

 

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