[matinthehat]

Hi,

I will be out of high-school within months and am going to dive immediatel,y into trading information. I need a list of books to read to get me prepared for my future career.

First i want to get a good understanding of futures (my understanding is already decent but i would like to further it). Second, i would like to learn about trading as a career. Then, i want to learn about direct market information. For the latter i already will be buying Mind Over Markets, Steidlmeyer on Markets, and Markets in Profile.

Please give me your opinions. I will accept any advice from anyone. Thanks.

[BlowFish]

Welcome to TL. This topic has cropped up a couple of times here before you might want to have a rummage around. There are books that are considered 'classics' (Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Douglas' stuff spring to mind) and people will offer books that cover there particular area of interest. If you have decided on MP as your main tool try not to get too distracted.

I would recommend taking a look at the trade/money management side of things Van Tharp is OK ish for a grounding, I quite liked Tewles. Psychology and mindset are important (hence people recommending Douglas). Ypu might want to get a basic 'dummys guide to starting a business' type book.

[xracer]

There are many good books out there, and on your journey to be the best trader you can be, you'll most likely always have your nose a book.

From the very beginning, you should be reading books that will teach you how to trade markets based on price action alone (no indicators). This is analogous to driving a car with a stick shift. You'll have a better understanding of whats going on, and have much greater control over your trading no matter where your journey later takes you.

On this site do a search for a trader called "DbPhoenix", and look for the free "introduction/ebook" on his blog. To get the full version, contact him directly.

[brownsfan019]

Awhile back I made the attached list and I think it's a pretty good start! See the PDF.

[BlowFish]

Originally Posted by xracer »

There are many good books out there, and on your journey to be the best trader you can be, you'll most likely always have your nose a book.

From the very beginning, you should be reading books that will teach you how to trade markets based on price action alone (no indicators). This is analogous to driving a car with a stick shift. You'll have a better understanding of whats going on, and have much greater control over your trading no matter where your journey later takes you.

On this site do a search for a trader called "DbPhoenix", and look for the free "introduction/ebook" on his blog. To get the full version, contact him directly.

Whilst I agree price action is king and complimentary to may other approaches (as a trigger for example), I would never presume to tell him how he should trade. He has already decided to go down the market profile road, at a later stage the material you mention might be useful however whilst studying MP as a beginner it is likely to add confusion rather than clarity. I do agree its all good stuff of course.

btw the futures book I mentioned is called "THE FUTURES GAME. Who Wins, Who Loses & Why." It's a pretty good all round book about futures and you could dispense with van Tharp if you read it as it covers the same money management principles.

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by BlowFish »

btw the futures book I mentioned is called "THE FUTURES GAME. Who Wins, Who Loses & Why." It's a pretty good all round book about futures and you could dispense with van Tharp if you read it as it covers the same money management principles.

The Futures Game: Who Wins, Who Loses, & Why (Hardcover)

I recall hearing about that book as well, haven't read it myself though.

[brownsfan019]

To the OP - in addition to building your trading library, start to get some screen time. Screen time meaning watching the markets in real-time and getting a feel for them.

If you plan to trade futures or just need a low cost solution to watching real-time, I would strongly suggest using the Open ECry simulator.

Here's why:

1) Everyone here, regardless of how they trade, will tell you that screen time is important. And it is.

2) Starting out, it can get expensive getting data feeds and such to be able to watch in real-time if you are not trading. For example, TradeStation charges over $100/mo easily if you don't trade.

3) OEC is inexpensive IMO for what they offer to sim users. You get an incredible amount of live data (limited back data) and you can play around as much as you want. I believe the cost is $24.95/mo. You won't be able to beat that.

So look around and get your hands on something. NinjaTrader is free to sim but you'll still need data to plug into it. Not sure what other brokers offer as well.

[AgeKay]

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 »

NinjaTrader is free to sim but you'll still need data to plug into it. Not sure what other brokers offer as well.

I believe several brokers offer NinjaTrader with the Zen-Fire feed for free while you're just trading demo. Not only is this probably the cheapest way to get a good real-time data feed, NinjaTrader is pretty good as a trading software itself.