Baby Steps

[MINTED]

OK....I am about to embark on my trading journey, and like all unknowns, it is scary.
When I was a baby, I crawled first, then took some unsteady steps, then walked unaided, then learnt to talk via the ABC
This is what I am going to do here.....same mentality....LEARN my trading ABC, BUT there are literally hundreds, thousands of books that "claim" to do, just that.
They CAN¨T ALL be right.........so which 5 books, would you experts recommend?
I have seen the post by Thales....but want comparison opinions from others.
Please feel free to mention other learning "tools" too.

Many thanks

[HAL9000]

I have just one, that I like to recommend, old but a must read, IMO

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
by Edwin Lefèvre

[Robert337664]

Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets by Stan Weinstein

[MINTED]

Thanks guys.....but any more?
Other tools ?
Websites?
blah blah blah

[DbPhoenix]

Whatever books I might recommend, if any, would depend on where you are and what you want. If you know absolutely nothing about trading or the markets and have absolutely no idea what you want from trading, I would not recommend Reminiscences nor Weinstein nor O'Neil. They are well beyond where you are. If you have some knowledge of and appreciation of how the markets work and what trading involves and what you want from the markets and how you plan to go about getting it, that's a different matter.

So......

[atto]

Here are the five that had the most impact on the way I trade today:

The Richard D. Wyckoff Method of Trading and Investing in Stocks. This is incredibly difficult to find, so if you cannot, read Studies in Tape Reading by Richard Wyckoff, along with the available material in the Wyckoff Forum. (Inexpensive, or free)
Wyckoff lays a strong foundation for an understanding of market action, supply and demand, and support and resistance.

My Feeble Attempt to Understand the Market by Dbphoenix. ($30, and is worth quite more)
Dbphoenix, well known here, relays much of his market wisdom and approach. This book is non-linear, and is comprised of sections dealing with different aspects of market analysis.

Phantom of the Pits by Art Simpson (Free)
The Phantom, an anonymous successful pit trader, and Art Simpson converse about the Phantom's rules in trading. These rules build the foundation to solid trade management.

When to Sell by Justin Mamis (~$20)
Mamis details his method for managing risk and protecting against losses. His texts are slower reads, and full of trading gems. For a most philosophical continuation on risk, pick up The Nature of Risk as well.

Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips (~$6 used)
Phillips focuses on the inner game of Poker, which applies directly to the inner game of trading. Before you can master the markets, you must master yourself. This isn't a book on poker rules or style, but rather about risk management.


Note that none of these hold any secret keys to the markets. None contain secret setups that can be effortlessly and easily traded. However, the knowledge inside was absolutely invaluable to my own trading success.

[thalestrader]

I would recommend the following post by Db: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...html#post67331 If I were starting out at this game, I'd print that post out, put it in the front of a three ring binder, and make it part of my daily prep.

Unlike Db, however, I do not think one needs to put in a certain amount time or study before reading Reminiscences or O'Neil's How to Make Money in Stocks. In my opinion, what one is able to take from either of these books has more to do with his or her intelligence and emotional maturity than one's level of market experience.

However, I always recommend that the would-be trader, seduced by visions of sugarplums and wealth dancing about his or her head, first read Nicolas Darvas's How I MAde 2,000,000 in the Stock Market. It is an excellent story that covers Darvas's journey through the stages of development outlined in DB's excellent above referenced post. O'Neil has admitted to various inteviewers that it was Darvas's book that inspired his trading and the formulation of his famous CANSLIM approach. Many "serious" traders found in internet forums ridicule Darvas's book. They would be surprised to learn how many actual traders keep dog-eared and tattered copies of Darvas not in, but on thier desks.

Best Wishes,

Thales

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by DbPhoenix They are well beyond where you are.

I disagree with that statement.


Let me explain, I think that even if a reader might not know all terms used in these books, they are the better start. A reader can learn the terms and what they mean with a small additional effort.

But, if you read the mainstream food (i.e. xxx for dummies, etc. ), you may discover after some years,
that you would have saved plenty of time and money, if you just would have known ...


Well, Reminiscences, is the foundation (still IMO) .

It shows also the ups and downs in life, as well as the strategies of a trader (i.e. Livermore).

Livermore, might not have had the choice of tons of books like we have today. But he was clever, he used common sense, and this book about
him contains so much basic rules (not to say wisdom),
everyone talks about today, not knowing where it comes from.

A must read for everyone.

Hal


P.S.: I like Darvas too.

[DbPhoenix]

By posting here, I didn't intend to get into a debate on the pertinence or quality of any given book or books, and while I appreciate the remarks made about my own book and about the thread mentioned by thales, I still don't know anything about "minted" nor about what he knows nor about his level of experience, if any.

So, I'll copy here a little of what I've posted in my blog with regard to first steps. Perhaps that will be of benefit to him:

In order to succeed at trading, you must have an edge. Your edge begins with the knowledge you gain through your research and testing that a particular price pattern or market behavior offers a level of predictability and a risk to reward ratio that provides a consistently profitable outcome over time. Without it, one is just "playing" the market in order to have something to talk about on message boards. To get it, you have to know exactly what you're looking for and what to do with it once you've found it. This process is what the journal is all about.

The journal goes through several stages depending on where you are. Once you've decided where you want to concentrate your efforts (at this level, the journal may resemble a diary), then you begin the process of developing a system (or method, strategy, procedure, whatever you want to call it). Here the journal takes on a different character. Once you've developed a tentative/preliminary system, you begin testing/trading it, and the journal adopts a still different character.

The first step is to decide what kind of trader you want to be.

* What do you want to accomplish with your trading? Is it recreational? Supplementary income? A part-time job? Do you want to make a living at it? Even the greenest of the green knows whether or not he wants to make a living at it, trade only part time, trade for recreation, trade for the action, trade to have something to talk about with other traders (for whatever reason), trade only long enough to earn money to do or buy X.

* Do you have any idea what sort of trading is most comfortable? Long or intermediate-term trading? Short-term trading? Day-trading? Trend-trading? Scalping? (Note here that a short-term trader, for example, does not become a long-term trader just because his stop was hit and he didn't sell; a long-term trader doesn't become a short-term trader because he chickened out and sold too soon. Each of these approaches are selected deliberately and for thoroughly-considered reasons.) How patient are you? How adventurous? Are you a leader or a follower (most people think they're leaders)?


The second step is to decide what you're going to trade and when you're going to trade it.

* Have you found an instrument -- futures, stocks, ETFs, bonds, options -- that provides you with the range and volatility you require but also the safety that enables you to relax and trade in an objective and rational manner?

* Have you yet found a time (5m, hourly, weekly) or tick (1t, 200t) or volume (1K, 100K) interval that gives you enough trading opportunities but also gives you enough time to think about what you're doing? If you want to limit your trading to the "morning", are you physically and psychologically prepared to trade all day? If not, can you shrug off whatever opportunities you may miss by limiting the amount of time you spend trading?

The third step is to develop your system*.

A system consists of (a) a set of rules that you use to select profitable positions and (b) a set of rules that you use to manage the trade once you're in it. (*Note: again, whether you call it a system, a method, a strategy, a plan, a scheme, an approach, a procedure, or a modus operandi is not as important as sitting down and doing it.)

And so on. If one cannot answer even the most preliminary questions, then he needs to address those preliminary questions. If he doesn't do it now, he'll have to do it eventually, but by then he will likely have wasted a considerable amount of money.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by DbPhoenix I still don't know anything about "minted" nor about what he knows nor about his level of experience, if any.

DB,

I don't know too,

but I hope that you, the OP (and as well beginners) understand my point.

I too, would advice them to read your posts and your blog in here at TL.

I have ignored the basic things like S/R and trendlines for a long time.
More working on just indicators. So now for me it seems to be the combination of both worlds.

No need for a discussion on my side too.

Regarding websites, etc.

Website: TL is it, some others are mentioned here.

Tools: There are tons of it here.

So what is it finally?

Make your decision, build your plan.

Livermore was 14, he saw pictures, he saw his edge,
and then he went real ...

He started his journey!


Hal

P.S.: PEACE