Reading List:
I read every night before I go to bed. It’s a way to unwind after a crazy day. I enjoy fantasy and have read the Game of Throwns 2x’s, but I’m changing what I’m reading to change my life.
Next on my Reading List:
Below is a list of books I’ve picked up:
W. Clement Stone's The Success System That Never Fails: Experience the True Riches of Life
This was a good book and more sales related. He details his steps he used in building an insurance business from scratch in 1922. He stresses the power of positive thinking. He broke down his system into small chunks that are easy to read. The book is worth reading even if you are not in a sales role
The Game In Wall Street: And How To Play It Successfully (1898)
Hoyle, William E. Forrest
This was an interesting read from a historical standpoint. This was one of the first book written on the stock market. This was originally a pamphlet that was turned into a hard covered book
The viewpoint is from a conspiratorial group of "they" that ran the market. The key was to spot when there was a bull or bear phase and to go along for the ride. The writing style is very straight forward and uses language that that is common today
The Lifecycle Trade: How to Win at Trading IPOs and Super Growth Stocks
Boboch, Eve
This book was written in 2018 by some members of an IBD Meetup that are near where I live. They did a study on common characteristic of some of the biggest IPO's of the recent market\
There are a few basic characteristics and being able to recognize where you are at in the life cycle of a stock is key. Then they have a few cell rule designed to keep you in for the largest gains. The end of the book had interviews that was very realistic and found this to be the best part of the book
The issue I have is that it is all rather subjective. The study did have hindsight and survivorship biases. They have the benefit to look to the right side of a chat
They do cover money management and recommend using only a small portion of your portfolio. IPO's are risky and can move quickly both for and against you.Their results seemed over tuned
Fooled by Randomness The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
This book was on Chat With Trader's recommended reading list. This is densely written and has an extended prolog. Taleb is irreverent and shows how much randomness fills our days
His writing style is steeped in classical literature and don't references to Homer. The first 50 pages or so is tough to get through. When you get past the beginning it is an easier read
This discusses some of the biases like a survivor ship bias in the markets with mutual fund performance. This was a good read by then and I'll come back to it again
Short Term Trading Strategies That Work by Larry Connors and Cesar Alvarez
This book focuses on a time frame of 2-5 days and has high probability setups.
The strategies are shorter in time frame then am unable to trade right now. This is a sold read with clear setups
This book is heavy on trading psychology, but a good read. I'll be rereading this again when my account is larger
Stock Trader's Almanac 2019 (Almanac Investor Series)
Hirsch, Jeffrey A.
This is a great yearly calendar for the stock market. This is a rich resource for statistics about the averages and seasonality
Charting the Stock Market: The Wyckoff Method
This was a recommended book about charting and catching momentum break outs. This was published in 1991, but it was written in 1937. This is a good historical book about the market and established a trading system. It was a manual process and used point and figure charts for screening on price action
This has been on several recommended reading lists for traders. This is a compilation of interviews with some of the best traders in the 90's. The trading psychology still holds true. There are stories covering some of the biggest gains and losses. Many of recount the market crash of 1987
Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes
This was on the recommended reading list and it just arrived today. I'm looking forward to reviewing the different cycles of the market
This is a clean straight forward book about trading. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, because it comes from deep experience in trading
I'm currently about halfway through this book and it has refined the CANSLIM system. It takes advantage of smaller consolidation periods and gaps. This is a text book and helps you to train you chart eye
The book is mostly charts and I found the best way to read this is to review a couple of chart patterns at a time. This will reinforce the learning of the chart patterns
How to Make Money Selling Stocks Short
(Wiley Trading) by O'Neil, William J., Morales, Gil
I had picked this book up, because the market does not go straight up. I wanted to learn about making money on the way down. This is a text book that details the correct way to short a stock. Half of this book are examples with weekly charts and annotations.
I have finished reading this, but look at a few charts a night before picking up the next book. The idea is to have a firm imprint of the setup
The Emotionally Intelligent Investor: How self-awareness, empathy and intuition drive performance
Mehta, Ravee
This book was recommended to me from an investment club and decided to pick this up. This book is making more self aware of the emotions around trading. People make decisions emotionally and support them logically. This is making me reassess my biases
The first step to increase self awareness is paying more attention to your emotions. This book helps in identifying and coping with trading. I consider this a great book and should be on every investor's reading list
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Ferriss, Timothy
I have come across this book as a recommendation from YouTube and have been listening to the audio book. I'm finding the story captivating and looking forward to treating this as a text book
This has a ton of resources for the New Rich. The concept is to reduce work down to the essentials and focus on what makes the most money and cut out the fat
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds
Charles MacKay
This is the classic book on crowd psychology and is considered a must ready for market participants. This is an extensive book and looks like it was written in the mid 1800's. I thought that the latest date written about was 1833. This is a historical count of delusions and the events that illustrate the extremes that people will go beyond reason.
It starts with Mississippi Company bubble in France. Then goes into the South Sea bubble, witches, alchemy, philosophers stone, haunted houses, and crusades. I found this to be a fascinating, because the extremes of human nature
Mindset - The New Psychology of Success
Dr Carol S. Dweck
I came across this book, because it was required reading for a new recruit for a trading desk. This illustrates the differences of a fixed or a growth mindset. The growth mindset creates a dynamic world where new skills are learned.
The people with a growth mindset accept failure and build from it. I found this to be a good read and workbook. It opened my mind about some of my own limitations
Tape reading and market tactics
Humphrey Bancroft Neill
This book was written in 1930's and teaches the reader how to read the tape. This concept has been going for more than 100 years. This is the same as Accumulation/Distribution
This is a classic book and the core concepts are relevant today. The idea is to take the point change * volume = $ change each day, hour, or minute. By tracking a stock you tend to develop a feel for the market action
This is also a historical document describing the market after the 1929 crash and before the ultimate bottom. I feel that this a great book
The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market
George Soros
I ordered this book, because he is a famed trader and I had wanted to read this for a good while. Gorge Soros was the head of a hedge fund and initital investors received 300 fold increase over 12 years.
This book is pretty deep in economic theory. He argues that the classic theory that the market moves to an equilibrium point. He says that it is flawed, because market participants are thinking and are not always logical.
The market actually has recursive properties and become self fulfilling. If home sales are increasing the asset base is safer and more loans are given. Which then creates a cycle until it breaks down.
This was written around 1985 and has a case study of his holdings. This is also a historical book and details the major market influences of the day.
Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders
Curtis M Faith
This book was a recommendation of a from Van K Tharp and he wrote the forward for this book. This book was the bet between to commodities traders in Chicago. Is a trader made or born? One trader said it could be learned. He hired 13 new traders, trained them, and gave them a line of $1m
The book covers 20 years from the best trader of the group. This has basic straight forward language and covers the core concepts that were taught. This is a fun book and I've enjoyed picking this up
The Secret Club That Runs the World: Inside the Fraternity of Commodity Traders
Kate Kelly
This book was recommended to me by a friend as a must read. The oil commodities has made a fortune for some traders. Kate tells the story of many of the top global traders. It's a story of large risks and rewards
Hirsh, J. (2017) The Little Book of Stock Market Cycles
This was a recommendation from my IBD MeetUp friends. They have had some success with seasonality trades. Crowds of people are often affected by a seasonal patterns and he has done analysis of these patterns
This book has a long term view of the market and it is plainly written. This goes into detail on the Best Six Months to own stocks. Also there is the presidential cycle, triple witching, and daily cycles.
This has a statistical breakdown for major trends. This has evolved over time, because people make up the market and people change. He has predicted DOW 38,000 by 2025 and provides the reasoning based on past market cycles
John F. Carter (2005). Mastering the Trade
This book was referred to me by a friend. I have cracked it open and started reading the forward. This is a textbook style with small font and clearly organized topics. This will take me a while to work through.
The first half of the book talks about generalities that set up the later half of the book, because he's been a trading coach for over 20 years and there are many strategies that are profitable. Trade setups must match the market, personality, and trading style of the person using them.
The second half has high probability trade set ups. I've bookmarked his Seven Bells setups. These are high probability trades and he covers them in detail
Stock Trader's Almanac 2018 (Almanac Investor Series) Spiral-bound – October 17, 2017
by Jeffrey A. Hirsch
This book was referred to me by my local IBD meetup group. This is more of a stock market calendar and I will be getting this every year. This is full of statistics about the market's past performance.
Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom
Tharp, Van K.
This was an excellent book and I'm creating my trading plan from this book. I have several bookmarks in this and will be rereading several times. This book is in textbook format and covers topics that are avoided by most books.
Most books are concerned only with setups that have rules that work for them. However, even a strategy can have a very high percentage win rate, but most wouldn't make money from that. The reason is risk management.
He plays a game in his seminars where there are 60% odds for a win and you can bet any amount of money per chance. Most of the class gets wiped out. You can have a string of 4 losses and if you risked 25% you wiped out your account.
Darvas, N (1960). How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market
This was a great book. Nicolas was a professional dancer and stumbled into stock trading. He spent 6 years developing a trading plan. He spent countless hours in researching companies and his in rules. He turned $10,000 into over $2,000,000 in 18 months in 1960!
He was featured in TIME and that article turned into this book. He made most of his money with a 4 day old Baron's and closing quotes wired to him. His strategy is very similar to the IBD system. The writing style is direct and not overly technical. Buy this book!
Finberg L. (2015). The Monthly Income Machine
This was a quick read about credit spreads. This approach is very conservative and he explains the strategy in detail. The system looks for at least $.30 with a delta of .08. This makes it a high probability low yield trade. The goal is to generate consistent monthly income. The system is geared towards a larger account size, because of the asset size that would have these returns. This was an easy read.
G M Lobe
The Battle for Investment Survival.
This book was handed to be by an old friend of mine. I had read this before when I was much younger and I'm picking this back up again with a fresh set of eyes.
This is a classic book and my copy was published in 1956. It starts with what speculation is and why it is needed. This covers the new industries and averages of the day. This has a unique historical perspective going back to the crash of '29. The Dow was at a height of 381 and a low of 42. Some of the older stocks has some interesting facts. Technicolor was publicly traded and was a case study in the book
Complete Encyclopedia for Covered Call Writing
Alan Ellman
I decided to purchase this book based on the recommendation of a couple of independent traders. I have read a couple of Alan's other books and found the writing style to be clear and direct.
The book was a comprehensive collection of his other works. He revisited some of his earlier strategies with newer examples and went into more detail in his management techniques. I recommend this, because it rounds out his other works
I had read this book earlier and it was in my library. I was in between my next book arriving and decided to pick this up again. This is a collection articles that he penned for Playboy magazine and is an autobiography.
He made his fortune in the oil boom in the early 1900's. He made is first million at age 24 and retired. After 2 years he was board and went back into the oil business.
This was an enjoyable book and he was more of an investor than a trader. He had cash flow from his businesses and he bought oil businesses. He made strategic investments in that industry, but he also was an avid collector of art. Art was his most priced investments
I came across this in StockCharts.com Chart School researching Parabolic SAR. This was an excellent book with original thinking and mathematical formulas for trading systems. He provides the raw formulas, worksheets, and examples. He systematically defines what a trend actually is.
One of the trading systems that interests me is The Reaction Trading System. This system is designed for flat markets the cause whipsaws in directional markets. I am currently running this against my current holdings.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Wilder introduced the Parabolic Time/Price System in his 1978 book, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems. This book also includes RSI, Average True Range (ATR), and the Directional Movement Concept (ADX). Despite being developed before the computer age, Wilder's indicators have stood the test of time and remain extremely popular.
The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
This was light reading and has a number of examples on how crowds collectively can provide the best answer possible. The best examples have a disperse view points and backgrounds.
From a market sense I disagree with the pricing model that he uses. He argues that the current price of a stock is free cash flow for 20 years discounted to a present value.
The market certainly has a fundamental component, but it is ridiculous to project out earnings 20 years. Some of the leaders today may not even be companies 20 years out.
This was a good book on crowd psychology and it is something to bear in mind when trading.
Markets, Mobs, and Mayhem: A Modern Look at the Madness of Crowds
Robert Menschel
This was a very good book on the effects of crowds and it was written by a Goldman Sach's for over 20 years. This has whole excerpts from original sources along with very well written commentary.
He covers mania's and how panic can ripple through a crowd. He also covers some of the silliness and darkness of crowd behavior. This was a great read and a good part of the book discusses the crowd part of the markets
Advanced Options Trading: Approaches, Tools, and Techniques for Professionals Traders
Kevin Kraus (2009-11-12)
This was a good book and covers options profit/loss diagrams. This has an academic tone and explains various options strategies. He discuss the impact of implied volatility and time decay in the setup.
He explains the setup for all of the spread strategies, but he doesn't present a clear trading systems. He goes through several strategies for a single asset. This book is for the individual investor and the professional portfolio manager.
- Options Trading: A Guide to Buying, Selling, Managing, and Predicting Options Movements
by Eric AltonThis ebook was a basic options book and takes time to explain fundamental concepts. I felt the book was pretty light on managing and predicting options movements. This was a quick read
This was a quick read ebook and explains the setups for a trade. I thought it was pretty light on examples and why he selected the trade. This was a basic options trading book and focused on only technology stocks, but the strategies would apply to any stock
- Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management
Elder, Alexander
ISBN-13: 978-0471592242This is a great book and is considered a classic. He's a psychologist and he approaches trading from this view point. He also has a system for trend following trading and money management techniques. This is on my rereading list
- Come Into My Trading Room: A Complete Guide to Trading
Wiley Trading
Alexander Elder
This was a great book full of insights for trading. This covers trading psychology and money management techniques. This addresses the need for a trading plan and bookkeeping. His trading strategy involves going long above an EMA and sell at the upper range of channel or doing the reverse on the way down. He does have a grading system to gauge the quality of the trade and the amount of slippage.
I had read this book before after I had blown out my first account. I wish I had read this before the last time I closed out my account. This was a good book and will be keeping this on my books to read again
- Trend Following, 5th Edition: How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear and Black Swan Markets (Wiley Trading)
Michael W. CovelI didn't finish this book. I read 150/500 pages into and it was mostly justification for the trend following strategy. I already understand the strategy and was looking for more specifics. It didn't move forward and I searched for another book
- Swing Trading as a Part Time Job
Brett Brown
I found this to be a good book. It was cleanly and directly written. This is not a doctoral thesis that drones on and on. This had plenty of detailed information and it is designed as a quick manual
Options Trading: How To Get From Zero To Six Figures With Options Trading
Walker, Jonathan S.
NEVER BUY THIS BOOK
This is one of the worst books I've read on the subject.
It's one thing if think someone is wrong, but this book adds no value.
Ideas on going from 0 - 100k are bitcoin, writing an ebook, and trading penny stocks. Advice on penny stocks is to "be careful" about buying them with no instructions as what is exactly "careful" is.
- Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance)
John J. Murphy
This was a very well written text book and is a comprehensive list of indicators. This provides the basic calculations and how to basically read them. This book does not have a specific trading strategy.
- Overby, B. (2009) The Options Playbook: Featuring 40 strategies for bulls, bears, rookies, all-stars, and everyone in between. TradeKing
ISBN 978-0-615-3081-2
This is quick reference textbook with the mechanics of the set up and risks/rewards. I plan on having this in my car for a quick pick up
- Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques, Second Edition
This is the classic book on candlestick charting. He spent time in Japan and translated the technique into English. Nisson changed technical analysis in the 90’s with this book and is considered a must read on candlesticksThis was a great book and he covers both Eastern and Western charting tools. There are a number of examples and there is a quick glossary at the end
- Sperandeo, V. (1993) Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey
ISBN: 978-0-471-30497-5
This was a great book. I have gone back through some my old books and I am glad I found this one again. This details out his life as a trader. It has a great explanation of the fractional banking system. The of basic economics of Robinson Crusoe is worth the price of the book alone and I consider that a must read.
- Morris, G. L. (1995) Candlestick Charting Explained: Timeless Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures. McGraw Hill New York, NY
ISBN 1-55738-891-1
This is an easy to read explanation of candlestick charting with plenty of examples. I will be rereading this, because of the way it is written. This is in a textbook format detailing out reversal patterns and continuation patterns.
- Lef’vre, E. (2005) Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey
ISBN 0-471-67876-7I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time and looking to understand his pivot point system. This is a conversational type of a book with Edwin interviewing Jesse Livermore under an alias. This book would interesting to market historians, because it details out the market environment from around 1900-1930.
This was an amazing read and I wish I had read this book earlier. This will be on my repeat reading list, because there is nothing new on Wall Street and his insights are applicable today.
- Logan, T. (2008) Getting Started in Candlestick Charting John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey
ISBN978-0-470-18200-0This was a great read and in a textbook format. This is a book I’m picking up again to learn more about candlestick charting. It has a good blend of Eastern and Western technical analysis. It has plenty of examples of each of the trading patterns and tests at the end. This book was very well done
- Lehman, R., McMillan, L. G. (2001) New Insights on Covered Call Writing: The Powerful Technique That Enhances Return and Lowers Risk in Stock investing. Bloomberg Press, New York
ISBN 133978-1-376600-133-4
This is a great resource for covered call writing. This goes into great detail about the flexibility on the strategy. This steps through how the order gets executed and cleared through the Options Clearing Corp (OCC). They take in to consideration of all aspects of this technique.
- Clason, G. S. (1955) The Richest Man in Babylon. New Amercia Library a division of Penguin Publishing New York NY
ISBN978-0-451-20536-0
Classic quick read on building wealth. There was a tablet written from the richest man in Babylon with the keys to wealth. George has written a narrative that walks through each of the steps. I have read this several times and handed out copies to friends. I consider this book required reading.
- Smitten R. (2001) How to Trade Stocks, Jesse Livermore: His own words: The Jesse Livermore secret trading formula for understanding timing, money management, and emotional control.
McGraw-Hill. New York, NY.
ISBN0-07-14697946
This book is a fantastic read about the life of Jesse Livermore. Jesse was a famed trader who made $100 million shorting the market in 1929. This book was written by Richard and he included the Livermore Key. This was his system for his buy and sell signals.
This book also sheds some light into the man himself and his history. Jesse’s life starts out as trading in a bucket shop to his Evermore estate in the Hamptons. He would liquidate all of his positions at the end of the year, set it up as cash in a vault, and spend New Years weekend reviewing all of his trades for the year.
William O’Neil the founder of Investors Business Daily used this book as a blueprint for his business. The Livermore Key is a system of tracking prices and trying to capture the big move. He would avoid much of the noise of the day to day. He watched for a pivot point at a new high or low. The he would confirm against another stock.
When he entered a trade he would already be making money at it. With millions on the line he would be able to sleep like a baby.
This is a great book. I’ve read it several times and really feel this would make a great movie. I highly recommend this book.
- O’Neil, W. J. (1995). How to Make Money in Stocks, Second Edition, A Winning System in Good Times or Bad.
McGraw Hill, New York, NY
ISBN 0-07-048059-1
The founder of Investor’s Business Daily details out his system is based on a mixture of fundamental and technical analysis when purchasing a stock. This is an excellent blueprint and learning tool about investing. I have read this several times, marked up, underlined, and made notes in my copy. It’s a little banged up and dropped it a puddle once.
This book will provide foundation knowledge on how to quickly read IBD to maximize your time
O’Neil, W.J. (2000) 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success. McGraw Hill New York NY
This a more readable book than his earlier How to Make Money in Stocks. This has a conversational tone with 24 Questions and Answers. This book sheds light in to the investing philosopy of IBD. This was an enjoyable read and many understand the CANSLIM methodology reading this
- Batty P. M., (2007). Covered Calls: Consistent Cash Flow
TradingTheMarket, LLC.
ISBN 1-4196-6769-6
This eBook is a quick read and is a quick handbook on writing covered calls. There is a stock selection criteria, general entry points, and a stop loss rule for unwinding an unprofitable position. This also has screen shots of a buy write.
- Ellman, A., (2007). Cashing in on Covered Calls, Investing with Stock Options
SAMR Productions. Hauppaugs, NY.
ISBN 978-0-9774233-5-4
This the classic book on writing covered calls and this is a pretty straight forward easy to read book. I have made an outline of this and is a quick reminder checklist. I consider this book required reading on the the buy/write strategy
- Ellman, A. (2009). Exit Strategies for Covered Call Writing: Making the Most Money When Selling Stock Options
Wheatmark. Tucson, AZ
ISBN978-1-60494-253-8
This is Allen Ellman’s follow up book to Cashing in on Covered Calls. He had a number of request for his exit strategies for managing covered calls. He writes in basic language that is very readable. This is an excellent book on management techniques and I've recommended this book
- Lynch, P. (1993) Beating the Street. Fireside. New York NY
ISBN 0-0671-75915-9
This is written by the mutual fund manager of Fidelity Magellan during the 80’s. He grew Magellan at a 20% growth rate for years and and made Fidelity a household name. This is a follow up book for his first book One Up on Wall Street.
He likes a company’s story when investing. A company with a great story can have the stock grow 10 fold over a number of years. He spotted Pep Boys as a local regional retail play that went national That was a 10x (ten bagger) gain
Earn 5 to 10% Monthly Selling Options
Boyce and Barbara Duval
This book has a system for writing covered calls and credit spreads. It’s a step by step guide from stock selection and the application of these strategies. Boyce sells a lot of bull credit put spreads to generate income.
This is a superb book to generate monthly income. The basic setup they use is to sell low delta .12 credit spread. This is a high probability trade setup, but low cash flow. This is designed for larger accounts that has low risk/reward ratio
- Graham, S. (2016) Options Trading for Massive Gains, Stocks for Rent Covered Call Trading System.
ISBN 978-1534716803
This was a great book with many examples and charts. It also has a breakdown of executing a trade. This explains the covered call in basic everyday language
Covered Calls Made Easy
Trader University
Matthew R. Kratter
Matthew has produced a quick read on covered calls. He recommends using large companies with long track records. This was an inexpensive eBook and I finished it in 2 nights. It has basic setups and doesn't cover position sizing and management techniques
- Lowell, L. (2007) Get Rich with Options: Four Winning Strategies Straight from the Exchange Floor. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NY
In this book Lee describes his key strategies he used for his own account at a pit trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange. This is a technical read describing naked option selling, option spreads, and covered calls. I did find it interesting to note that the stock charts used in the book only had RSI as a technical indicator
- Hooper, J. & Zalewski, A. (2007). Covered Calls and LEAPS, A Wealth Option, A Guide for Generating Extraordinary Monthy Income
John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, NJ
ISBN-13 978-04-470-04470-4
ISBN-10 0-479-04470-5
They have an interesting take on writing covered calls. The strategy is to be called out of your position as quickly as possible, but if the trade was unsuccessful you still have an asset for continuing to generate income. They never take a loss and have management techniques to maximize monthly income on the stocks that you own. There is a DVD of a couple of seminars presented by some top students. This book and DVD is worth the cost and I’ve read it several times.
- Hooper, J. & Zalewski, A. & Watanabe, E. (2013). Advanced Charting Techniques for High Probability Trading, The Most Accurate and Predictive Charting Method Ever Created
John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, NJ
This is a companion book for Covered Calls and LEAPS, A Wealth Option and goes in depth in to charting. The company CompoundStockEarnings.com (CSE) has proprietary charting software to help determine entries and exits. This book was an interesting read and I have learned new ways for reading charts, because many of the indicators are versions of common indexes