I've consumed hundreds of investing and trading books. Below is a brief list of must-read books for traders that I've curated from my experience and believe they add genuine value to my trading.
1. General Investing & Markets
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Trading & Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners
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Why read it? Provides an in-depth look at the functioning of financial markets & covers the roles of various participants and trading venues, offering practical insights into price discovery, liquidity, and regulation.
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How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad
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Why read it? Explains the CANSLIM system which is highly applicable to finding stocks poised for making larger moves and the subsequent technical analysis to time entries and management.
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How to Trade in Stocks
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Why read it? One of my favorite holistic overviews of a directional trading system. It provides a great framework for creating your own strategy, discipline, timing, and understanding market cycles.
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2. Options Trading
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Options as a Strategic Investment
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Why read it? This is THE basis for options traders. It provides a comprehensive baseline for options trading & and a framework on how to create your own syllabus for further learning.
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Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques
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Why read it? This is THE bible for all options traders, institutional and retail. This takes things one level deeper than Options as a Strategic Investment
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Positional Options Trading: An Advanced Guide
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Why read it? This zooms in one more level and modernizes Option Volatility and Pricing. It explains how to create your own edges, analyze markets, and volatility.
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The Handbook of Equity Market Anomalies
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Why read it? Shows traders how to identify profit mechanisms within the stock market. How to identify, research, and monetize.
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3. Psychology & Mindset
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Why read it? Teaches traders how to shift their mental focus from ego driven trading and emphasis on being right, to how to use losing trades as important feedback mechanisms to make systems better.
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Why read it? Not trading related but shows HOW our brain works, HOW it creates habits, and HOW you can short circuit undesirable habits while building desirable ones.
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