Last Updated on 10 February, 2024 by Trading System

1. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom

If there is one trading book that a new trader should read, it is “trade your way to financial freedom”, by Van Tharp. Despite its age, it is still as relevant as ever, and covers some of the most important aspects of trading, and the core principles that you just cannot afford to miss. If those new to trading just read this trading book, their chances of success would increase massively. We at The Robust Trader have read it ourselves, and know that new traders will find this trading book invaluable.

However, this trading book is not only for beginners who are looking to learn the core principles, but also for intermediate traders who are looking for a refresher.

Content of “trade your way to financial freedom”

In the first chapter, you will learn about the most important aspect of trading, which according to Van Tharp is trading psychology. It’s not about choosing the right currencies, stocks or futures, but more about being able to control risk and your own emotions.

The Second Chapter of “trade your way to financial freedom”, goes into biases that have an impact on your ability to create and properly test trading systems. In this chapter, you will learn about a range of different biases, and among them, why there are inherent biases in charts.  Intriguing, is it not?

Chapter 3 connects the dots and ties together chapter 1 and chapter 2. Here Van Tharp encourages you to look past your biases, in order to make better decisions. To do this, you will have to clearly define your goals and motivations, and evaluate how you react to drawdowns and losses in general.

Conclusion

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van Tharp is a trading book that every trader aspiring to become profitable should read. It deals with the most rudimentary concepts of trading that must be understood in order to be able to trade profitably. This certainly is a trading book that we recommend!

2.Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems

Building and validating trading strategies is something that most traders struggle with. In this trading book, Kevin Davey, winner of the world championship in trading, shows you how you should go about to do these very things. After reading this trading book, you will have learned trading concepts like Walk-Forward Optimization, Monte Carlo testing, and incubation. Kevin knows how to explain these topics so that those new to trading will understand, and that is exactly what he does in this trading book.

“Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems” is suitable for beginners as well as full-fledged traders. Beginners will find that they are guided through the new world of trading, while more experienced traders will get the framework of another successful trader to learn from.

Content of “Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems”

The first chapter of the trading book begins with Kevin introducing himself. You will learn about the mistakes he made and what he learned from it. Hopefully, by reading this chapter you can avoid making the same mistakes!

The Second Chapter describes how Kevin managed to transform himself from a constantly losing trader, to a profitable one.

The third Chapter of the trading book covers Kevin’s triumphs in the World Cup Championship of futures, and how it changed his trading.

From the fourth chapter and beyond, Kevin explains his development process for finding trading strategies. If you read these chapters carefully, you will have gained a solid foundation in the construction of trading systems!

If there is one thing that you should know about Kevin, it is that he is humble and never tries to show off.  In his trading book, he is honest about his mistakes and takes no pride in anything he writes.

Summary

“Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems” is one of the best trading books out there on the topic of trading strategy design. We believe that every trader who chooses to read this trading book will gain a lot of insight into strategy creation.

3. Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders

The Market Wizard trading book is one of the classics, and is highly regarded by many traders. If you listen to podcasts where interviewed traders get to recommend a trading book, you will find that the Market Wizard: Interviews with Top Traders is mentioned nearly every time.

That is no coincidence. The market wizard trading books, there are a couple of them, are some of the most inspirational sources of trading success and hardship you will find. The trading book consists of a number of interviews with some of the most successful traders in the world. In each interview, you get to learn about career paths, early and late mistakes, and impressive accomplishments. The things that you learn, like that most of the interviewed traders were almost wiped out at one point, are incredibly valuable insights for every aspiring trader. Besides, it is an entertaining read!

Content of “Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders”

As we have mentioned, the market wizard books are made up of several interviews with successful traders. Below we will list the traders that are interviewed in the first of the market wizards trading book:

• Michael Marcus
• Bruce Kovner
• Richard Dennis
• Paul Tudor Jones
• Gary Bielfeldt
• Ed Seykota
• Larry Hite
• Michael Steinhardt
• William O’Neil
• David Ryan
• Marty Schwartz
• James B. Rogers, Jr.
• Mark Weinstein
• Brian Gelber
• Tom Baldwin
• Tony Saliba
• Dr. Van K. Tharp

These traders represent a plethora of different trading styles and markets. If you have not read this trading book yet, you should get your hands on a copy soon!

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Together with the market wizards books, this trading book comes at the top when many traders are asked for their favorite trading books. Published in 1923, the reminiscences of a stock operator is the biography of Jesse Livermore, one of the most famous traders of all times. You get to follow Jesse from when he places his very first trades, to him becoming the great trader he is known as today.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is an entertaining read that teaches you a lot of valuable insights. As with most occupations, you have to experience them yourself to fully learn the small quirks and practicalities. In this trading book, you get to do that through Jesse’s own story.

Content of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Actually, since this trading book leans towards being a novel, we will not go into the content and spoil the story for you.

Conclusion

Together with the market wizards trading books, the reminiscences of a stock operator is a must read for any serious investor or trader. It provides inspiration and knowledge collected during a lifetime, and suits investors and traders regardless of previous knowledge!

Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders

Nearly everyone who has been in the trading industry for a longer period of time has heard about the turtles. In the 1980s, the well-renowned trading guru Richard Dennis made a bet with a friend. He argued that everyone could learn how to trade, and to prove that he was right, he put out an ad in the Washington Post stating that 14 people were to be chosen to learn his methods. The response was overwhelming, and by asking a series of true/false questions, Richard Dennis managed to sort out the best-suited people to learn his trading methods.

Way of the turtle is written by Curtis Faith, who once was selected by Richard Dennis to learn his method.

Content of Way of the Turtle

This trading book touches a lot on the topic of whether traders are made or born. New traders may feel relief in that the book firmly supports the notion that traders are made and not born, and that trading strategies should be easy to work well. The trading book presents the outline for several strategies, which is a great method to gain some clues about how simple a trading strategy should be in order to stand the test of time

Conclusion

Way of the turtle is the story of Richard Dennis’s students and the remarkable returns that they managed to carve out in the markets. With the story going around the fact that new traders were made into profitable ones, aspiring traders will find this trading book especially intriguing.

The Complete TurtleTrader: How 23 Novice Investors Became Overnight Millionaires

This is another trading book that covers the story of Richard Dennis and his turtle traders back in the 1980s. The author is the managing editor of Turtletrader.com which is the leading website covering the turtles.

Content of The Complete TurtleTrader

As can be understood by reading the title, this is a trading book that covers it all. You will get to learn how Richard Dennis recruited his students, how they were taught, and how they managed to make their fortunes. The author will also do a complete breakdown of the turtle systems so that you get to understand why and how they worked.

In the ending chapters of the trading book, the lives of Dennis’s turtles to present-day are presented.

Summary

In this trading book on the turtles, you get all the different topics surrounding the turtles summarised in one trading book. It is definitely worth checking out!