Are Trading Books Useless ?

[Fundlord]

Ive read about 20 trading books and they haven't contributed to a single profitable idea/trade.

The only useful concept I pulled was from the original "Market Wizards" book where:

Bruce Kovner says he takes positions based on fundamentals and puts his stop on a technical basis.

Michael Marcus saying a real great trade is when you have fundamentals, technicals and market tone going for you.

Most of what I learned was from losing and making money.

But then again I feel an OCD that there may be something valuable in one of these books so I keep on getting them.

If one must read what topic would best serve them in the field of trading:

Books on raw trading (Mention of actual numbers/strategies/backtests): Trend following by covel, securities analysis by benjamin graham, beat the market by ed thorp.

Books on trading philosophy (Books filled of insightful quotes and thoughts about trading): Reminiscence of a stock operator by livermore, market wizards by jack schwager, alchemy of finance by soros.

Books on actual philosophy/sociology/psychology (Books on social behaviour and managing oneself): 48 laws of power by robert greene, atlas shrugged ayn rand, the tipping point by malcolm gladwell.

 

[nursebee]

If you want to be fed via the silver spoon you will have to eat a lot of Italian.
Losing can be a great experience, I tried to lean into the pain, came out better on the other side.

All of the books I read (>100) contributed.

 

[Laissez Faire]

Most of them, yes. I've read around a 100.

But I do think that indirectly, it does add to your knowledge base and it does give you valuable reference points. I wish I were more picky in my choices, though.

Some books are good, but ultimately, you won't find what you need explicitly spelled out a in a book. You can get tools, ideas and such, though.

Right now, I have 'New Trading Systems and Methods' by Perry Kaufman lying around. It's a decent book on technical trading. Pretty dense. I'm sure you could learn a thing or two.

 

[qxr1011]

sure books are useful... but to a degree

sooner or later one reaches the point when he does not need the books anymore, and that's the point when one should switch from paper trading to real trading.. until one realizes that he still does not know enough

after that starts the real education of the speculator

 

[Cdntrader]

Yes

 

[Craig66]

There are some good books, "Trading and Exchanges" springs to mind, so do the Sinclair option books. But none of them contain profitable ideas, by definition.

 

[Fundlord]

There are some good books, "Trading and Exchanges" springs to mind, so do the Sinclair option books. But none of them contain profitable ideas, by definition.

Im currently skimming through trading & exchanges, I noticed there is a lot of fluff like the history of exchanges an excessive trivia.

 

[marketsurfer]

Trade like a hedge fund by altucher is the best tactical trading book i have read-- and i use to review finance books for Wiley-- have 100's---

His BK idea alone made me a killing muliple times as an example.

The non trading books thst influenced my trading and life are fourth turning, 500 year delta and techgnosis which completely changed my life.

surf

 

[Jones75]

Ive read about 20 trading books and they haven't contributed to a single profitable idea/trade.

The only useful concept I pulled was from the original "Market Wizards" book where:

Bruce Kovner says he takes positions based on fundamentals and puts his stop on a technical basis.

Michael Marcus saying a real great trade is when you have fundamentals, technicals and market tone going for you.

Most of what I learned was from losing and making money.

But then again I feel an OCD that there may be something valuable in one of these books so I keep on getting them.

If one must read what topic would best serve them in the field of trading:

Books on raw trading (Mention of actual numbers/strategies/backtests): Trend following by covel, securities analysis by benjamin graham, beat the market by ed thorp.

Books on trading philosophy (Books filled of insightful quotes and thoughts about trading): Reminiscence of a stock operator by livermore, market wizards by jack schwager, alchemy of finance by soros.

Books on actual philosophy/sociology/psychology (Books on social behaviour and managing oneself): 48 laws of power by robert greene, atlas shrugged ayn rand, the tipping point by malcolm gladwell.

I've probably have read about 20 books in the past 10 years and found it helped to give me a solid base for trading (completely self taught). There doesn't seem to be one in particular that has the proverbial secret sauce. Parts of each one on its own merits have contributed.

I usually turn to books when I hit a slump, and if nothing else I find it expands my knowledge. The last one was Jeff Augen's "The Volatility Edge in Options Trading". Chapter 7 has broaden my scope and just plain raises the bar for me.

And a shout out to Micheal Lewis, "The Big Short" is my favorite tome for motivational purposes.

 

[dealmaker]

Ive read about 20 trading books and they haven't contributed to a single profitable idea/trade.

The only useful concept I pulled was from the original "Market Wizards" book where:

Bruce Kovner says he takes positions based on fundamentals and puts his stop on a technical basis.

Michael Marcus saying a real great trade is when you have fundamentals, technicals and market tone going for you.

Most of what I learned was from losing and making money.

But then again I feel an OCD that there may be something valuable in one of these books so I keep on getting them.

If one must read what topic would best serve them in the field of trading:

Books on raw trading (Mention of actual numbers/strategies/backtests): Trend following by covel, securities analysis by benjamin graham, beat the market by ed thorp.

Books on trading philosophy (Books filled of insightful quotes and thoughts about trading): Reminiscence of a stock operator by livermore, market wizards by jack schwager, alchemy of finance by soros.

Books on actual philosophy/sociology/psychology (Books on social behaviour and managing oneself): 48 laws of power by robert greene, atlas shrugged ayn rand, the tipping point by malcolm gladwell.

Perhaps you are expecting more from the books than what is reasonable...Books will help you incrementally.