The best books on trading the markets

Perry J. Kaufman Author Of Learn To Trade: Trade To Win With A Rule-Based Method
By Perry J. Kaufman

Who am I?

As an aerospace mathematician, I transitioned into the futures markets and became fascinated by the ability to participate in “price discovery,” and to get instant gratification from a good trade. You are not dependent on anyone else. I then decided that the stock market offered another exciting venue. Once you learn to control risk and be patient, success will follow. All that from sitting at my desk.

I wrote...

Learn To Trade: Trade To Win With A Rule-Based Method

By Perry J. Kaufman

Book cover of Learn To Trade: Trade To Win With A Rule-Based Method

What is my book about?

Learn To Trade will step you through chart reading, moving averages, breakouts, risk control, and portfolios – everything you need to be a successful trader. It will give you rules to follow, rules that make the difference between uncertainty and confidence.

While this book is intended for the serious beginner, all traders will benefit from the review and the added inside by renowned trader and analyst Perry Kaufman.

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The Books I Picked & Why

The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations

By Dietrich Dorner

Book cover of The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations

Why this book?

We are often not successful at long-term forecasting or assessing unintended consequences. Dorner’s book takes a group of executives, gives them complete control over a third-world country, and challenges them to improve their quality of life. Only a very few succeed. You will need to figure out why so many top executives failed and why some succeeded. It’s worth your time to figure it out.

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Trading Systems and Methods

By Perry J. Kaufman

Book cover of Trading Systems and Methods

Why this book?

This is my classic book on stock and futures trading systems. It is both a complete learning guide and a reference work of 1200 pages. You will find hundreds of ideas, rules, and analyses of trading methods along with spreadsheets and computer programs to speed up the learning process. Long considered the best book on trading systems.

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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

By Edwin Lefèvre

Book cover of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Why this book?

This is the most famous book on trading, the story of Jesse Livermore. It shows how he watched the patterns on the ticker tape, developed his trading style, and became rich. It is the book that all traders read when they go through a period of uncertainty. It is an uplifting story.

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The Logical Trader

By Mark B. Fisher

Book cover of The Logical Trader

Why this book?

Mark Fisher was a landmark on NYMEX, the owner of its largest clearing operation. A veteran intraday trader, he explains his own trading method. It is a valuable look at how a floor trading and professional extracts short-term profits from the market. There are few professionals that share their methods.

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Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts

By Thomas N. Bulkowski

Book cover of Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts

Why this book?

This book explains every candlestick pattern you can think of, and more. The best part is that Bulkowski has tested each pattern and summarized the results. He puts the best patterns at the front of the book, so you do not need to read everything to find what you are really looking for. I use it as a reference quite often.

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