Best Stock market trading books for beginners: Stock market trading is a precarious investment one can make. However, you can minimize the risk factors in trading by acquiring knowledge and experience.
There are plenty of ways to improve your knowledge of stock market trading. You can watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, and interview videos of successful traders. You can also enroll in a trading course to understand stock market trading.
Although you can find many different ways to learn stock market trading, reading trading books is the best you can do to learn the trading. Here I’m listing the top 10 best stock market trading books that every beginner should read.
Table of Contents
Things a beginner should understand/learn before trading in the stock market.
- What is the difference between trading and investing in the stock market?
- What are the various market types (bear, bull, etc.), and how do you classify and identify them?
- You must learn how to identify good trades.
- To develop trading rules, including a system for constructing solid entry and exit points while maintaining a safe amount of risk.
- Position sizing strategy and objectives.
- A beginner must learn how to improve their trading system and individual skill.
List Of 10 Best Stock Market Trading Books For Beginners
Although there are many books related to stock market trading and investing, after some research, I am listing some of the most reputed books that will help you enhance your trading skills. You don’t have to do any further research to find out the best reads for stock trading. This article is all you need.
Note - These books are not listed in the ranking order. please don't judge which one is best.
1. Reminiscence of Stock Operator, By Jesse Livermore
Reminiscence of Stock Operator is written by “Jesse Lauriston Livermore,” a famous Wall Street speculator from 100 years ago, is titled Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Livermore describes many of the strategies he would employ to drive prices up or down and how he would use the tape to do so.
This book is nearly a century old, but it is timeless. It follows the life of one of the most famous stock traders. It’s written in the style of a novel. It is possible to learn while having a great time.
Now that the markets are fully immersed in the information age, a single speculator would be hard-pressed to employ the exact tactics that Livermore employed hundred years ago, but the overall strategy and how the markets actually operate are surprisingly similar. Reading, you rarely get the impression that the book was written hundred years ago; it could have been written yesterday.
2. Mastering The Trade, By John F. Carter
Another best trading book for beginners on the list is, Mastering the Trade by John F. Carter. Trading is undoubtedly more difficult than it appears, but John provided an entertaining perspective on the world of trading. You will thoroughly enjoy his book, despite a couple of sections being quite detailed.
After reading this book, you won’t be the same trader as you are today. You will learn a lot of things that you might be doing wrong. This is a must-read for all traders. Moreover, John’s writing style is direct and articulate. Especially the psychology part of this book is a gem.
3. Trading in the zone, By Mark Douglas
Mark Douglas’s book Trading in the Zone is one of the most popular trading books. However, the book addresses the psychological aspect of one’s personality that prevents him or her from achieving consistency. The most common logic for new traders is to try to learn every method available.
Despite the lack of indicators and techniques, this book is a fantastic resource for understanding your mind and fear. This is a good book to read if you want to improve your mindset and remove emotion from your trading.
If you’re interested in investing, this book is a must-read. It’s not about the market’s technicalities; it’s about bringing your consciousness to bear on your trading. Trading in the zone is indeed one of the best trading books for beginners based on psychology.
4. How To Day Trade For A Living, By Andrew Aziz
How to Day Trade for a Living is one of the best trading books for beginners. Andrew Aziz is the writer of this fantastic book. A Beginner’s Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline, and Trading Psychology are the explanation of the books.
However, it is an excellent book to start as a day trader. He goes over a few setups that work well for day trading and a few “rules.” For example, he advises never putting more than 2% of your account balance at risk in a single trade. This book has a particular meaning that differs slightly from a surface-level reading.
Moreover, this book offers a practical and balanced introduction to day trading for beginners. Although not entirely applicable to Indian markets, the fundamental and emotional rules presented for day trading are pearls of wisdom. Anyone who believes that day trading is a license to print money should read this.
5. Encyclopedia Of Chart Patterns, By Thomas N. Bulkowaski
Encyclopedia Of Chart Patterns by Thomas N. Bulkowaski is yet another best book for beginner traders on the list. If you want to learn the fundamental and technical analysis of the stocks, this might be one of the best reads.
Not just beginners, veterans can take advantage of the book. This is a very fundamental book that offers excellent knowledge and wisdom for traders and investors. Moreover, if you like swing and positional trading, this book can also help you.
The author does an excellent job of describing a wide range of techniques and the concepts that underpin them. If you’re looking for a market analysis course, this should be one of the first places you look.
6. Market Wizards, By Jack D. Schwager
Jack D. Schwager has created Market Wizards by interviewing many successful stock market traders. The book is written so beautifully that you will learn a lot from the experience of many successful minds.
You’ll enjoy the way Schwager interviews each top trader and psychologist. One can learn a lot from those who came before you, not only about their successes but also about their downfalls. Schwager does an excellent job of summarising the common trades of all top traders, which are the traits you should strive for.
Furthermore, this is a must-read for anyone interested in investment psychology, trading psychology, human behavior, and perspectives that can be implemented to other areas.
7. Japanese Candlestick, Steve Nison
Another excellent book for traders is Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison. This book is a must-read for any trader or investor. You can learn more about the market and the stock by using candlestick charts. It will increase your chances of riding a trend or exiting a trade, but it will also help you understand price movements.
Steve Nison provides a clear explanation of candlesticks and how to use them in conjunction with Western technical analysis techniques. This is a valuable resource that every trader should have in their library. It is so simple that even Burton G. Malkiel and other Random Walkers could use it to improve their results.
Even if you’re a swing trader, this book is helpful for you. One of the best books on candlestick technique ever written. As the author points out, once you’ve mastered the Japanese candlestick technique, there’s no reason to return to bar charts.
8. Trading for a living
Here come yet another one of the best stock market trading books for beginners. This one is also a psychology-based trading book that might not be for everyone. However, beginners will find it really helpful in their early stages of trading days.
This book came out in 1992. The new version was released only a year ago. This is an excellent book for anyone who will start.
Trading for a Living is an extensive and brilliant guide for newcomers to the trading world. Alexender Elder characterizes his book into three sections: The Psychology section, in which he discusses the critical mindset for this type of business; Trading Tactics, a section devoted to practical examples from the real world of trading; Money Management, the book’s final section, which addresses the most efficient risk management methods.
Moreover, this book provides a realistic understanding of how stock prices move and what you can learn and apply to your advantage.
Look no further if you’re looking for a magic strategy to make your business more profitable. You might be going to disappoint. However, it will tell you what way of thinking you must adopt in order to develop an effective strategy.
9. Technical Analysis of the Financial Market
Technical analysis of the financial markets is called the bible for Technical Analysis. The book was written by John J. Murphy. This is a classic book that every trader or investor should read. The fundamental concepts are timeless, so if you want to learn the fundamentals of TA, this book will help you get a general understanding of the subject.
Furthermore, this is a fantastic first-time reader’s guide covering all of the essentials. However, this book should only be used as an introduction to TA and trading, and you should look for more material on each of the topics covered in this book. There are hundreds of books that will assist you. This book is a good place to start.
However, the book will not give you an advantage, as most people who invest in the market or trade casually are unaware of technical analysis. This book will help you understand how the market works. The book will motivate you to become more knowledgeable about the markets.
10. The Disciplined Trader
The tenth book on the list of best trading books for beginners is “The Disciplined Trader” by Mark Douglas, the author of Trading in the Zone. However, It’s a good book about psychology and being objective when dealing with markets, but it quickly devolves into beliefs, life experiences, traumas, and other nonsense.
This book talks about how to behave in the trading environment. The trading environment is different from other environments, and you should be aware of it if you want to trade successfully. The author gave tips and increased my awareness of the obstacles to being a trader in the trading environment.
The Disciplined Trader is a must-read book for traders because it covers many psychological topics that most traders will face on their journey to becoming successful traders. It’s better to see it coming than to be surprised by it.
11. Bonus – Your Own Experience
Last but not least, a must-read book for everyone is your own personal trading or investing experience. Simply analyze and discover where things went wrong or right. You must understand from your experience; you may go through a lot, but you must learn from all of your experiences, good or bad.
Adaptation is essential for financial market survival. Reading your own experiences will be the best book that you require the most.
Also Read, Top 10 Best Stock Market Courses In India [2022].
Bottom Line
You should start your trading career by learning everything there is to know about financial markets, then read charts and watch price activity to develop techniques based on your findings.
However, paper trading is a good way to test these methods while reviewing and modifying the results. Finish the first step of your journey with monetary risk, which requires you to deal with issues such as trade management and market psychology.
At last, after spending some time in stock market trading, you’ll have your own experience, and you must act further based on your own learnings. In this way, you will be a successful trader for sure. The article was for best stock market trading books for beginners, so the most books on this list were most suitable for beginners as well as veteran traders.