Day trading books can teach you about strategy, risk management, psychology, and a lot of technical analysis. Unfortunately, librarians and booksellers are not day traders. This makes tracking down the best books quite a challenge. Fortunately, this site has broken down and compiled the best books for beginners, the top books for specific assets, and even details how different formats can meet your individual needs.
The Best eBooks For Day Traders
- ETX Ebook Library
ETX Capital provides an extensive ebook library for traders to use. From technical analysis to global trends, there are ebooks that can help you whether you trade forex, commodities or stocks. All resources are free and worth using.
Day Trading Book For Beginners
When you decide to take the risk to trade, you will realize how complex strategies, charts, patterns, platforms, and fees can get. This is all the more reason to use the resources around you to hit the ground running. The best books for beginners make it easy and offer step-by-step guides on how to pick stocks, implement strategies and manage your capital and risk.
Here are the top 3 books for beginners.
1. A Beginner’s Guide To Day Trading Online, Toni Turner
Written by traders and educators, the book provides clear instructions and is also up-to-date with industry developments. You will get a detailed overview of risk management, technical analysis, and how to create a trading plan. The recent edition has been renamed as ” A Beginner’s Guide To Short Term Trading “
This book is also a great learning tool as it is full of quizzes and checklists. The author also runs through all the basic jargon, while somehow managing to keep you engaged. It is great for day traders specifically because it differentiates between short and long term trading, benefits, risks and concepts you need to focus on.
2. Start Day Trading Now: A Short And Easy Introduction To Making Money While Managing Your Risks, Sincerely Micheal
Written from the perspective of an experienced trader, this book centers on technical analysis and also offers some invaluable money management lessons. It initially centered on charts, patterns, and indicators. You will then go through the practice of making your first trade.
You also benefit from hearing from interviews with experienced traders, hopefully allowing you to avoid any traps they fall into. Furthermore, at less than 200 pages this book is an easily digestible read for the aspiring trader.
3. Day Trading For Dummies, Ann C Logue
Although the author is not a trader, the book is diverse, covering a wide range of topics, making it ideal for those who want to gain a broad initial understanding. This book is less of a guide and more information on every trading topic under the sun. You won’t get the details, but that also means you shouldn’t be missing out. This all makes it one of the best books to trade for beginners.
If you need to answer ‘what are the best books for beginners?’ All above text will be above the list. They give you the platform you need to start, and anywhere you can turn to the answers you get.
Remember, a good day trading book for beginners keeps it simple. They walk you through the entire process, from picking stocks and strategies, to psychology and risk management.
Best Book
For those looking for more detailed books that offer in-depth technical analysis, advanced strategies, and comprehensive information on all things day trading, there are several books that you can give.
Below we have compiled the top 10 books, taking account reviews, ease of use and comprehensiveness into account.
1. High Probability Trading: Take Steps to Become a Successful Trader, Marcel Link
The book centers on the notion of only making trades when the odds are right for you, so it shifts to how you set up your trades, and what to look for in exactly what to trade and how much.
The author calls on years of experience in the successful market and you can benefit from his trial and error approach to avoid your future mistakes. It’s well written and to the point, earning it its rightful place on this list.
2. The Truth About Day Trading Stocks, Josh DiPetrio
While many books sing about the potential of wealth, Josh DiPetrio emphasizes day trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme. His writing is easy to follow and you can tell he really wants to make you aware of the dangers, and give advice on how to manage them.
There are some important lessons you can get from this book and you get a strong feeling that it is true from the first chapter to the last.
3. Mastering Commerce, John Carter
This is one of the top books because there are many detailed instructions on how to make trades. He leaves no stone unturned as he breaks down various different strategies and markets. It is also established as one of the go-to psychology books.
If you are looking for a clear guide to what, how, why, when and where, then this is the book you need. It is also considered one of the best emini books, calling on real life examples to prove the point.
4. Day Trading and Swing Trading Currency Markets: Technical and Fundamental Strategies Profit from Market moves, Kathy Lien
One of the best day trading books, you benefit from the experience of one of the most respected analysts in the forex world. If you haven’t seen it on Bloomberg or CNN, then you’ll enjoy the point style.
You’ll gain insight into performing accurate market analysis, plus a powerful source of trading ideas. If you are looking for one of the best forex books, then look no further.
5. The Disciplined Trader: Developing a Winning Attitude, Mark Douglas
Many good books focus on technical analysis, strategy and risk management, but not so much on the psychological intricacies of trading. As this book is very interesting, you can have all the best strategies in the world, but without discipline, you will struggle to make a profit.
The book details why not giving in to your emotions is louder than it sounds and offers many tips to keep calm and get in the right front room. You will also get advice on how to document your trading performance and minimize risk.
6. Digital Day Trading, Howard Abell
While not quite making the top 5 books, this text is worth a look. If you’re looking for an easy-to-understand book that doesn’t waste words, then this is a sensible choice. The author focuses on market philosophy and delves into his own trading psychology. You will also benefit from three interviews with successful day traders, picking up a variety of useful tips.
The only thing to note is that this book was written during a very volatile period of the dotcom boom, so some information may be out of date.
7. Stock Trader: How I Made a Living Trading Stocks, Tony Oz
If you want a strategy that you can pick up from a book and use easily then this is a good choice. You get several detailed strategies that cover entry and exit points, charts to use, patterns to identify, as well as several other indicator pointers.
The book received glowing reviews and was written in an engaging manner, giving it appeal to a wide audience. It’s no surprise then that it’s considered to be up there with the best trading books of all time.
8. Trading Range, Micheal Young
If you are looking for a specific strategy, then this book deserves your attention. This book explains why most strategies like scale struggle to overcome high intraday costs and fees. It then offers tried and tested alternatives, known as ‘trading ranges’.
This is a self-published step-by-step guide, taking a complex system and making it easy to follow. If you’re looking for a high level of detail and an alternative approach, then you’ll see why this is one of the best intraday trading books around.
9. Simple Strategy, Markus Heitkotter
If you are looking for forex books and options books extensively, then this will not disappoint. The success of this book comes from the clear instructions you get entry and exit rules, how to take advantage of small intraday trends, as well as advice on what software you do and don’t need.
Plus, it’s written so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get through it. The author also keeps it light and friendly throughout, making it one of the must read trade books.
10. Day Trading Futures: A Practical Guide To Trading For A Living, David Bennett
If you are looking for a dedicated futures book then this is worth a look. No fancy words, it gives you practical advice from page one on how to trade effectively.
First, you will hear why the author prefers day trading and why the futures market is specific. Then you will get a clear strategy, built on the concept of volatile trading, which does not depend on highly technical and complex indicators. You can also apply the philosophy and strategy found here to any number of daily markets.
Official Web Courses And Traders
ETX Capital now offers various educational tools to traders. They are free to register for any trader who has made a deposit of any size. More details can be found here.
Courses are delivered by in-house experts at ETX, and independent trading companies. This ensures a well-rounded service for those who register. Most courses and webinars are delivered online.
Alternative Formats
Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can now get day trading books and ebooks. Audiobooks are perfect for listening to while driving, on the treadmill, or when you just want to block out the noisy kids. They also allow you to take notes while you listen or apply information directly to your platform.
You can also get the book in pdf, as a free download. Just like ebooks, having this open in a separate window while you trade allows you to easily follow the instructions and practice what you read. You’ll also have something you can quickly refer back to with just one click of the mouse.
Trade Log Book
Today’s trading books are very useful tools that many people see, affect them. They will allow you to keep detailed records of all your trades. This can then be used to check back when you are looking for patterns, or when you want to create a potential strategy. Some requirements to note are as follows:
- Date of entry
- Equity symbol
- Admission price
- Total purchase price (including commission)
- Number of shares purchased
- Loss of early stop
- Profit target
- Price out
- Selling price (including commission)
- Profit / loss (total sales – total purchases)
- Profit / loss% ({total sales – total purchases} -1)
Trade Order Book
This gives a different meaning to the bestselling trade books outlined above. An order book is an electronic list of buy and sell orders for your particular security or instrument, organized by price level. You’ll be able to see which brokerages are buying or selling stocks and whether the market is being driven by institutional or retail investors.
This will help you make an informed and accurate decision. They are also useful because they reveal order imbalances, providing an indication of the asset’s direction in the short term. If for example, there is a significant imbalance of buy orders, this may indicate a move higher in the asset as a result of buying pressure.
Different markets, different texts
If you want a day trading book for the UK, Europe, USA, and Canada then all of the above books will be relevant and applicable to markets close to home. But, if you want to delve into markets on the other side of the world, you may want to look for books specific to that region.
If you want to get into the Indian stock market, for example, you’ll want a book specifically for day trading in India. One of the best books on day trading in India, also written by an Indian author is ‘Intraday Trading Ki Pechan’, by Ankit Gala & Jitendra Gala. Also, ‘How to Trade With Charts’ by Ashwani Gujral is also reviewed in recent trading books.
If you want a book with an Australian slant and also written by an Australian author, then you might want to check out ‘Why Gold Matters’, by Peter J. August. ‘Adjustment Analysis for Australian Stocks’ by Nick Radge also scored highly in the comments.
Final Chapter
Finding books online is, in general, quite easy, but finding the right one for your needs is not always easy. Before you make a purchase, consider exactly what you want to learn. Are you looking for strategy books, books on forex, psychology, or for beginners? Do you want a step-by-step guide, or do you just want to hear stories and advice from successful traders?
Once you know that, decide what format will make the information easy to digest and easy to apply, hardback, ebook, pdf or audiobook. It’s also always worth checking out reviews of the proper trading books, just to make sure you get what you’re looking for.