Day Trading Books | 14 Best Trading Books

Day trading books are a great way to begin your journey in learning how to trade. But how do you know which the best day trading books are?

There are many trading books out there, and it’s not easy finding the best trading book for you.

We’ve taken the time to compile a list of our best trading books. In this list you’ll find our top picks for trading books on not only Day trading, but Swing Trading, Trading Psychology, and more.

Initially this article was going to provide my list of best day trading books, but I have decided that there are other areas of trading worth mentioning.

This article will also outline books for different styles of trading and different levels of trader.

If you’re brand new to Trading it’s likely you want to be eased into things. Trading can seem complicated at first, the most efficient way to start learning is at the very beginning, with the basics.

This is how we structure our introductory course and -I think -what makes it one of the best online trading courses for beginners.

Here are 2 of the best trading books for beginners.

A Beginner’s Guide to Day Trading Online

Written by Toni Turner

This book gives an excellent overview of day trading. Toni provides everything you need in order to build the foundations of your trading journey.

This book tackles practical ideas such as trading platforms, strategies, and other tools that you might need in or to day trade.

She also outlines the pros and cons of day trading in order to properly equip you with what to expect with day trading.

Toni writes in a simple and easy to understand manner that helps in grasping potentially complex ideas. Overall, an engaging read and a great starting place before moving on to more in-depth learning.

For this reason, it gets my number 1 pick for best trading books for beginners.

How to Day Trade for a Living

Written by Andrew Aziz

An often-recommended book covering the fundamentals of day trading. Aziz explains the difference between Day Trading and other forms of trading that will help you understand the unique benefits (and draw backs) of Day Trading.

You’ll learn where and how to start Day Trading and what you should expect.

This trading book is short and to the point which makes it ideal for beginners not wanting to get bogged down in advanced theory.

You’ll learn some popular trading strategies such as ABC patterns, Reversals, and Bull Flags. Aziz also talks about indicator-based trading using Moving Averages, and VWAP.

By the end of this book, you shouldn’t expect to be a profitable day trader. You will however have an excellent starting point, equipped with trading strategies to practise and master. As always, make sure any practising that you do is on a simulated account where no real money is at risk.

From here you may choose to check out Aziz’s more advanced trading book which also features on this list. You may also consider learning how to trade with an educator that provides support as you grow your skills.

Not just beginner traders, but intermediate traders may find some use for this book. The useful content would be the trading strategies, the beginning of the book may be a little too basic for you.

A good read, and my number 2 pick for the best trading books for beginners.

I couldn’t consider this list without including the best day trading books. We believe day trading is one of the best forms of trading, it’s why we teach it.

The following are out picks for the best day trading books.

Advanced Techniques in Day Trading

Written by Andrew Aziz

The second book written by Andrew Aziz on this list. Advanced Techniques in Day Trading is a little more advanced than “How to Day Trade for a Living”. This book assumes that you have at least some knowledge or experience in day trading.

This day trading book goes into more complex trading techniques and trading tools. You will also learn how to define support and resistance levels, and advanced risk management techniques like trailing stops.

Aziz addresses risk management through proper entry, profit targets, and stop losses.

This book includes plenty of examples to help with seeing the theory in practise. You’ll also find some useful tips on how to manage a trading plan.

Interactive Day Trading: Ultimate Trading Guide

Written by Satish Gaire

This day trading book, written by Satish Gaire, gives a broad sweep of day trading. You’ll learn how to get started day trading, types of chart pattern, technical indicators, and even fundamental analysis.

You’ll learn how to find stocks and are provided with a checklist for trading those stocks. This is a step-by-step guide to minimising losses and maximising your gains.

I wanted to add this book to the list of best trading books because it also contains a video course with quizzes to help ensure you understand the material. This is unique compared to the other books that I have reviewed here and is a nice addition.

I would recommend this book to anyone who learns in a visual way as this book is quite visual, and includes video lessons.

With this day trading book, you should walk away with some actionable trading strategies which you can practise trading on a simulated account.

Technical analysis is the reading of the market using price action data. This is done through candlestick patterns and day trading indicators.

These are my picks for the best technical analysis books.

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets

Written by John J Murphy

There are few better sources of information about technical analysis than the former director of technical analysis at Merrill Lynch.

Murphy provides the basics of trading then moves onto more advanced technical analysis.

I would consider this trading book to be almost like the encyclopaedia of trading. Murphy provides hundreds of chart examples that help cement the theory and strategies.

I found this book useful in its actionable applications which help in taking the theory and providing a method for putting things into practise.

The book includes a technical checklist and guide for using both technical and fundamental analysis in your trading. You’ll also find -at the end of the book -an outline of how to test your strategies and evaluate their effectiveness.

For this reason, I would consider -as many others do -this to be the best technical analysis books. A good read for anyone who likes to see examples of theory put into practise.

Charting and Technical Analysis

Written by Fred McAllen

Next on the list of best technical analysis books is “Charting and Technical Analysis”. A less in-depth trading book than “Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets”, but still a great read.

This book will help you understand price action through trading patterns, and signals (via indicators). You’ll gain an understanding of what price movement means, and what decisions you should be making based on that information.

A shorter read and a good place to start for someone looking to jump in and start practising their trading on a simulated account. T

The book may be shorter than my number 1 best technical analysis books pick, but it’s important to fully absorb the information by taking your time in reading, and through practise.

Swing Trading is a medium-term trading method, slightly longer than day trading. A swing trader looks to take advantage of longer moves in the market. Waiting for these longer moves takes a little more time, but can be lucrative.

Here are my 2 of the best swing trading books

Mastering the Trade

Written by John F. Carter

This book, by John F. Carter, one of today’s most successful traders gets the number one spot for best swing trading books.

“Mastering the Trade” will teach you time tested trading set-ups and which are the best markets to employ them on. You will be shown a strict set of rules designed to pick the pin-point entry and exit points Carter uses.

Carter provides an excellent account of risk management through stop loss placement and shares effective risk management techniques.

I particularly liked the insights into reading the markets as a whole, and understanding the story the market is telling.

Carter uses tools that help in finding pivot points and key market levels that will help you find high-probability set-ups.

You’ll also learn some scanning techniques to trim down your watch list to trades that show the highest potential.

A very good book and certainly one of the best swing trading books that I have read.

How To Swing Trade

Written by Brian Pezim

“How to Swing Trade” is one of the most popular swing trading books out there. I think there is good reason for its popularity.

“How to Swing Trade” does an excellent job of covering the ins and outs of swing trading. You’ll learn the authors trading strategies, rules, and methods for swing trading.

This trading book will help you understand fundamental analysis as well as technical analysis. These 2 forms of analysis combined will help you in finding trading opportunities.

You’ll be introduced to charting tools, candlestick patterns, and risk management techniques.

What I found useful in this book was the trading plan that provides rules and routines for setting up a trading business.

A good read, it earns its place on the best swing trading books list.

When considering this list, I decided to class the best stock trading books as longer term buy and hold investments. Therefore, these books are a little unique compared to the others on this list which are more technical.

Here are my best stock trading books

The Intelligent Investor

Written by Benjamin Graham

The intelligent investor makes the best stock trading book list for its outline of fundamental value investing.

Written by Benjamin Graham in 1949, and touted as being the best book ever written on the subject of investing by Warren Buffet. Buffet points to this book as one of his sources for learning how to trade his own methods.

This book will help you identify stocks that are trading under their intrinsic value. This will help you in finding value stocks to invest in based on fundamental analysis.

If you’re interested in long-term investments or value investing, I believe this is the best stock trading book, and is an excellent starting point.

One up on Wall Street

Written by Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch was the manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments and is a legendary fund manager and investor.

“One up on Wall Street” has sold over one million copies and is considered a must read amongst many investors.

In this book Lynch describes how to find ‘tenbaggers’ which are stocks that grow 10 x from their initial investment. He uses excellent fundamental analysis to find the fastest growing companies. Lynch also takes a look at investment cycles which I found really interesting.

This book is my number 2 pick for best stock trading book.

Ask any trader and they’ll tell you that one of the hardest parts of trading is having the right mindset. For this reason, the following trading psychology books are an important addition to the list of best trading books.

Trading in The Zone

Written by Mark Douglas

Without any sense of hyperbole, this book has been recommended by every single trader that I have talked to about what are the best trading psychology books.

Mark Douglas is considered the ultimate source for trading psychology and with good reason.

Douglas takes a practical look at how to remove ‘head trash’ from your trading mindset. You’ll understand some of the emotional mistakes that traders make, and how to trade with logic over emotion.

This book expertly lays down the basics of trading psychology and is a must read for any trader than want to limit the emotion in their trading.

Trading in the Zone follows Douglas’ first book “The Disciplined Trader” which gets an honourable mention for best trading psychology books.

Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets

Written by Ari Kiev

Written by Ari Kiev this book looks at the psychology of stock trading. This book makes the list of best trading psychology books because of its ability to help traders pin-point their motivations with their trading strategy.

What’s interesting about this book is that it is a collaborative effort between a professional trader and a licensed psychiatrist. This sets Trading to Win apart from other books in this niche.

You will learn about the psychological pitfalls -some of which you may not be aware of -and get actionable methods to minimise these problems.

This book will help you in addressing the psychological side of your trading and make you a much more rounded trader.

By the end of this book, you should be able to trade your plan and eliminate the psychological noise like a professional trader.

I wasn’t sure how to categorise these books, but I do think they are some of the best trading books out there, so I wanted them on the list.

These 2 picks aren’t strictly about learning how to trade; however, you will definitely learn something from each of them.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Written by Edwin Lefèvre and Roger Lowenstein

The only fictional book on the best trading books list, but I needed to add a spot for it.

Although this book was first published in 1923, it still stands up today and is a favourite among many traders.

The book follows Larry Livingston who is based on legendary stock trader, Jesse Livermore.

This is not only a good read; it also has useful tips that you can apply to your trading. I found learning about Livermore’s self-education (via Livingston’s character) to be really interesting.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator isn’t going to teach you how to trade; however, it’s a really enjoyable read.

Market Wizards

Written by Ari Kiev

Another book that won’t teach you how to start trading, but a very good read for those already trading.

Market Wizards is a series of interviews with the best traders and fund managers in the world. It was interesting to hear from successful traders about what they feel sets them apart from the average trader.

This book again shows the importance of having a trading strategy and trading mindset for success. It’s a common theme throughout each of the interviews.

My reason for this being one of the best trading books is that it’s insightful, and enjoyable to read.

Best Trading Books for Beginners

A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market by Matthew R. Kratter
Start Day Trading Now by Michael Sincere

Best Day Trading Books

Getting Started in Online Day Trading by Kassandra Bentley
The Simple Strategy by Markus Heitkoetter

Best Technical Analysis Books

Charting and Technical Analysis by Fred McAllen
The Art and Science of Technical Analysis by Adam Grimes

Best Swing Trading Books

The Ultimate Guide to Swing Trading by Steve Burns and Holly Burns
The Master Swing Trader by Alan Farley

Best Stock Trading Books

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins

Best Trading Psychology Books

The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas
The New Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder

Disclaimer
None of the links on this page are affiliate links, and neither I, nor IDTA make money should you buy any of these books. This list of best trading books is my own opinion, and I wanted to keep it impartial. Check out reviews online to see what other readers thought of these books for a more diverse opinion.

Reading any of these trading books is a great way to get started with trading. But this is just a start, don’t expect to be a pro trader as soon as you’re done reading.

For a fuller learning experience, consider taking a course with pro-trader educators. You can consider a trading coach to guide you toward your goal of becoming a profitable trader.

If your goal is to learn to trade, then you might consider what I believe is the best free day trading course for anyone starting out.