Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management

Wish I had read it years ago

An excellnt starting point for any investor/trader. Detailed informative and well organized. You will leave with a new understadnting of technical analysis and, if you were a fundamental trader before, it will open a new world for you. Highly recommend.

TraderA

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'THE' Best Book on Trading

2 Years ago I became a full-time trader after taking several courses and reading more than 40 books on trading. Dr. Elder's book is the ONLY one that has made me money, a lot of money (603% last year).

The first half of the book deals with the psychology of both the market and the trader. I didn't fully appreciate this portion of Dr. Elder's book until I began trading. This is the biggest obsticle of the trader. His insight has really helped me to understand the movements of the market and myself as a trader.

The second half of 'Trading for a Living' deals with technical analysis and money management. This has proved invaluable to me. There is so much accurate information I've read the book eight times, that's how jam packed it is with useable information. Also, every word matters--no fluff at all--unlike most of the books on trading I've read. And, don't overlook his money management chapter. This is where amatuers fail. His simple money management system will help to elivate you to a professional trader. If you want to make money, this is the book.

LuvOfMoney

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Covers alot of valuable topics to make you a better trader

This book covers a lot of information about trading. The most useful thing I got out of it was the psychological part of trading. I believe this is huge!! If you truly want to succeed as a trader you must understand technical analysis, this is psychology at work in the market. This book covers more than just the psychology of trading, but that was the main thing I got out of this book and it has made me become a better trader in my opinion.

Gotanger

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A good reinforcement of what one should already know.

I bought the audio book, and listened to it over the course of several days. The author's points were clear, to the point, and easy to understand. I really didn't hear anything I hadn't already read, heard, or experienced on my own, but this book gave me a little more confidence that my trading is on the right track. Definitely worth the purchase price. I will probably listen to it again.

Mdwagner

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An easy read for all novices who want to go pro.

I think this book was pretty informative and definitely increased my motivation into trading full time and learning more, but have to agree with the previous post that it really doesn't teach you how to trade. There are much better books out there that are cheaper and have a more in depth approach on technical analysis (Toni Turner's's Guide for Short Term Trading for one).

However being an immigrant from a republic of former Soviet Union, I enjoyed his writing style and sense of humor. A great read, libraries usually have this book, no need to buy it from Amazon.

EdgarAmbart

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Too pricey

Book is a little broad, covering lots of things, The book starts off with psychology. I sort of wish the book were a little more focused on exactly how you can become a more disciplined trader. Hell I have the knowledge to really succeed in trading, it's the discipline of doing it that is the hard part. Elder also spends time on understanding herd market behavior and goes into common price patterns and technical indicators. Overall, not a bad boo, but too pricey.

Luke11

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A must for the bookshelf

The book opens with a great quote: "You can be free. You can live and work anywhere in the world. You can be independent from routine and not answer to anybody. This is the life of a successful trader".

I got a lot from this book. Elder gives a lot of practial tips and advice. He spends a lot of time on psychology and takes you through indicators in detail. With each one he gives practical advice on how to trade from them. His indicators, the Elder-Ray index and Force Index, are also introduced. I think these can be bought as Metastock plugins. The books is expensive but is packed with useful nuggests.

Thomasonr

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A great classic, though specifics of methods are skimpy...

A fine read, with reservations:

Elder talks a good game, and his insights into the losing mind sets and under capitalization problems most traders have provides food for thought.

A new copy is somewhat pricey for such general wisdom nuggets, but the study manual that goes WITH this (blue cover) is essential as it forms testing material for comprehension of the actual text and its concepts.

Tim Sykes I hear does a version of this with his DVDs, providing binders with extra goodies as supplemental material, instead of just making a DVD and expecting the process to end there.

Not a lot of fluff or white space, but I wish he would have tackled day trading, which he avoids in this tome, and recommends for hearty souls only. The swing trading material was not practical using the Elder Ray technical analysis formula he outlines until later software packages incorporated his math into their charting, which has been conquered now, yet that fact leaves a dated impression taste in the mouth of this reviewer.

BigT

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Need to read!

I really liked this book. It doesn't teach you how to day trade, it shows the importance of psychology behind trading (investing). Author himself is a full time trader now. Born in Russia came to America, different world, different people, got a degree in psychology science and during the several years of observing, started to trade part time and realized how close trading and psychology are to each other. I liked this book very much and recommend to everybody to have it as a part of their library.

Martinib

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Great Overview Book

The grand daddy book that has created traders everywhere. It’s not my favorite, but it covers literally every major trading topic so you gotta have that knowledge in your arsenal....remember 90% of traders lose $ so every last bit of knowledge can help you avoid dumb but common mistakes

Tim

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