Best Swing Trading Books
Swing trading is one of the most popular types of trading where a trader buys and sells a stock within a few days up to a a few weeks. While it is easy to swing trade, it's not so easy to make a profit. In fact, most people lose money in trading the stock market. To increase the odds of winning, here is a list of the 5 best swing trading books that every trader should have on his or her shelve.
1. Come Into My Trading Room
Come Into My Trading Room by Alexander Elder, was one of the first books that I read on swing trading and it remains to be the top book on my list.
In this book, author Elder teaches you step by step on how he trades and utilizing the methods that he first taught in the bestselling book Trading for a Living.
Traders will learn how to manage their money, time and strategy and the essential elements of successful trading. Combining these three elements will allow you to enter and exit the market with confidence and profits. This book serves as a comprehensive guide for traders of any level beginners included, it does not required any knowledge from his previous book.
2. Mastering the Trade
Mastering the Trade by John Carter is one of the bestselling classic trading books since its first published. This book covers all the necessary tools and strategies that a trader needed in order to make money swing trading. Beginners will learn how the markets really work and experienced traders will learn how to take their trading to the next level.
This book presents the exact set of rules that every successful trader posses to enter and exit the market for taking profits and cutting loss. Traders will learn the effective risk control techniques that work in any market. Carters also discusses scanning techniques to find high probability trades as well as premarket checklist to analyze the market condition.
3. How To Swing Trade
How To Swing Trade by Brian Pezim, is a relatively new book compared to the other ones on the list. It was first published in 2018 and quickly became a bestseller on Amazon with very good reviews from users.
This book covers a wide variety of topics from the basic of swing trading, to choosing a stock broker, tools that you need to swing trade, as well as advanced trading strategies. You will learn how to use stock charts and technical analysis to identify profitable market entries and exits. Brian also gives a brief introduction on how to use fundamental analysis to perform basic analysis on the companies that you are trading to maximize the odds of winning.
4. Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard
Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard by Mark Minervini, a U.S. Investing Champion who achieved an average of 220% returns for five consecutive years. Mark discusses how to get into trades before they make big moves, and how to avoid costly mistakes that most traders make. Other things you will learn from this book is how to avoid high risk trades and when to get in trades and get out of trade. Most importantly, learn how to protect profits and cut losses quickly.
5. Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets
Technical analysis is one of the keys to swing trading success, and Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John J. Murphy, is the bible of technical analysis.
This book offers a thorough walk through of all the major stock chart patterns and technical indicators on the financial markets. You will get step by step instructions on how to apply these chart patterns and indicators in real swing trading or day trading. If you are completely new to trading, this is a must read book to get you started and dive right into the market.
6. Trading in the Zone
The list won't be complete if we left out Trading in the Zone, written by Mark Douglas. In my opinion, discipline and attitude are more important in swing trading than any trading methodology or systems. Trading psychology is exactly what this book is all about. The goal of this book is to help traders stay in the game and make consistent profits rather than a one time hit and go.
Lack of discipline is the reason why many people were able to make some money when they just started trading, only to lose it all on one or a few trades down the road. In this book, Douglas will show you how to overcome this symptom and increase the probabilities of coming out ahead in the long run.
7. Short-Term Trading in the New Stock Market
Short-Term Trading in the New Stock Market, by Toni Turner. Whether you are a swing trader or a day trader, this is a good book to learn about trading skills and trading strategies. You will learn about the author's 7 steps approach to the stock market. You will learn about risk-reward ratio and when to enter and exit a trade.
8. High Probability Trading
High Probability Trading by Marcel Link. This book has some unique insights on how to use technical indicators which you won't find in any other book. Again, you will learn how to use technical indicators like stochastic, MACD and how to apply them in swing trading.
9. Profitable Candlestick Trading
Profitable Candlestick Trading by Stephen W. Bigalow. To make money swing trading, candlestick patterns is one of the useful tools that you can use compared to bar chart. You will learn all the basic candlestick patterns and reversal patterns that allows you to jump on a trade before the beginning of a new trend. You will learn how to apply these candlestick patterns with real trading and how to recognize profitable trade setups.
10. Trading for a Living
Trading for a Living is another book written by Alexander Elder. Trading for a Living is a great book where it teaches you 3 major concepts in short term stock trading, Psychology, Trading Tactics, and Money Management. You will need all 3 of these skills in order to survive and make money trading stocks. This book teaches you how to use technical indicators and give detail analysis on charts. Whether you are a stock market beginners or an experienced trader, you will learn something new from this book.
Final Words
Merely reading these books will not make you a successful trader. Just like everything else in life, if you want to get really good at something, consistent practice is required. You need to put in the hours to learn how the market really works and apply the theories and strategies that you learn from these books. You also need to develop a realistic expectation of the market, and have a plan whenever you enter the market.
It is recommended that every trader to keep a journal of their trades so that they can learn from their profitable trades and mistakes. The market has been here for a hundred years and it will not be running away any time soon, there is really no rush.
Most people lose money in the market because they treat trading as a hobby or see it as a way to make quick money. This is not the attitude of a winning trader. Successful traders approach trading as a business. Enter the market only when you are ready, after all, it is your money on the line. Be fully prepared and have fun trading and keep learning.