Best Books That I’ve Personally Read, Enjoyed, and Applied to My Life and Trading:
In my list of best books for traders, you might be surprised to see that many of them are not specifically related to trading. Instead, they focus on habits, perseverance, training, accountability, growth mindset, and peak performance – among many other critical topics.
But don’t get it twisted – just because some of these books don’t outwardly mention trading or investing within the text doesn’t mean they’re any less valuable. I wouldn’t be anywhere near the trader I am today without reading these so-called “non-trading” books.
So as you scan through the list below, keep in mind that durable trading success is about more than just technical analysis, for example. In my opinion, your ultimate success is dependent on acquiring the proper mindset, habits, processes, and daily routines.
For ease of understanding, I’ve broken down my list of best books into two main categories – the first are those specifically related to trading/investing and the second are those not specifically related to trading/investing (but still very much applicable).
I also tried to rank them from my most favorite to least favorite, but this became an extremely difficult (if not impossible) task to accomplish. So consider them loosely ranked with a handful of my most favorite books near the top of each respective list.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of great trading/investing books, but I’ve personally read every single one listed below.
Best Books For Traders (Specifically Related to Trading/Investing):
- The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas
- Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas
- The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- Unshakeable by Tony Robbins
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- The Psychology of Trading by Brett Steenbarger
Best Books For Traders (Without Specific Trading/Investing Components):
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf
- Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
- Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
- Limitless by Jim Kwik
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
- Make Your Bed by William McRaven
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
- Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
- The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson
- Inner Simplicity by Elaine St. James
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- Grit & Grace by Tim McGraw
- David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
- The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
- Tribe by Sebastian Junger
- 21 Lessons For the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Check Out My “Best Book Quotes” Series Featuring Many of the Titles Listed Above
Please share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with any of these books (or your own favorites) in the comments below.
Written by Matt Thomas (@MattThomasTP)
Thank you very much for providing us with this list. I think I should start by learning to control my emotions and impulses. This field of study is important in market behavior. Humans are logical beings, but we act according to our feelings practically most of the time and without realizing it.
No problem, Paolo – happy to provide this book list. The specific trading-related books that I’ve listed above are some of my favorites in regard to psychology and emotional control – especially The Disciplined Trader and Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas. But there are many other books on my list that cover things like habits, neuroplasticity, peak performance, and other topics that new traders might not necessarily associate with trading – but they 100% apply. I’ve found that pretty much every book I read these days has at least a few nuggets I can extract from it in order to improve myself as a trader. Maybe that’s just because I’m so deeply involved in it all through my actual trading operations and work on this website, but I see connections back to trading and improving my performance everywhere.
Mindset is the most important by far when it comes to trading. I know because I’ve been learning to trade for the past 3 years and just got it within this past year, mostly because my mindset was not right. I like the list of books you have listed they are all some really good books. At least the ones I know of. Thanks for this, it was very interesting to read about.
Hi Nikki – I completely agree that mindset is the most important aspect of trading. Pretty much all of the trading-related books I’ve read are mainly about this topic, like the two classics by Mark Douglas – The Disciplined Trader and Trading in the Zone. I don’t think the average person realizes just how important trading psychology is – and not being aware of it or ignoring it are some of the main reasons why new traders fail. I personally struggled quite a bit and never really found much consistency (over the course of a few years) until I came across Trading Composure and started taking the mindset component seriously. That’s when things finally started to “click” – it was like finding a missing puzzle piece. I’m glad you found the book list interesting – take care!