Trading For A living

One of the reasons why this book is such a classic is that it talks about the psychology of trading. In the trading world psychology will either make or break you. More traders have gone bankrupt because of their emotions than anything else.

Yet none of the popular books illustrate this point. Almost all books about the stock market talk about some “secret” trading method that can be used to profit from the markets. The thing that they do not tell you, is that these methods are totally useless if you do not know how to manage your emotions.

Emotions Are The Key To Successfully Trading For a Living

One of the points Dr Alexander makes in his book is when you have a series of losses you have to brush it off your shoulder and get back in. He has a little story where he almost quit trading the markets because he had a few losses together, luckily his trader friend helped him get back on the horse.

This part of the book really hit home for me because I tend to want to stop trading after I have had a number of losses in a row. But going back and trading is what you really need to do in a case like this.

Another part he hit about psychology is to not concentrate on the money, but concentrate on trading.

If you focus on the money you will go through highs and lows which will make you extremely stressed and hurt your returns.

Instead focus on trading. This allows you to learn and grow; it is also the best way to make a good return.

Remember Focus on Your Trading And The Money Will Come

Now this book isn’t purely a psychology book, it also focuses on some trading strategies and systems (including two oscillators he created) that can give you an edge over the market.

Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder is one of the best trading books that has ever came out because it goes so deep into what it takes to be a successful trader in any market. If you are looking to trade the market I would really recommend you give it a good read first.