5 Best Trading Books

Vish Kajaria
Coinrule
Published in
6 min readNov 12, 2021

Not everyone who enters the trading business makes the cut. Although the market is the same for everyone and presents the same opportunities and challenges in an undiscriminating manner, your career path depends on how you perceive the industry, where you take your inspiration from, whose advice you trust, and how you calculate and manage the risks you take.

The bottom line is, challenges are an unconditional element in trading. Anyone who says otherwise is most probably oversimplifying it. So, if you’re looking for some no-nonsense, lucid, and well-put-together words of wisdom on the arts and sciences of trading, then there’s nothing better than these five trading books!

1. Richer, Better, Wiser

Author: William Green

Richer, Better, Wiser is penned by William Green, a renowned financial journalist who has worked with Forbes, Time, The New Yorker, and Fortune. Green has spent almost twenty-five years interviewing super successful investors and trading prodigies, such as Ed Thorp, Mohnish Pabrai, Charlie Munger, and many others.

This book condenses all the lessons that these interviews teach us about these millionaire and billionaire investors. They know how to think out-of-the-box. They expand the boundaries of what is rational and conventional. They maximize the chances of success while minimising the risks. They have a backup plan as a safety net.

The book also busts the myths around these ultra-rich masterminds by depicting how they use their ingenuity to get what they want without “the right connections,” favours, or relying on anyone else.

Who Should Read: People who look at the industry’s big guns and wonder if they became rich through conspiring or through favors. Of course, there’s no such thing as success being served on a silver platter, and this piece of literature is the perfect dose of reality for those who want an insight into how trading, money, hard work, and luck are really intertwined.

2. Inside the Black Box: The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading

Author: Rishi K Narang

Probably the best trading book for quantitative traders, it covers a lot of grey areas and explores the unchartered territories in quantitative trading. There isn’t much content that has been written to guide aspiring quantitative traders, so this is basically a handbook that each trader should read at least once to grasp the concepts and strategies behind successful quantitative trading.

The term ‘black boxes’ refers to the various frameworks for quantitative trading, where the human controller inputs some information and gets some actionable output, but doesn’t know what happens behind-the-scenes. By exploring different black boxes, you can understand them simply and transparently, although they do not initially appear either simple or linear!

Who Should Read: Newbie traders, as well as anyone who has heard of quantitative trading but doesn’t really understand how it works. This book clarifies several misconceptions regarding the field, so practitioners of quantitative trading will also find it incredibly helpful!

3. The Intelligent Investor

Author: Benjamin Graham

Since its first edition was published in the mid-twentieth century, The Intelligent Investor has become the gold standard for sensible, value-oriented investing. Being a leading investment advisor of the past century, Benjamin Graham has been the creator and curator of majorly successful and effective value-investment strategies.

This updated version of the book has leveled-up the benchmark for the field of value-investing. Graham’s words are a timeless asset for all visionary investors. The updated commentary by Jason Zweig has made it truly possible for you to become The Intelligent Investor in every sense of the phrase.

From error-rectification techniques to long-term investment loopholes, there’s a lot to learn from this 640-pages-long piece of literature.

Who Should Read: The book is a one-stop shop for all those who are struggling with attaining a fine balance between risk, reward, opportunity, and playing-it-safe as best as they possibly can. As a definitive guide, it is also a must-read for students of finance, trading, and accounting.

4. The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

Author: Gregory Zuckerman

Which trader doesn’t want to have an unbeaten record of profits and a ridiculously-large net worth? That’s the pinnacle of success and smartness that no one but Jim Simons has been able to achieve and demonstrate recently. This entertaining, informative has been shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.

The book is based on the life and achievements of legendary mathematician Jim Simons. He used algorithms to channel his investment intuition in a productive, calculated manner and made himself worth over $23 billion. His record is unmatched by the likes of even Warren Buffett, Steve Cohen, George Soros, and many other famous money-makers of modern financial history.

The book narrates a compelling account of how encoded, data-driven, algorithmically value-assisted investment has turned Simon’s achievements into a classic case study for all in the field of trading.

Who Should Read: Anyone who wants to make it big through advanced calculations and risk-management strategies. Perfect for teamwork as well as independent traders.

5. Cryptocurrency Investing For Dummies

Author: Kiana Danial

Let’s be real. The first time most of us heard of crypto was from a genius ‘schemer’ pal in college, or from an internet tabloid, or maybe in a Facebook post about new world agendas. Whichever the entry point was, these ambiguities severely mis-shaped our understanding of the potential of crypto in trade.

Luckily, this book by Kiana Danial will help you undo much of the damage. The book explores three major topics:

  • What cryptocurrency basically is and how it works
  • Reasons to invest in crypto and add it to your portfolio
  • How to craft crypto investment strategies that align with your financial goals

Who Should Read: Although the title of the book suggests it’s for only rookies, more experienced readers like active traders, finance academics, investment analysts, and relevant specialists will also find the content rather insightful.

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