Over the weekend I discussed some of the biggest hurdles in trading with a few of the conference attendees, and I paid particularly close attention to emotional (irrational) decision making.
Having a trading plan is great but sticking to it will make the difference between making the turn to consistent profitability verses conceding your fate to the latest indicator or guru.
It is extremely unlikely you have the resources to influence the market you are trading. There is no way you can control the collective behavior of other participants. That is why it makes no sense to worry about the why behind market behavior. Your energy can be better expended cultivating your own mind.
They are learning so much about the brain these days and tons of research and books are written on the topic. Here are a few books I have found valuable so far. These are links to Amazon and if you buy a book directly from these blue hyperlinks I will make like fifty cents:
Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World – Intro to meditation. It gets a little hippy dippy at times but overall solid.
As A Man Thinketh – This book is old. You can read it in a single morning. Can be slightly off putting at times with Jesus talk, but it is limited.
Mans Search for Meaning – This is about surviving inside Auschwitz. It will put all your first world problems into perspective.
Switch: How to change when change is hard – Lots of good case studies and research. It was a hard read for my ADD. I recommend the audio book for this one.
Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen – More about the omnipotent presence of extreme outlying events. Great for preventing being stubborn, especially when an indicator or signal keeps being wrong.
bird by bird – I bought this one to improve my writing but along the way my mind was expanded. Check it out.
Meditations – Random applications of stoic and Aristotelian philosophy by Marcus Aurelius aka the last great emperor or Rome. This translation is considered the cleanest and most actionable. These ancient writings are older than the Bible.
The Art of Learning – This is written by the boy genius chess player who went on to become a world champion in fucking jujitsu. Really solid stuff.
The Chimp Paradox – Get to know your inner cave man; the idiot who wants to smash computers with his fist, and how he may not be very useful in modern society. In Switch (above) they call it the elephant. Great pair of books to read together.
Bhagavad Gita – Another set of writings predating the holy Bible. This one pairs well with a small dose of LSD (I do not advocate breaking laws).
The Legend of Bagger Vance – I linked to the movie. Save time, just watch the movie it does a pretty good job as long as you can stomach a Matt Damon performance.
Gita on The Green – This is something. After you realize Bhagavad Gita is super confusing and you have watched Bagger Vance, this book ties to the two together in an epic way. Great for you golfing types.
The Psychedelic Explorers Guide – If you even remotely took my LSD recommendation serious, read this book first (and do not break any laws).
The Nature of Things – More ancient philosophy.
Sophies World – If philosophy is not your thing, read this lovely fiction instead. This is one of the best selling books ever and translated into 100s of languages.
The Power of Habit – Another book with lots of great case studies and research. Definitely top 3 in usefulness and application to trading. I love the part about scripting critical moments.
The Obstacle Is The Way – Ryan Holiday is probably younger then you and has accomplished incredible things. He is also a modern day stoic. This one is tough loving and more effective then coffee for waking you ass up.
Those are all the books I have worked through so far. Some I read halfway then shelved for now. Others (like Meditations) I read over-and-over. Has a book improved your trading or outlook on life? Please, share it below. I need more!
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
The believing brain
Thinking, fast and slow. Great read about when you should use your gut or when to analyze a situation in depth.
What are your LSD recommendations I missed that post I guess?
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind
John Coates is a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge and former Wall Street trader for Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank.
http://www.amazon.com/Hour-Between-Dog-Wolf-Transforms-ebook/dp/B0074VTH0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445917878&sr=8-1&keywords=between+the+hours+of+dog+and+wolf
“A RANDOM WALK DOWN WALL STREET” is all you need to read. More relevant and a pathway to investment success. Random walk is also a derogatory phrase used to describe day traders.
Great post, thanks for the suggestions. I’m always looking for good books too.
I can recommend Psycho Cybernetics and Trading in the Zone, two books that can both improve trading and outlook in life as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Psycho-Cybernetics-New-More-Living-Life/dp/0671700758
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0735201447/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=28634396007&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3110998045659874848&hvpone=28.09&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=t&ref=pd_sl_mq7gh6hsa_b
And I also enjoyed Pit Bull, Martin Schwartz biography.
http://www.amazon.com/Pit-Bull-Lessons-Streets-Champion/dp/0887309569