Trading For A Living is an excellent read for those who wish to learn about the many aspects of the trading world. The book was written by Dr. Alexander Elder and published initially in 1993, with a new version in 2014 (translated into Spanish in 2017). What follows is a summary of this work for those who are interested in learning more about trading.
In its introductory section, Trading For A Living indicates that anyone can make a living by trading without relying on anyone else. Without a doubt, some very emotional lines that fill many with confidence, including numerous traders today. This book tells us that to succeed in trading, we must put emotions aside and we must also be disciplined, consistent, and very patient.
The author indicates that trading is based on some fundamental aspects: psychology, market analysis, trading system, and money management. This last point is key. If you want to get as successful as possible, it is important that we manage our money optimally, appreciating and taking care of capital at all times. We’ll give you a summary of the book Living Trading in Two Parts.
The first part of this book focuses on individual psychology and shows us that the main target of a good trader is not, as most of the world thinks, make money in the first place, but to make an efficient trade. Greed is a destructive weapon and unfortunately, many traders want to be millionaires overnight. Without measuring the consequences that this entails. A trader’s success is to be very realistic, knowing what his qualities or skills are as well as his limitations.
In addition, you should be aware of everything that happens in the market and make the best decisions when they are needed. With regard to this market analysis, the book states that it must be carried out with great effort and dedication, reacting in the best way and being very realistic at all times.
In addition, the control of emotions and money are terms on which the author makes a lot of emphases, being the key to achieve success in trading. It also denies that trading is a simple game. You have to take it very seriously!
After reading the book, the author talks about an important topic: the study of individual and mass psychology. Here it indicates the impulsiveness and eagerness of the losing trader to play or participate. Which means losing a lot of money and never letting the world know. That is why a person who invests impulsively, without the control of emotions and economic resources, will never have the success of a smart trader.
In this book, Elder indicates some tips (7 specifics), which can help you live trading. We summarize them below:
- Mind that you will start trading to stay for many years there.
- You should read a lot and listen to the experts on this topic, but keep your own criteria.
- Leave greed behind and your emotions. Everything in time, opportunities in the market will always be at your disposal.
- Create the best strategies to analyze the market.
- Come up with an appropriate money management plan. You need to survive long-term, grow constantly, and make the best profits.
- Be aware that in a trading system, you will be the weakest link.
- If you want to be a winning trader and succeed in the trading world, you must think and act differently from the losers.
Without a doubt, Trading For A Living is one of the best trading books in history, so we recommend reading it in detail if you want to succeed as a trader.
