Top Trading Book：Excellent- and sobering

Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader is an excellent book and I recommend it. The book is divided into two halves - the first half is an explanation and summary of the Factor Trading Plan; the second half is a trade diary showing charts and describing entry signals and management of about 70 trades. The appendices include a list of trades in a table format, a quick reference to the charts presented in the book, and a good list of recommended resources. The information in first half of the book gives great insight into Mr Brandt's process and trading plan, including: trade identification, trade management, psychology, position sizing, record keeping, and other lessons learned from a long career in speculation. Mr Brandt trades classical chart patterns for a number of commodity, futures and currencies, so there are lots of charts and detailed descriptions of each - but the real appeal of the book is the insight into developing a trading plan and consistently trading that plan over time. If you're looking for a get-rich-quick book with a 100% reliable trading system, stop reading. But if you're looking for an honest account of the trials and tribulations of a 30-year veteran trader during 2 months of trading, with multiple charts and set-ups included, this book is what you want. The overall impression gleaned from this book is that trading is not easy, and that you need to have a well-defined technical approach and stick to it. Although the book says 'commodities' in the title, it's perfectly well suited to trading stocks, as the technical set-ups are absolutely the same. This is a very good read, imo, both for very experienced and less experienced traders. I wouldn't recommend it as a first book though. For the absolutely complete beginner I would recommend Stikky Stockcharts, and following that Weinstein's How to Profit ... book, both of which are very reasonably priced. FWIW, I'm in my third year of semi-active trading, am basically treading water from the point of view of profitability, and still learning.