18 best day trading and forex books

Day trading and forex trading have become increasingly popular with retail investors in recent years, yet only 1% of traders remain profitable over 5 years.¹

If you want to increase your own chances of success, you'll need to put in the work.

We've put together a list of the best books for day trading and forex trading to help you get ahead, whether you're a newbie or a top trader.

• How we chose these books

  • Reader reviews. To make the list, a book needs to have at least a 4/5 on Amazon and Goodreads or rate at least above 90 from Google users.
  • Author. We added additional weighting based on the popularity and expertise of the writer.
  • Recency. Given how quickly markets and trading can change, we favoured more recent books that are likelier to be useful for trading today's markets.

1. Currency Trading for Dummies by Brian Dolan

We couldn't start a list of forex trading without the hugely popular "For Dummies" series.

But going beyond the title, this book actually does a pretty good job of breaking down the forex markets into clear, easy-to-read instructions on trading.

In fact, the entire point of the book is to make sure new investors understand the basics.

The key takeaway from this is you'll learn how the markets work, ways to think about trading, tools to use and a basic game plan for forex trading.

2. Forex Trading: The Basics Explained in Simple Terms by Jim Brown

This is probably a book that you can get through in a night, but it will inform your basic trading strategies.

At just 91 pages, it's a good first book to learn the very basics of forex trading, helping you to learn how forex trading works, how to use MetaTrader 4 and 5, and some basic high-probability forex trading methods.

One of the key tips you'll learn is trading psychology, which is one of the more important aspects of forex trading.

The best part is you can download the author's custom indicators for the MetaTrader 4 and 5 trading platforms directly from the book.

3. 50 Pips a Day Forex Strategy by Laurentiu Damir

The book 50 Pips a Day Forex Strategy sets out a single, detailed day-trading strategy for new investors, built around a daily target of 50 pips. No strategy guarantees a profit, so treat the target as the author's goal rather than a likely result.

The book is aimed at absolute beginners entering the market.

It is based on one strategy with the aim of avoiding trading and money management mistakes.

If you already have a trading strategy, the book can still provide a useful guide to forex trading.

4. Forex for Ambitious Beginners by Jelle Peters

Forex for Ambitious Beginners covers most of what investors would want to learn about trading.

Ranging from specific forex strategies right through to risk management, the book has you covered. Forex for Ambitious Beginners will help you learn a practical approach to trading as well as how to deal with different drawbacks when trading.

1. How to Day Trade for a Living by Andrew Aziz

Andrew Aziz's 2016 book is a beginner-friendly guide on everything you need to excel as a day trader. It covers off trading tools and strategies, how to manage your money, how to stay disciplined and the psychology you need to become a successful trader.

It aims to help you understand how professional day traders approach the market.

2. How To Swing Trade by Brian Pezim

Swing trading means holding positions for days or weeks rather than closing them the same day, and Pezim's book is a primer on how it works. It covers the tools swing traders use, as well as the basics of charting and fundamental analysis.

3. The Simple Strategy by Markus Heitkoetter

If you're looking to learn how to day trade, this book can certainly help you.

It will break down the basics of day trading strategies across a range of markets, including stocks, ETFs and forex.

The simple strategy is relatively easy to understand and aims to take some of the emotion out of trading decisions.

Instead, you simply trade based on the relative strength index (RSI) and whether it is above 70.

Given the trend is easy to identify and execute, the book will give you a basic framework to work with.

4. How to Day Trade by Ross Cameron

Another beginner-friendly guide, Cameron's book focuses on the common mistakes the author argues cause most new traders to fail, and how to avoid them.

He also covers how to manage your risk.

1. Bollinger on Bollinger Bands by John Bollinger

The guy that came up with Bollinger Bands might just know a thing or two about how they work.

If you're a trader, you've probably heard of Bollinger Bands.

This book explains how to use the technique to compare prices and indicate actions.

While John Bollinger is a technical trader, he does a pretty good job of breaking down the trading technique in a concise and straightforward manner.

If you're a technical trader, this probably should be on your list.

2. The Alchemy of Finance by George Soros

George Soros is one of the more successful traders going around.

And his book The Alchemy of Finance explains his approach to trading, which is based on "reflexivity" or the theory that fundamentals can be influenced by the price.

While this goes against modern economic thought, it has allowed Soros to be one of the better traders.

Although this book was published back in the 1980s, many of the lessons can still help traders today.

3. Japanese Candlesticks Charting Techniques by Steve Nison

This is one of the more fundamental techniques traders will need to know.

Japanese candlestick charts are a versatile tool that is often used with other tools to help analyse the market.

The book has something for everyone. For those who have been trading for a while, you'll learn how Japanese candlesticks along with other techniques can create a powerful trading plan. Those newer to trading will learn how candlestick charts work as a trading tool by themselves.

4. Intermarket Analysis by John Murphy

Intermarket Analysis will help you see how asset prices move together.

The point of the analysis is to predict where prices may head next based on how they interact with other assets. Take, for example, bonds and stocks in Australia that are rising. These might have an impact on our currency, which might be bad for Australia's exports.

The book goes through practical real-world examples from the past to help explain how the principle works.

5. Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John J Murphy

It would be wrong of us to have a list of technical analysis books and not have a book that can teach you the basics.

The book will teach you how to read charts to understand indicators and the role technical analysis plays in investing.

With real-world examples, not only will you learn trading theory but also how you can apply it.

1. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Let's start with the former New York Times bestseller The Black Swan.

The book is by former options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb and teaches you about the extreme impact of rates and unpredictable events on the market.

Coming up with the black swan theory, Taleb points out that humans will retrospectively come up with simple solutions as to why these black swan events occur.

If you feel like adding a few more books, it is part of a 5-part series including Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile and Skin in the Game.

2. Naked Forex by Alex Nekritin and Walter Peters

Now, this could be sacrilegious, but Naked Forex is about trading without indicators.

Known as naked traders, this is one of the oldest trading methods, created well before computers came about.

According to Nekritin and Peters, traders using naked trading techniques focus on the price chart. The authors present naked trading as a simple, chart-based approach that may suit traders who want to focus on learning one method well.

3. Millionaire Traders by Kathy Lien and Boris Schlossberg

If you're looking to improve as a trader, it's never a bad idea to read the stories of those who are successful at it.

Millionaire Traders brings together a collection of not-so-well-known traders who have had great success.

The best part about it – all of the traders started with very little.

Through the interviews, you can see how they traded and the approaches they used.

4. The New Market Wizards by Jack Schwager

Similar to the above, The New Market Wizards is all about inspiring traders through others' successes.

The author interviews multiple successful traders to find out how they became profitable.

The good thing about The New Market Wizards is that it'll teach you about the importance of strategy. As you'll find out, there is no single "right way" to trade, with successful traders having different strategies.

5. Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street's Champion Day Trader by Martin Schwartz

Martin S Schwartz, or Buzzy, is a Wall Street trader who made his money trading stocks, futures and options.

The book covers the true story of Schwartz, which details his journey, including the people he met, the places he went and the tricks and techniques he used to become successful.

Schwartz's claim to fame is that he accumulated $100,000 at an investing firm, which he used to buy a seat on the American Stock Exchange to start trading on his own.

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Written by

Thomas Stelzer

Journalist

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Tom Stelzer is a journalist with 6 years of experience covering personal finance, specialising in investment and cryptocurrency. With a Master of Media Arts and Production and a Bachelor of Communications in Journalism from the University of Technology Sydney, Tom provides expert analysis on digital assets and market trends, helping readers navigate the fast-evolving world of finance. See full bio

Co-written by

Cameron Micallef

Journalist

Cameron Micallef is a personal finance journalist with eight years of experience, specialising in investing, property and household bills. He has written for Smart Property Investment, nestegg and Investor Daily. Cameron holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Media Studies and Commerce, as well as a Tier 1 Generic Knowledge certification (RG146), ensuring compliance with ASIC standards. See full bio

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