Found in 6 comments on Hacker News
jaylossless · 2020-05-24 · Original thread
The usual suspects are always good (market wizards, one up on wall street, trade in the zone, etc) but my favorite was probably this one: https://amzn.to/3glY1Co

I'm on the road right now but I'll gather a list. The docs are all over the place so I was just picking parameters out and noting certain aspects I could automate with software.

sowbug · 2017-12-22 · Original thread
I don't have an answer for you, but Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is required reading for anyone interested in the history of securities markets. It's fictionalized autobiography of a legendary trader in the 1920s. It could have been written yesterday or a thousand years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Le...

pmoriarty · 2016-10-24 · Original thread
"In the olden days it was relatively common for people to begin in the mail room and work their way up to CEO. Exchange floor traders would frequently start as clerks and runners."

One of the most famous examples: Jesse Livermore[1], whose Reminiscences of a Stock Operator[2] is one of the most recommended trading books ever. (I recommend it too. It's awesome.)

He never climbed the corporate ladder, but did start out writing prices on a blackboard for a brokerage. He went on to become a hugely successful trader, only to lose it all, and repeated this cycle many times.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Lauriston_Livermore

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Le...

RockyMcNuts · 2016-09-24 · Original thread
FWIW this would be my list of books every investor should read, which is different from what you should read to work in finance but anyway ...

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter L. Bernstein. A lively introduction to the theoretical foundations of modern finance and their history, Markowitz, Sharpe, etc. https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Ideas-Improbable-Origins-Mode...

The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America by Warren E. Buffett. In his own words...you can also find many if not all online, on Berkshire website https://www.amazon.com/The-Essays-Warren-Buffett-Corporate/d...

Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Insightful biography...The Snowball was written more recently with Buffett's approval, but would read this one first https://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-Low...

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher. It's not widely appreciated, but Warren Buffett's method is 50% Ben Graham and 50% Phil Fisher. If you can find value stocks that are also great franchises, and hold onto them for dear life, you will be rich... if you also bet big, operate companies well, don't screw up, live in a bull market era and survive long enough, maybe as rich as Buffett. https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writin...

The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel by Benjamin Graham. Classic introduction to value investing https://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Practical-Co...

Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David F. Swensen. Asset allocation, and the perils of mutual funds...leading endowment investor of our time (Yale) gives his advice for individuals https://www.amazon.com/Unconventional-Success-Fundamental-Ap...

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks. Lessons in investing... at any time, any one of them can be 'the most important thing' and so they all are jointly and severally 'the most important thing'. https://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/d...

The Investor's Anthology: Original Ideas from the Industry's Greatest Minds (Vols 1 and 2) by Charles D. Ellis (Editor), James R. Vertin (Editor). Essays from a broad selection of writers https://www.amazon.com/The-Investors-Anthology-Industrys-Inv... https://www.amazon.com/Classics-II-Another-Investors-Antholo...

The Money Masters; The New Money Masters; Money Masters of Our Time, by John Train. Methodologies of all-time great money managers, in their own words https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873... https://www.amazon.com/Money-Masters-Time-John-Train/dp/0887... https://www.amazon.com/New-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873...

Market Wizards; The New Market Wizards; Hedge Fund Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager. Interviews of successful traders https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Jack-D-Schwager/dp/088... https://www.amazon.com/The-New-Market-Wizards-Conversations/... https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Fund-Market-Wizards-Winning/dp/...

Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger. Why good markets go bad https://www.amazon.com/Manias-Panics-Crashes-Financial-Inves...

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. Fictionalized biography of a famed early-20th century trader https://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Le...

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Best and Latest Investment Advice Money Can Buy by Burton G. Malkiel. Reality check from an efficient market theorist https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...

This is a rollicking good read on links between Shannon, Kelly, Thorpe, who wrote 'Beat the Dealer' and was maybe the first hedge fund legend https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-C...

And maybe something on technical analysis, but not really sure what to recommend...a lot of people view it kind as mumbo jumbo, but I kind of think fundamentals are like playing your poker hand, technicals are like playing the opponents' tells...the chart gives you an idea of who owns it at what price, what levels might make people rethink positions. Maybe this one as an easy intro, dumb title notwithstanding https://www.amazon.com/Stan-Weinsteins-Secrets-Profiting-Mar...

rl3 · 2015-02-22 · Original thread
This is spot on.

Like the parent commenter, I was also on the same path and stopped. Despite diving into the topic for over a year, I came to the sobering realization that I had insufficient starting capital to properly manage risk.

Standard commission fees will eat you for breakfast trying to exercise a 1% (position) risk model on an insufficient amount of capital. Things like Robinhood[0] unfortunately didn't exist back then.

As far as books, Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom cannot be praised enough. Though I usually refrain from mentioning it because the title has this get-rich-quick vibe, it's nothing of the sort. Van Tharp was (and for all I know, still may be) the world's premier trading psychologist. The book drives home the concept of risk management in automated trading systems like no other, especially remarkable considering when it was written.

The Market Wizards books, at least the first two, are pretty much required reading.

The only book I might add to the list would be Reminiscences of a Stock Operator[1]. While admittedly I didn't find it as useful as the other books, it's still a good read and widely considered to be the seminal book on trading.

[0] https://www.robinhood.com/

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Lef...

andjones · 2011-09-28 · Original thread
For those interested in this kind of story, and manipulation of markets in general, one of the best books I've read on the subject, published in 1923: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

http://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Lef...

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