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Best for Beginners
Technical Analysis for Dummies
If you’re a beginner and looking for the best technical analysis books to go from knowing nothing to being able to know everything you need to know this is the best book for you.
Written by Barbara Rockefeller, known as one of the pioneers of technical analysis, this book is one of the simplest and most straightforward approaches to technical analysis available for purchase.
The author runs a trading advice newsletter that offers trading tips and has never had a losing year. This book is a great place to begin because it assumes the reader knows nothing to little from the start.
Words and concepts that may be confusing are broken down and explained in detail, and Rockefeller makes a point of emphasizing important aspects of technical analysis multiple times in order to get the idea across.
Getting Started in Chart Patterns
The reviews give a clear picture that this is one of the best technical analysis books available on the market.
The author, Thomas Bulkowski, also wrote the Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, an incredibly well-respected book for intermediate traders. If there is anyone that knows just about every technical analysis chart pattern on the books it is Thomas.
The big reasons we like this book are the anecdotal stories that serve to entertain, but also to help get the concepts to stick and to be remembered. There is also a great basics section that just gives simple charts, how to read them, and when to use them.
We also like it because it is cheap ($13 on Kindle) but provides all the necessities to start trading stocks using technical analysis.
Developing Profitable Trading Strategies
We included this book on technical analysis because it includes some important information and strategies almost no other author writes about. The idea of testing.
All of the trading strategies and technical analysis strategies only have the clout that they do because they have been tested and proven to work a majority of the time.
Patrick Grattan gives some great insight into this process and into testing your own strategies to see which ones are working and making you money, and which ones are losing money.
Any business-savvy individual can tell you that tracking is the key to success. Stock marketing trading is just like a business and should be treated as such.
Learning to track your wins and losses is an important skill and this book does a great job of explaining it. It is important to note, however, that Grattan does not go into lots of detail about technical analysis, therefore this book needs to be used in conjunction with technical analysis courses or books.
http://amzn.to/21B006v
Most Detailed
The Art and Science of Technical Analysis
We normally try to recommend books that are under $20 for beginners. If you have a little extra cash to throw into your training however, this is the book for you.
If you have ever bought a house with a realtor that you just loved, who seemed to know every trick and loophole, this is the technical analysis book that matches that description.
The book is written by Adam Grimes, the current Chief Investment Officer at Waverly Advisors. He has years of experience trading just about everything that can be traded and it shows in the book.
If you are looking for the details and a real in-depth look at what is going on behind the scenes with the markets, this is the book for you.
Grimes goes into great detail about recognizing important signs and gives great advice when it comes to following the big guys, and how to recognize when they are starting to purchase shares of a specific stock.
The great thing about this technical analysis book is that it is the only one you will ever have to buy.
It may be complicated at first and require a lot of time and patience to understand what Grimes is talking about, but those who have read this book confirm that they learned more than they could have possibly expected.
This book also has a near-perfect score on Amazon, just in case you don’t believe us!
Charting and Technical Analysis
Fred Mcallen, a portfolio manager with over 25 years of experience investing in the stock market, explains what he has learned about technical analysis.
This technical analysis book gets our recommendation because of its ability to really teach the nitty-gritty of technical analysis to a beginning trader.
The book has great sections on understanding price movements as well as an in-depth breakdown of how to recognize when prices are at their peak and when they are beginning to bottom out.
While many books simply talk a lot about buying when the price is low and selling when the price is high, Mcallen goes into great detail on recognizing the signs that point to a stock price bottoming out.
This is essential to making money on the stock market. Don’t take only our word for it though. This book has hundreds of 5-star reviews on sites like Amazon.com coming fro people just like you.
The Handbook of Technical Analysis
This is another book with a little higher cost but is well worth the increased price if you can pay it. The author, Mark Andrew Lim, wrote the handbook specifically for students that are studying for financial technical analysis certifications.
It is one of the best stock market technical analysis books because it is written to help students, typically beginners, gain insights into financial money management techniques.
The best feature of this handbook is by far the study resources found throughout the book.
Each chapter ends with a list of essay questions, multiple-choice questions, and exercises that help the reader determine if they understand the specific aspect of technical analysis being discussed in the chapter.
If you are looking to really dive deep into technical analysis and understand it as the professionals do, this book would be a great resource for you.
Keep in mind that it will take more time to learn technical analysis, and if you are just starting out the book may be quite daunting. Well worth the time if you have it though!
Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns
This might be the best technical analysis book of all time, depending on what stage of learning you are in.
If you feel like you already have a pretty good grasp on the concept of technical analysis and are just looking to see a database of hundreds of different chart patterns to start keeping an eye out for, this is the book for you.
It’s quite literally exactly what it says. An encyclopedia is full of incredible patterns that the professional investment brokers use to know when to buy and sell stocks.
One particularly good section is about event patterns. Events are things like earnings, buyouts, press releases, etc. that cause significant movements in the stock price.
If traded correctly, events have the potential to make someone a lot of money, obviously, that means they have the same potential to lose significant amounts of money.
Momentum Masters
Stock market technical analysis books don’t all have to be about charts. The author, Mark Minervini, takes a different approach and goes in-depth on one particular type of analysis – momentum analysis.
Momentum in the stock market means the same thing it does in the real world. When the price of a particular stock or security starts to climb quickly, then traders start to notice.
As more and more people notice and purchase shares (or short shares), then the price gets driven even harder in the direction it is currently headed. A lot of money can be made quickly on momentum stocks because of this.
Once they lose momentum, the crash can be scary however, which is why you will want to do a lot of research and take technical analysis courses if you want to get involved in momentum trading.
Charting Financial Markets
If you’re looking for a technical analysis book written by a realist this is the one. If you’ve spent even twenty minutes searching out a stock market class or courses you’ve probably been promised the moon, 5000% returns, popularity, and everything else your heart desires.
If you are like virtually every normal person out there, you know to be skeptical of things that seem too good to be true.
In Kahn’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Charting Financial Markets” you won’t get any of that.
Khan gives a clear understanding that you will win some with technical analysis, and you will lose others.
The key is to win more than you lose consistently. Do that and you are a successful stock market investor.
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends
We couldn’t create a list of the ten best technical analysis books without including this reprint from the original 1958 version. Edwards & Magee’s book has been used for over 50 years.
One of the great things about learning from this book is that it was written before computers, giving the reader an in-depth look at work that is often being taken for granted today.
There is a lot of interesting information about behavioral economics and what really goes on behind the scenes to make those charts that you look at react the way they do.
This book may not be the easiest way to learn technical analysis, but it is a great read for any investor wanting to get a real understanding of the concepts.
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends
We couldn’t create a list of the ten best technical analysis books without including this reprint from the original 1958 version.
Edwards & Magee’s book has been used for over 50 years. One of the great things about learning from this book is that it was written before computers, giving the reader an in-depth look at work that is often being taken for granted today.
There is a lot of interesting information about behavioral economics and what really goes on behind the scenes to make those charts that you look at react the way they do.
This book may not be the easiest way to learn technical analysis, but it is a great read for any investor wanting to get a real understanding of the concepts.
Audio Books
Intermarket Analysis and Investing
There are a lot of theories and ideas about how to successfully analyze the stock market for profitable opportunities.
Michael Gayed does a great job of combining and explaining each of these concepts, letting the reader decide which method makes the most sense to them.
This book is extremely comprehensive and is perfect for a beginner that is looking to slowly build a safe, diverse portfolio of investments for their (early) retirement.
We recommend this book as the #1 audiobook for beginners trying to gain an understanding of technical analysis and understanding stock market price movements.
Essentials to Start Investing Successfully
This book is an Audible “best seller” with over 130 5-star reviews. This audiobook is designed to take you from knowing nothing about how the markets work, to being able to have a conversation with an economics professor about stocks.
The audiobook does a great job of simplifying the markets and using smart analogies to make any concept understandable.
As a bonus, the audiobook ends with 5 of the most commonly used technical analysis strategies for finding stocks to invest in.
While the books focus is not technical analysis, a beginner could learn everything necessary to start in technical analysis by following the steps and principles in this book.
How I Made $2,000,000 in The Stock Market
Nicolas Darvas, a Hungarian economist explains how he left Hungary with nothing but fifty pounds sterling and turned it into $2 million using the stock market by the age of 39.
He learned to invest in books and experience.
The best part of this audiobook is the “Box System”, or the technical analysis technique that he was using to make buy and sell decisions.
The technique is described in great detail and can be used by any investor today.
