Steve Nison is the authority on this - search his name on Amazon

And furthermore, why investing strategies based on anything found in a readily available books are, once the risk is calculated and weighted against the probability of success/winning, a fools game. The better non-options focused investment books should also give noobs this message after they are thoroughly read.

Investment and markets are about privately held information. Information is what determines the probability of risk vs reward. Just like in poker. The more people that hold the information, the more the market works to eliminate any probability of those people winning over their competition. Therefore, widely employed market strategies using widely held information, such as that which is found in books and the news, is almost certain to have you playing a game in which your probability of losing is much greater than your probability of winning.

The attraction of options is that this probability, for the most part, can be quantified. This makes your betting/investment decisions more precise in regard to risk. With most investment vehicles, risk can not be accurately quantified. There is just too much outstanding and unknowable information that the average investor doesn't have. The information that they do have is also held by much larger players, which have already worked to eliminate any edge that that information created. Therefore, for most investments and for most people, a game is being played in which the chances of losing money far outweigh the chances of making money. Luck occurs, but over longer stretches of time, probability prevails.

If you are smart and motivated enough, then go into business instead. You have much more control over and knowledge of your investment. Also, you have a much better likelihood of outstanding returns, especially over long periods of time.

People should also be reading Industry publications...

Traders Magazine

http://www.tradersmagazine.com/

Securities Industry News

http://www.securitiesindustry.com/

To start...
Plus other specialized Professional Publications...
Aimed at Securities Executives.

I find that these are not even on the radar...
Of most Retail Traders.

And you will learn a lot reading Zero Hedge...
Including the comments...
But keep in mind that they are a pseudo-Cult...
As was Fight Club...
And perhaps only a notch or two...
Above idiotic 9/11 and UFO Conspiracy networks.

http://www.zerohedge.com/

Hey guys, great thread. Lot of good recommendations. I'll add:

1) Irrational Exhuberance by Robert Shiller (really, anything written by Shiller). Naj hates Shiller for some reason I've never figured out, so ignore his subsequent criticism.

2) Felix Salmon's blog. Entertaining at worst, especially if you loved his consistent and completely deserved ridiculing of Ben Stein.

anyone know of a good fixed income book? Broad overview is welcome, advanced is welcome as well

thoughts on this?

http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Fixed...4191267&sr=1-1

Ok just looking for a little direction here:

I currently run a profitable business dealing with affiliation in the poker world. If poker gets legalized, I am likely "set" and definitely won't need to go work for anyone. If this situation happens, I should still be completely free of a job. Basically, the day-to-day can be ran by people I know and can hire, and I won't be doing a ton of work to maintain it. In this situation, I might use my time to do a decent amount of trading. Am I talking about my livelihood? No. But I am talking about learning to make intermediate trades or some kind of trades to add to my wealth. I will be very serious about this, and plan to be well prepared to make good profits from whatever strategies I would choose.


In option 2, poker isn't legalized. In this option, I will still make OK money, but with the poker economy drying up I will need to join the "real world." I want to prepare myself to be hired by a firm that has to do with trading of some sort(any type, I just want to be able to have a job where my own works pays off and I can excel/be promoted by learning that particular market or whatever and profiting more than others over time).

So which books should I be reading on my knowledge-learning train? I know the basics of stock markets. I am a Finance major, and have been very interested in the markets and have read a couple books on it. I definitely know the beginnings, and don't need any type of introduction to the markets. I do want to start with having intermediate knowledge of most topics, then delving further into whatever topic I feel gives me the best chance to advance my wealth in either Option #1 or #2.

Currently, I am learning C++ (This mainly deals with Option #2 obviously), and reading a Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets. Do you think Technical analysis is a good starting point for my position? Or should I read about maybe Options, or an Economics book?

IMO this is a terrible book, I could hardly read it. The Jim Rogers interview was very good otherwise it just seemed like book about a bunch of lucky coin flippers. Perhaps theses "winning" traders didn't want to give away their secret trading strategies but most of what was said sounded eerily similar to what you hear from losing gamblers at the casino or racetrack.

Any forum recommendations?

www.elitetrader.com
www.trade2win.com

As with all forums, take the advice with a pinch of salt...

"End The Fed" Dr. Ron Paul
"Trend Tracking" Gerald Celente

"The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear markets" Peter D. Schiff

"A Bull in China" Jim Rogers

Read Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets

Great book, good intro into technical analysis and definitely helped me a lot. Tried to start reading Markets in Profile and maybe it was over my head or I just didn't like the guys style, but I quit about 50 pages in.

Almost done with Enhancing Trader Performance, loving this one and a good break from the actual technical stuff. Great great book. I'm taking notes on the books so it is taking me a bit longer.

I can make the notes I made for Technical Analysis available if allowed(I have them on Google Docs), but dunno if I am allowed as there is a lot of quotation and paraphrasing? Also not like the notes are great, I did some parts in my notebook as well

The fault is yours then, not the writer's and not the investment managers. Several of those interviewed had significantly market-beating returns over multiple decades, comparing those with better records over a larger number of trades than WEB to coin-flippers is absurd, since we can mathematically model the odds of beating the market by 3% over 36 years over tens of thousands of transactions.

It is a perennial favorite of those in the money mgmt and HF industry.

Most of their advice sounded like what you hear from winning gamblers in the SB or bj tables. If you understand what they are saying.

The market is not a fair roulette wheel or dice table. Things like emotion, fear, greed, can and do affect the market to a very large degree at certain times.

NEED SOME FOREX BOOKS PPL.

YES I ALREADY CLICKED SEARCH

Depends what initial population of coin flippers is inputted into your model. You don't see a book of interviews with all the bankrupt traders that use exactly the same strategies.

IMO overbetting on soybean futures and hoping to get lucky is not skill.

I agree, however I would argue this is not exploitable by the strategies used by these traders. For example there is no evidence Elliot waves, as used by Paul Tudor Jones (see 80's documentary), is anything other than seeing patterns where none exist.

Can you guys start a new thread about this? I like the argument but I don't really want this thread cluttered up. thanks.

Any recommendations for podcasts, I love Art's, thus I want more!

Any recommendations for learning about the Yield Curve or Level II quotes?

What are your thoughts on Jim Cramer's books for a beginner? I know most investors aren't big fans of his...

Hello all,

Even though my attempts at making a substantial income from poker have been less than productive, I frequent these forums all of the time because there is always great information. I have however started my own blog on personal finance, specifically directed towards those of a college age.

The blog is called College Money, and the adress is as follows.

http://collegemillionaires.blogspot.com

Please check it out, and any tips on how to make it better would be great. This is my first attempt at blogging. Also any topics of discussion that you would like to see I will gladly investigate.

Thanks,
-Chris

Steer clear of the Cramer early on imo.
Read the OP, plenty of good ones to start with.

My absolute favorite resource has been money.cnn.com
It has a great breadth of info, as well as updated articles daily. My favorite section is
"Millionaires in the Making" where they take a snapshot of people's finances, current invesments, and future plans and goals. This all evaluated, and explained with different suggestions for each personal situation. I would def. check it out.

Just got my first book...The Intelligent Investor. I heard it was ok

Jimmy Rogers is solid and he likes the pusseeeeeeee

Reminiscences of A Stock Operator
How I Made $2 Million in the Stock Market by Nic Darvas is a sweet book
How to Trade Stocks by Jesse Livermore
The Alchemy of Finance - Soros is genius


I apologize for any repertition of other recommendations but it is 8pm and the Cabernet is flowing !

I have no experience whatsoever in stocks and or trading, but have struck an interest in them. Of the books listed in the first post, if I had to pick 3 books to read what three would you recommend? I really am not even sure how the stock market even works, but am good with math and statistics. I've heard there's some good money to be made if you take the time to learn how to do things correctly. I'm absolutely clueless right now and looking to start investing some time in my future, probably when I graduate college in a few years.