5-Step Currency Trading Book Reading Plan for the Beginning Forex Trader

When I started looking into currency trading I wasn’t sure what to read. Today, I look around and see so much confusion. There are many book options—some far better done than others. And when does it all become redundant? You certainly don’t need to read 15 books that all teach the basics. I think the best thing for newer currency traders is a concrete path to follow.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a 5-step plan that contains 5 currency trading books you should read and the order in which you should read them. The idea for this list is to reduce the noise and confusion out there and to build a solid foundation that will allow you to branch out into whatever direction you wish.

(Note: I’ve linked to the books using my affiliate link. If you click the link and buy the book Capitalist Nation gets 4% of the sale as a commission. If this bothers you, just go to Amazon.com and type in the book’s title. And if it doesn’t bother you, I thank you.)

As a side note, I encourage you to do more than read these. Every time I read a book, I have a notepad and pencil with me. I take notes. I find this increases my retention greatly. You may want to try doing the same thing.

Freshman Initiation—Step One

If you’re brand new to currency trading, I’d recommend reading the book “Currency Trading for Dummies.” Even if you just skim it, you’ll get a nice understand of what Forex is and isn’t.

The main points you’ll get out of this book:

What the currency trading market is and isn’t
How Forex works
Initial discussion about trading styles and what’s best for you
How to get started: order types, etc.
Money management (a killer for many new currency traders)

The book is under $17 at Amazon.

From here you’ll have a basic foundation on which to build.

Moving Forward—Step Two

Now that you have a basic grasp of the market, you can start to get a little more serious. In my opinion, the second book you should read is “Forex Patterns & Probabilities: Trading Strategies for Trending & Range-Bound Markets” by Ed Ponsi.

While it costs more than the $17 book above, what you get out of it will be far more valuable. Again, I don’t recommend jumping ahead here. Follow the plan. This is book two.

In this book, you’ll solidify what you know while expanding your foundation and you’ll improve your overall Forex knowledge, which will allow you to be more successful.

Some points from this book:

Ed will tell you what you need to know before executing your first Forex trade
You’ll get a lesson in trends and tendencies
You’ll be exposed to various trading strategies
Basically, you’ll get a very complete Forex overview

This book is about $50 at Amazon.com and well worth every penny. If you have a Kindle or iPad, you can get a sample sent to your device.

Mental Break—Step Three

Look at you now. You’ve devoured two books and you’re ready to take on the world. For book three of our five book plan, I want you to take a little mental break.

Read “Adventures of a Currency Trader: A Fable about Trading, Courage, and Doing the Right Thing” by Rob Booker. It’s a fictional piece about an impatient Forex trader named Harry Banes. Ah, but don’t be fooled. This book has underlying principles of Forex trading to it. Pay attention.

I’ll be honest. I got this book and wasn’t sure if I’d ever read it. On a Friday night I opened it up and started reading it. On Saturday, I was finished. I found this book to be very entertaining and a must-read for currency trading enthusiasts everywhere.

It’s about $34 at Amazon.com.

Learning From Others—Step Four and Five

There’s a lot of power in learning from others. To close out this plan, books four and five focus on learning from other traders around the world. Both of these books focus on all different types of traders.

I caution you not to skip through any parts of these books just because the trader isn’t engaging in currency trading. You can learn a lot from all types of traders.

In my opinion, the reason why books like these are vital is they cement in the concept that there’s no one right way to trade. You’ll find traders using all sorts of methods to become profitable.

Book four is “Entries & Exits: Visits to Sixteen Trading Rooms” by Dr. Alexander Elder. I enjoyed this book very much.

As the title implies, you’re going into the trading zones of 16 traders. You’ll get a personal look at what they do and what makes them tick.

I’ve listed this one first, because I value it higher than book number five (although I enjoyed both). The main reason is the details. There are far more concrete details in this book and more examples.

And that’s why this book is $55 – $60 on Amazon.com (still below it’s $95 list price). There’s a Kindle version, so you can have a sample shipped to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, computer, etc.

To round out your beginner reading plan, go pick up “Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People Are Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game” by Kathy Lien and Boris Schlossberg.

Let me hold up for a moment right here and say that Amazon.com has some negative reviews for this book. Some issues (I’ll point out in a moment) are acceptable and others are not.

The book is $11.53 right now, so it shouldn’t break the bank and it was a great read in my opinion. But, to make sure you, my reader, know Capitalist Nation will always be honest, let me voice three concerns I had with the book.

Writing mistakes: Yes, there were some serious mistakes throughout the book. They should of contacted me for the editing, I would of been glad to do it. Does this mean Kathy and Boris are to be blamed? No. Last I checked neither one was solely a writer or editor. Having edited work (I have a Journalism degree too), I can tell you that many great writers don’t produce work that’s full of perfect sentences. That’s what an editor is for—to polish it up. Discrediting someone based on these mistakes is foolish.
Credibility: Do we know these traders are millionaire traders? No. The book offers up no proof. However, for all we know the book’s writers got proof and just decided not to publish it. And I don’t think Kathy or Boris are trying to pull one over on us. Still, if this is a problem for you, don’t read the book. Personally, I was okay with it. I bought the book because it was cheap and I needed to find out for myself.
Examples & graphics: The book is a collection of interviews with many traders, but it’s void of solid examples, graphics, etc—unlike Elder’s book. But given the price, I didn’t mind much. There’s still some great principles in the book.

Bottom line: I thought this book was worth the price paid and I saw enough “correct principles” to make me think that those being interviewed had experience. This isn’t a how-to book. It’s an interview book. The goal is to show you what others are doing and what they’ve been through. Extrapolating meaning and action steps is up to you.

The End

After you’ve read all five of these books, you should be well on your way to a future in currency trading.

Our goal of removing the noise and providing a concrete path toward you becoming a solid currency trader has been achieved.

So get started today! Once you’re finished you’ll have enough understanding to be able to expand your knowledge in specific areas. For example, maybe you want to know all about Elliott Wave Theory.

What do you think of this list? Share your thoughts below. Remember, the goal was to trim everything down to just a couple of books for the beginner—not to provide a complete trader library plan.