The full title of this book is “Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management” and the book does a wonderful job of explaining what it takes to be a trader. While I found s some parts of the book outdated and a little boring, I really enjoyed when Dr. Elder delved into the psychological aspect of trading.

Who is Dr. Alexander Elder?

Dr. Elder is a professional stock trader who wrote this book in 1993. He was born in the Soviet Union and entered medical school at the age of 16. By Age 23, he was working as a doctor on a Soviet ship in Africa when he defected and received political asylum in the United States.

Key Takeaways From The Book

One of my favorite quotes in the book is “Trade not for money but to hone your skills”. When you take away the money aspect of trading there is just trading. If you perfect your trading style and your discipline, the money will take care of itself.

The psychological aspect of trading that Dr. Elder touched on were definitely the highlights of the book for me. Things like “your feelings impact your equity”. The author talked about that if you are fearful/upset/arrogant you will suffer. Stop trading when you feel a “gambler’s high” or feel fearful of trading. You need to control your emotions. The top traders are like robots who, if you saw them, you would not know whether they were up big or down big on any given day.

Another key point was that you have to take responsibility for your trades. Only you decide when to buy and sell. Don’t fall into market temptations of greed and fear. Stick to your plan as deviating from your rules leads to self destruction. Many traders have a rags to riches to rags story because they don’t take responsibility for their trading and their emotions, they instead blame outside forces.

Overall this book was highly influential and it has to rank in the upper tier of all time stock trading books.

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