The 8 Best Day Trading Books in 2022

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Day trading seems like a pretty simple concept: you buy a stock or other asset and then sell it back on the same day to maximize any upward moves that have occurred during the day. However, day trading well enough to make a profit is not as simple as it seems. In fact, it can be quite difficult. This is why it is crucial to learn as much as possible through books and other resources.

We’ve chosen eight books to prepare you for success in day trading. Here are the best day trading books, ranging from beginners to advanced traders.

Best for Beginners: “Beginner’s Guide to Online Day Trading” by Toni Turner

Toni Turner walks you through everything a beginner needs to know about day trading: the pros and cons, the trading platforms you need for day trading, strategies, choosing a stock, and more. She also explains how to decide if you should hold a stock overnight (also known as swing trading) instead of selling it the same day.

She writes on dry topics in an engaging style and makes complicated jargon relatively easy to understand.

Best for Beginners, Finalist: ‘Start Day Trading Now: A Quick and Easy Introduction to Making Money While Managing Your Risk’ by Michael Sincere

Michael Sincere divides his book into two parts: “Getting Started” and “What It’s Really Like to Day Trade”.

“Getting Started” has five chapters that teach you the basics of day trading, like understanding what day trading is and reading charts with different patterns. Part 2 focuses on the realities of day trading (including the bad ones!) and looks at professional day traders. Sincere also includes a glossary of terms and a list of resources when you’re done reading.

Best for learning about strategies: “Technical Analysis of Financial Markets: A Complete Guide to Trading Methods and Applications” by John J. Murphy

This book focuses on technical analysis, which is the most common type of analysis used for day trading. Technical analysis examines the performance history of a stock (or other asset) to indicate how it might behave in the future. This is different from fundamental analysis, which looks at a company’s current financial condition to predict its performance.

There are several types of strategies you can use to implement technical analysis in day trading. John J. Murphy dives into continuation patterns, candlestick patterns, reversal patterns, and more. And while these terms may sound like gibberish, they won’t be after reading the book!

You should already have some basic day trading knowledge before reading this book. Many people focus on stocks when trading daily, but Markus Heitkoetter also introduces you to trading other types of assets: ETFs, futures, and forex.

Learn a simple strategy for day trading, then apply that strategy to all of these types of assets. This way you can diversify your portfolio.

Best for Day Trading Psychology: “Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude” by Mark Douglas

Day trading can be exhausting, and for many people it’s a full-time job. “Trading in the Zone” focuses on the psychology behind day trading. This includes what may attract you to day trading in the first place, as well as the mental state you need to maintain to be a successful and healthy day trader.

Day trading is also a risky investment strategy. Mark Douglas explains how to understand and mitigate risk, and how to react to market gains and losses. To be a profitable long-term day trader, the psychology behind trades can help you weather the storm.

Best for learning more about risk: “The Truth About Day Trading Stocks” by Josh DiPietro

As mentioned earlier, day trading is risky. It has the potential for massive gains, but also significant losses. In this book, Josh DiPietro helps you understand what you’re getting into with day trading. This could be a good book to pair with “Trading in the Zone” – the combination could help you understand risk but also how to react to it.

DiPietro explains how to know if you’re ready to day trade, both financially and with experience. It also explains how to set stop-loss orders so you don’t lose too much money, how to pick the right stocks, and what a bad day’s trading looks like.

Ideal for a comprehensive overview: ‘How to day trade for a living’ by Andrew Aziz

Andrew Aziz is a big name in the day trading world. His program, Bear Bull Dealers, at the top of our list of the best day trading courses. Reading “How to Day Trade for a Living” is a good way to get some of the information from his course at a lower price, and maybe decide if you want to enroll in his full course.

This book covers several topics for new day traders. Aziz explains how day trading works, how to choose stocks, how to choose a day trading platform, and more. Some of the other books on our list delve into these topics, but this book provides a good comprehensive overview of several parts of day trading.

Best for Advanced Day Traders: ‘Advanced Day Trading Techniques’ by Andrew Aziz

Yes, another Andrew Aziz book! Unlike “How to Day Trade for a Living”, this one is for people who already have experience in day trading and want to take it to the next level.

You’ll find stock scanners, which scan the markets to find the best stocks for you. You will also learn about various day trading software and platforms. Aziz explains more complicated day trading techniques, such as trailing stop-loss orders, stop ranges, and hotkeys.

Other Day Trading Books We Considered

There are many day trading books out there. We’ve rounded up the best ones, but you might also want to read some of the following. (Keep in mind that many websites recommend general trading books – we’re only focusing on day trading books.)

Frequently Asked Questions

How to learn day trading?

To learn day trading, you need to understand how the stock market (or the market for other assets you trade) works. Next, you need a thorough knowledge of technical analysis so that you can choose which strategy(ies) you are going to use.

Any of the books on our list can help you learn day trading, or you can choose to take a course with added features like chat rooms, stock simulators, and mentors.

Are day trading books useful?

Yes, day trading books can teach you the necessary information about day trading. However, if you want to practice in the real world before investing real money, you can also enroll in a day trading course.

What is the most profitable day trading strategy?

A day trading strategy is just a way to use charts and data to decide which assets to buy and sell, and when. Every expert, book, and website will have a different answer on the best strategy. The key is to go through the list of day trading strategies — like scalping, fading, or pullback — and decide which best suits your personality and goals.