Trading for a Living and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Very Good See details
$29.98 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $9.24 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management
 
 
See all product images
See all 8 customer images
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading Trading for a Living on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management [Hardcover]

Alexander Elder (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (231 customer reviews) |
List Price: $80.00
Price: $48.39 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: $31.61 (40%)
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 20 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, May 29? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Textbook Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $45.97   -- --
Hardcover $48.39   -- --
Audio, CD, Abridged, Audiobook --   -- --
Audible Audio Edition, Abridged $9.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial
Sell Back Your Copy for $9.24
Whether you bought it on Amazon or somewhere else, you can sell it back through our Book Trade-In Program at the current price of $9.24.
Used Price$16.65
Trade-in Price$9.24
Price after
Trade-in$7.41

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0471592242 | ISBN-13: 978-0471592242 | Edition: 1
Trading for a Living Successful trading is based on three M's: Mind, Method, and Money. Trading for a Living helps you master all of those three areas:
* How to become a cool, calm, and collected trader
* How to profit from reading the behavior of the market crowd
* How to use a computer to find good trades
* How to develop a powerful trading system
* How to find the trades with the best odds of success
* How to find entry and exit points, set stops, and take profits
Trading for a Living helps you discipline your Mind, shows you the Methods for trading the markets, and shows you how to manage Money in your trading accounts so that no string of losses can kick you out of the game. To help you profit even more from the ideas in Trading for a Living, look for the companion volume--Study Guide for Trading for a Living. It asks over 200 multiple-choice questions, with answers and 11 rating scales for sharpening your trading skills. For example: Question Markets rise when
* there are more buyers than sellers
* buyers are more aggressive than sellers
* sellers are afraid and demand a premium
* more shares or contracts are bought than sold

* I and II
* II and III
* II and IV
* III and IV
Answer B. II and III. Every change in price reflects what happens in the battle between bulls and bears. Markets rise when bulls feel more strongly than bears. They rally when buyers are confident and sellers demand a premium for participating in the game that is going against them. There is a buyer and a seller behind every transaction. The number of stocks or futures bought and sold is equal by definition.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $2 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management + Come Into My Trading Room: A Complete Guide to Trading + The New Sell and Sell Short: How To Take Profits, Cut Losses, and Benefit From Price Declines (Wiley Trading)
Price For All Three: $112.14

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Soviet-born author and practicing psychiatrist Elder (director, Financial Trading Seminars, Inc.) shares his learning over the years as a professional trader and expert in technical analysis and his principle of understanding the three Ms (Mind, Method, Money), which will strengthen the discipline required to be successful in trading. He explores crucial factors in the markets that most experts overlook, including time, volume, and open interest, and describes little-known indicators to track them profitably. In addition, he covers many of the more technical approaches to investing in futures, such as factoring in the meaning from the Elliott Wave, oscillators, moving averages, Market Logic, and point-and-figure charting. His unique viewpoints in this overly saturated genre explain his particular view that most traders sabotage themselves, while offering tips for others to avoid doing the same. The narration by Richard Davidson soundly guides the listener through this highly specialized work that, although first published seven years ago, remains recommended for university libraries supporting a finance and business curriculum.DDale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From the Publisher

An eminent futures trader explores crucial factors in the markets that most experts overlook--time, volume and open interest--and describes little-known indicators to profitably track them. Covers all the popular technical approaches to futures, options and stock markets including Elliott Wave, oscillators, moving averages, Market Logic, point-and-figure charting. Explains why most traders sabotage themselves and how to avoid doing the same.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 289 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 8, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0471592242
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471592242
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (231 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Alexander Elder Page
Alexander Elder
Alexander Elder, M.D., is a professional trader, based in New York. He is the author of several best-selling books: Trading for a Living, Come into My Trading Room, Entries & Exits, and Sell and Sell Short (all with Study Guides). He also wrote Straying from the Flock: Travels in New Zealand. Dr. Elder taught psychiatry at Columbia University. His experience provides him with unique insight into psychology of trading.

Dr. Elder is a sought-after speaker at conferences and the originator of Traders' Camps - week-long classes for traders. He is the founder and co-director of SpikeTrade - a trading website.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
231 of 251 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If somebody bought, read and judged the book by whether it could really help him or her to go "trading for a living", that somebody would definitely be disappointed. Even the author himself pointed out that the success rate for the conversion of ex institutional traders to independent traders was very low owing to the much higher psychological load of trading one's own money than that of trading OPM.

Despite the over-promise of the book title and the second half of it discussing mostly technical tools, the book is quite well written. There are plenty of bright ideas, some with originality that can be attributed to the author's M.D. and psychiatrist background. In particular I like the following points much:-

- That trading is a minus sum game (considering commission and slippage) and the mass media or gurus or prevalent market view are almost always wrong.

- The analogy of the market as an ocean and a huge crowd of people, in either case an individual can have no control of but have to follow (or leave) emotionlessly for long term profit.

- The analogy of Alcoholic Anonymous with Loser Anonymous that requires the same treatment for true recovery, whereas accepting oneself as an alcoholic or a loser is the very first step of healing.

- The need for discipline and patience as individual traders' only weapon to against institutional traders advantages in faster information, better research reports, lower psychological burden for trading OPM, etc

- Price is a psychological event, a momentary balance of opinion between bulls and bears, its pattern reflects the mass psychology of the market.

- Last but not least, the opening prices are determined primarily by amateurs whilst the closing prices are determined by professionals.

In short, the book is well worth the price and I do recommend it to those who study continuously for self improvement in their trading. Remarks:- The author claimed that he personally did so, too.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
130 of 139 people found the following review helpful
For Beginners Only January 13, 2003
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Elder begins with a chapter on psychology. Mind as he refers to it. In my experience, success in trading has less to do with understanding "the madness of crowds" and more to do with developing discipline. Read Mark Douglas instead.

Next, Elder spends a lot of pages giving the reader a rundown of the most common price patterns and technical indicators. Which is fine if you don't know them, but has all but the most neophyte readers skipping over great gobs of the book.

Next, Elder trots out his two pet indicators and tells you about them. I have used them and they're about as good as any others that you probably already know about and have already used. In other words, I wouldn't buy the book just to get a peek at them.

Lastly, he goes into money management. Elder has said himself that he wishes he had devoted more time to this section. Once again, unless you are a complete beginner, you won't find much meat here either.

Elder likes trading off moving averages and looking for divergences in certain indicators. Well, I have been trading a fair number of years and am here to tell you, you can do better than that. Much better.

If you're a beginner, try reading Nison and DiNapoli/Boroden. Their material is far more effective and will have a much greater impact on your bottom line.

Was this review helpful to you?
202 of 222 people found the following review helpful
2ND READING REVIEW * * * * * January 25, 2000
Format:Hardcover
I have to say after reading Dr. Elders book for the second time, I am even more impressed with the wealth of knowledge and understanding of what makes the markets move. I prefer the triple screen method that is presented. This book covers all of the basic knowledge for the beginner as well as the experienced trader. If you are new to trading you will find this an excellent source to build your dreams on. I believe study is the key to sucess in any endeavor. This book is easy to read and you will be amazed at the insight you will gain as to the day to day operation of the markets. I think it is important to decide on what method makes the most sense to your trading style and then learn all you can about it. The more knowledge you have the better decisions you make. I find the hardest part being money management. I have to control my urge to follow my gambling impulse to bet the farm on what looks good in the charts. Even though I know it is a sure way to loose in the market. This is a game of the most interesting kind that changes on a moment by moment basis. What a great way to make money. My word of advice on any trade where you have the slightest doubt of why you are in it is to GET OUT IMEDIATLEY ! . If you do not know why you are in a trade and what you expect to happen and why, then you are guessing. If guessing is what you like to do go to Las Vegas and have a great time. Best to you all in trading. If anyone has a real-time quote service they are proud to have please let me know who they are. Thanks
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
There's much more to trading than what's in this book.
As a psychiatrist turned trader, Elder (the author) seems to dwell more on the psyche of trading stocks rather than technical or fundemental analyses. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Chris G. Pflum
Trading For A Living - Not!
This book is more of a homage to Morningstar. A more appropriate title would be "Morningstar's Guide to Picking Mutual Funds" because the book definitely does not talk about... Read more
Published 28 days ago by Frederick Lomax, Jr.
Excellent Format & Content
While I have only been trading for 2 yrs, as a primarily day/swing trader "techie" I have over 2500 trades. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Telecaster
Dr. Elder Trading
Arrived very fast. Good read so far, though I haven't finished. Good value. Look forward to reading more Dr. Elder books.
Published 3 months ago by Kim Youngblood
Worth Its Weight in Gold
You have to really pay close attention and separate the wheat from the chaff when reading this book, but there are a couple of ideas in this book that are absolute gems. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. Bailin
Good Book for a Beginner
This is the 5th book I read on trading. The author is very entertaining and there were a lot of sections were I actually laughed out loud. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dmonk
Annoying start, informative finish
Throughout the first few chapters of this book, I kept thinking to myself, 'alright, I'll read to page x. If it's not better by then, I'm going to put it down for good. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Cael
Good Advice
Good general advice for successful investing. Most of Elder's advice is basic common sense but important and not obvious to some. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jeanne Breaux
Outdated
Seriously outdated. That isn't to say he doesn't have something to say but the book seems to be a reprint from the '70s. Read more
Published 10 months ago by 7thLotus
4 stars from a non-believer is a good rating
I'm a technical analysis agnostic. I also know there are many intelligent people out there who use technical analysis profitably so I'm on a quest to discover the merits of it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Houman Tamaddon
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Trading appears deceptively easy. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
trading rules, slow stochastic, fast stochastic, acceleration factor, dominant market crowd, dominant market group, latest price bar, more shallow bottom, best trading signals, undecided traders, channel line shows, upper reference line, lower reference line, excellent shorting opportunity, open interest rises, cycle guru, daily oscillator, diverges from prices, shorting signals, weekly trend, bullish divergence, lower channel line, bearish divergence, protective stop, continuation gap
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Force Index, Triple Screen, Bear Power, Bull Power, Rate of Change, United States, Wall Street, Alcoholics Anonymous, New York, New High-New Low Index, The Parabolic, Relative Strength Index, Swiss Franc, The Directional, Directional Movement, Market Profile, On-Balance Volume, Hound of the Baskervilles, Risk Management, The Herrick Payoff Index, Tony Plummer, Santa Claus, Crowd Psychology Each, Welles Wilder, Elliott Wave
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 35 books:
See all 35 books this book cites
 
4 books cite this book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(47)
(14)
(8)
(7)
(7)
(4)
(4)
(3)
(2)
(2)
Agree with these tags?
See all 27 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
what is the best fundamental forex book for a beginner 0 Jun 14, 2011
Comparison with Second Book 2 Jan 1, 2010
› See all 2 discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums


Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:


















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...