10 Best Technical Analysis Books You Must Read to Become a Pro

If you’re a beginner trader looking to learn how to trade using technical analysis, or an experienced trader looking to refine your technical analysis skills, here is a rundown on the 10 best technical analysis books that will help you do that cost-effectively and in a shorter timescale.

A proper book is an investment that has a super high return. One book can give you the edge that you need in the markets.

The ~$30 you spend on the book can yield many thousands in return.

0. How to Hack Day Trading for Consistent Profits – Paul Koger (e-book)

This is a selfish plug of my own book that I’ve just finished writing. The core aim of this book is to provide a step-by-step process on how to teach someone to become a consistently profitable day trader.

The core strategies in this book are based on technical analysis. After reading through all the books below I’ve decided to make my book more actionable and to lay out a clear process of how to actually get good at trading without spending a fortune on education or mistakes.

I’m also giving 50% off to the first 100 people that buy it, use coupon code 50off.

Link to product page if interested.

1. Technical Analysis For Dummies – Barbara Rockefeller

This is a great technical analysis book written by Barbara Rockefeller, the founder of Rockefeller Treasury Services, Inc. Barbara graduated from Reed College with a degree in economics and from Columbia University with an M.A.

She is an international economist, newsletter publisher, essayist, and a trader. With over 20 year experience in the finance domain, specifically, technical analysis and fundamental analysis, her books are guaranteed to turn you into a Pro trader in a matter of months.

Technical Analysis For Dummies is a revered book in the stock market analysis domain. It breaks down complex aspects of technical analysis into easy to understand information for the beginner. This book can also help you as an experienced trader refresh your memory on technical analysis and ensure you’re always on your A-game when taking trading positions.

For active investors and traders who don’t have excellent knowledge of technical analysis, this book covers all the areas. Ideally, this book explains simply the basic principles of technical analysis and showcases ways in which you can put them into practice.

In other words, it strips off the confusing jargon and hard to interpret charts common with other technical analysis books. After reading the book, you’ll be a Pro in stock market analysis and be able to take winning trading positions.

Besides learning the basics of technical analysis, this book will help you learn ways to spot trends, the key differences between active trading and investing, connecting crowd behavior and what occurs on the chart, the meaning of “reverting to the mean”, the kinds of magic number theories that occur in technical analysis, basic information on technical indicators and how to test them, tips for selecting the right timeframes and much more.

2. Technical Analysis from A to Z, Second Edition – Stephen B. Achelis

Stephen B. Achelis is an accustomed investment analyst, and trader. He is the founder, owner and current president of EQUIS International, Inc., a company that focuses on providing various trading software, such as portfolio management, investment management and stock market data collection for easy trading.

His book, Technical Analysis from A to Z, Second Edition, focuses on teaching beginner, budding and experienced traders the ins and outs of technical analysis. The first half of the book is adapted for the beginner trader. It basically introduces newcomers to trading with technical analysis by highlighting the basic concepts and common terms.

The second part of the book is dedicated to budding and experienced traders who are already using technical analysis. It gives them a comprehensive explanation of technical analysis tools in a simple to understand way.

Stephen acknowledges that the number of people trading using technical analysis is small. That’s why he came up with this book to increase awareness of it and get more people to use technical analysis to trade profitably.

Besides explaining what technical analysis is, this book also gives examples of over 135 technical indicators and explains in detail, how they perform in real market conditions.

This is a must-read book for any new and budding trader who wants to start trading with technical analysis like a Pro.

3. Technical Analysis For The Trading Professional, 2nd edition – Constance M. Brown

Constance M. Brown is an institutional trader and fund manager for over 8 years. Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional, 2nd edition is a great book for academics searching for hands-on information on technical analysis.

It’s also an excellent book for accustomed, active investors who are scouring the internet to find analytics tools to assist them to achieve an impressive return on investment on their trading quickly, especially in a volatile market.

In this book, Constance M. Brown tries to rubbish the notion by experts that technical indicators fail. She offers main techniques and strategies that help boost traditional technical analysis.

She argues that technical indicators are not failing as experts purport. It’s just that most traditional experts are not doing much to improve on these traditional technical indicators.

The book also offers a complete rundown of new technical analysis techniques, including evergreen insights and tools that stock analysts yearn for to stay on top of the global financial markets.

The insights and tools you’ll find in this book include:

• A rundown on why popular oscillators don’t move from zero to hundred, as well as the reasons why signals occur in various ranges in bull and bear markets.
• More in-depth guidelines on how to use composite index
• In-depth Gann analysis foundation, including an easy to understand explanation of how the Gann fan, Gann Squares and the square of 9 are related
• An explanation of the various methods of calculating Fibonacci retracements, as well as swing projections in a market that contracts and expands at a rapid pace
• A clear and detailed expansion of cycle analysis and their properties

With all these explanations, it’s easy to see why this book is a must-read for any experienced trader who wants to exert their dominance in unpredictable markets.

4. Getting Started in Technical Analysis – Jack D. Schwager

Jack D. Schwager is a renowned futures, and hedge funds expert. He’s a graduate of Brooklyn College with a BA in Economics and Brown University with an MA in Economics.

With his extensive experience in the futures and hedge funds market and impressive education background and accomplishment, this book promises to turn you into a Pro trader using technical analysis in a matter of months.

Technical analysis is a very complicated topic and can take you a ton of time to get the hang of it.

This book makes it easy for you to decipher the chart patterns in order to accurately predict the prices of a particular security. It has enabled numerous traders to start using technical analysis and invest better.

Read this book and see your trading skills with technical analysis grow quickly.

5. Technical Analysis – Charles D. Kirkpatrick II and Julie R. Dahlquist

Technical Analysis was co-authored by Charles D. Kirkpatrick II and Julie R. Dahlquist. The book covers theory and practical application of technical analysis.

It covers a wider scope of technical analysis, such as momentum indicators, tested sentiment, seasonal effects, risk prevention strategies, flow of funds, all of which are supported by vivid illustrations and hands-on examples.

Technical Analysis aims to keep readers up to date by combing through advanced concepts, such as market analysis, pattern recognition, as well as experimental indicators like Ichimoku, Kagi, Clouds, Renko and innovative ways to choose portfolios.

What makes this book unique is how the authors combine practical and academic approach to learning technical analysis. This makes the book a great resource for both experienced traders and students who have interest in learning how to trade from scratch using technical analysis.

6. Technical Analysis Of The Financial Markets – John J. Murphy

This comprehensive technical analysis book was written by John J. Murphy, an experienced financial market analyst. In fact, he is known as the father of inter-market technical analysis. With extensive experience in the financial market analysis, his book promises to turn you from a newbie to a Pro trader using technical analysis in a matter of months.

Specifically, the book points out the basic principles and concepts of technical analysis and ways in which you can implement them in the real world successfully.

Technical Analysis Of The Financial Markets aims to equip traders with quality technical analysis knowledge and help them get to grips with the latest technical tools that any trader should know and use today.

Some of the aspects John J. Murphy discusses in his book include stock rotation, inter-market relationships, and candlestick charting, as well as other concepts that enable any trader to get acquainted with the skills to read and interpret charts, including technical indicators in order to make smart trading positions.

Part of the book looks at future markets and how technical analysis is related to sophisticated F&O instruments. Ideally, this book focuses on teaching real-life traders how to use technical analysis to achieve greater profitability.

7. Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns – Thomas N. Bulkowski

This is a remarkable technical analysis book by Thomas N. Bulkowski. He is widely known by many traders as among the well knowledgeable people on chart patterns. He has achieved a lot of success in investing and trading. Thomas boasts more than 30 years experience in the stock trading business and that makes his book a must-read.

Encyclopedia of charts contains detailed information on technical analysis that imparts you with the skills to read and interpret chart pattern behavior in both bear and bull market.

It also comes with 10 event patterns and gives a newbie trader the tricks to trade substantial events, such as stock upgrades and downgrades, and quarterly earnings announcements.

Every chart in the book is read, analyzed and combed, starting with an introduction of any given pattern prior to a comprehensive analysis of pattern behavior, chart pattern failures (and trick to dodge them), broad identification, and performance rank.

The book also points out smart strategies to trade stocks using chart patterns and smarts ways in which you can reduce risk while trading. If you want to understand chart patterns better and trade with a lot more confidence, this book fits your profile.

8. Mastering Technical Analysis – Michael C. Thomsett

Michael C. Thomsett wrote this book with the aim of teaching beginner and accustomed traders the concepts of technical analysis. Michael C. Thomsett is a British born, American author with more than 75 books under his belt.

Like the name suggests, this book helps new and experienced traders to master technical analysis. Specifically, it helps you understand and implement all the information you harness from technical indicators.

It breaks down the basics of technical analysis, ins, and outs of the investing cycle, tips for using charting, and offers detailed explanations of risk management.

If you are serious about becoming a Pro trader using technical analysis, make sure you take the time to read this book.

9. Technical Analysis Of Stock Trends – Robert D. Edwards, John Magee

This book was co-authored by Robert D. Edwards and John Magee. It’s an awesome and must-read resource when looking to get attuned to the world of technical analysis quickly.

It provides a detailed analysis of chart patterns, as well as comprehensive explanation and analysis of the evolution of dow theory and ways in which it can be easily replaced with a feasible alternative.

Despite the fact that it was initially published in 1948, this book is still a vital resource for chartists, and centers on vertical bar charts and is best used for market analysis. The current edition is a treasure trove of updated information on technical analysis.

It also expounds on Leverage Space Portfolio Model and pragmatic portfolio theory, as well as other technical analysis concepts. So if you’re a technical analysis enthusiast or a chartist, this book is designed for you.

10. Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes – Brian Shannon

This is one of the best technical analysis books written by Brian Shannon, an American author, and experienced technical analyst. He published this book in 2008 to enlighten new and experienced day traders on the different technical analysis tools that have helped him achieve success.

Technical traders love this book because it helps them achieve success regardless of the strategy they adopt.

Specifically, this book points out the importance of implementing technical analysis across numerous timeframes in order to pinpoint trades that offer the greatest possibilities for success.

The book goes beyond what the title suggests, as it discusses topics like short selling, price target identification, and stop-loss order placement.

As a beginner, budding or experienced trader, this is a book that you shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to read. It will sharpen your trading skills using technical analysis and increase your odds of success as a trader.

Conclusion

There are lots of books on technical analysis out there. While some of these books are old, others are timeless classics that are still valuable for you if you intend to start trading using technical analysis.

So check out this list, make a point to read the books and watch yourself become a Pro trader using technical analysis.