Trading and Investing for Beginners will help you to develop the essential skills you need to trade in financial markets. Usually these are dealt with separately, but one of the major advantages of this book it that it takes a comprehensive perspective and covers all the key elements in a single, mutually reinforcing package.

Author’s Note:

The first part of the book will deal with a subject that is not usually covered in books like this but is inextricably linked to trading: financial literacy. If we want to invest or trade we need money. This section will introduce some of the most important concepts for becoming more financially intelligent as well as practical recommendations to improve our finances. The second and third parts of the book focus on the core of the required theoretical knowledge. We will learn about the history of financial theories in order to determine the nature of markets, we will study the characteristics of the main investment products, the main types of market agents, and discover how prices are set, as well as all the fundamental concepts necessary to understand the way that markets operate. The fourth part is the key topic of the book: technical analysis. This part aims to provide the necessary knowledge to build a winning strategy, the first of the three main principles that will determine our success.

We will cover the basics of technical analysis: chart types, the price cycle, market conditions, how to correctly draw lines etc. And we will also present the three methodologies that make up what I have dubbed a high-level technical analysis: Price Action, Volume Spread Analysis and the Wyckoff Method. Obviously, we won’t be able to go into the minutiae of each of the proposed methods, but the most important concepts will be explained so that the reader can decide which one they should subsequently specialize in.

The fifth part will deal with the second of the three fundamental principles, risk management. We will learn key concepts about money management that will help us minimize the risk of bankruptcy and we will learn to carry out more professional position management. The sixth part deals with emotional management and with it we conclude the third fundamental principle that will help us tip the balance in our favor. Essentially, we are going to focus on creating a statistical mindset which is as objective as possible. To do this, we will identify the negative emotions that distract us from our goals as well as the positive ones that bring us closer to them; and we will gain an understanding of the main cognitive biases that we may fall victim to, so that we can avoid them.

The seventh part will cover certain aspects of business management that are often neglected; such as developing a trading plan, correctly recording trades, as well as recommended guidelines for periodically reviewing our performance and implementing improvements. In the eighth, and final, part of the book, we will dive into the practicalities. I will recommend some of the best tools and resources available to us that can help during real trades.

I once again want to emphasize the importance of keeping expectations low and applying common sense to what you do. Neither this book, nor any other, nor any course, mentoring session or specialization will guarantee that you become a successful trader or investor. This is a path that requires knowledge and experience. The first part –knowledge– begins here and now, with the essential content you will find in this book. By studying this, you will have laid the first foundation stone, you will have already taken the first step and you will be in a position to start studying intermediate and advanced resources. But even once you have acquired all this knowledge, this won’t be enough. You will still need experience. And for this there is no possible shortcut. You can only acquire experience with hours of screen time and hard work. I wish you good luck on your journey.