Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader
$21.60
Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader is a foundational yet professional guide designed to help traders move from naïve market participation toward disciplined, structured trading. Unlike pattern encyclopedias or strategy-heavy manuals, this book focuses on the process of becoming a trader—how thinking, behavior, risk perception, and decision-making evolve with experience.
Thomas N. Bulkowski draws on real trading observations and hard-earned lessons to explain why most beginners fail and what separates consistent traders from those who endlessly chase indicators, tips, or systems. The book emphasizes that profitability is not the result of discovering a secret setup, but of developing correct expectations, statistical thinking, and emotional control.
Rather than overwhelming the reader with technical formulas, Bulkowski addresses the human side of trading: overtrading, fear of missing out, revenge trading, unrealistic expectations, and poor risk habits. He explains how these behaviors manifest on charts and in performance—and how traders can gradually replace them with rules, patience, and probability-based thinking.
The book also introduces essential market mechanics and technical concepts, but always in service of trader development. Topics such as chart reading, trend behavior, pattern recognition, and trade management are framed as tools that support discipline, not shortcuts to easy profits. The emphasis remains on survival first, consistency second, and growth only after those foundations are secured.
Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader functions as a mindset and process guide. It is especially valuable for traders who feel “stuck”—those who understand charts but struggle with execution, confidence, or consistency. Rather than promising fast results, the book provides a realistic roadmap for long-term trading development.
✅ What You’ll Learn:
- Why most traders fail and how to avoid common early-stage mistakes
- How trader psychology evolves from beginner to experienced practitioner
- How to develop realistic expectations about profits, losses, and drawdowns
- How discipline, rules, and probability replace impulse and prediction
- How technical tools should support behavior—not override it
- How to think in terms of process, consistency, and long-term survival
💡 Key Benefits:
- Builds a strong psychological and structural foundation for trading
- Helps traders replace emotional decisions with rule-based thinking
- Encourages patience, realism, and professional expectations
- Complements technical and strategy-focused trading books
- Serves as a mindset reset for frustrated or inconsistent traders
👤 Who This Book Is For:
- New traders who want a realistic introduction to trading
- Developing traders struggling with discipline and consistency
- Traders who understand charts but underperform in execution
- Self-directed learners seeking long-term improvement rather than shortcuts
- Not suitable for traders looking for a single mechanical strategy or signal system
📚 Table of Contents:
- How to Retire at 36
- Money Management
- Do Stops Work?
- Support and Resistance
- 45 Tips Every Trader Should Know
- Finding and Fixing What Is Wrong
- What We Learned
Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader By Thomas N. Bulkowski
| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Ebook |
| Format | |
| Skill Level | Beginner to Intermediate |
| Pages | 200 |
| Publication Year | 2013 |
| Delivery | Instant Download |
17 reviews for Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Lyric Lam (verified owner) –
I enjoyed reading all three of the trilogy ‘evolution of a trader’
The text provides well researched and statistically backed statements.
I particularly enjoyed position sizing for market conditions and the handy chapter reviews.
Would buy and read again for sure.
Alec Bartlett (verified owner) –
The stop-loss theme alone is worth the price of the book. But there is much more, as in all of Bulkowski’s books.
Gavin Mueller (verified owner) –
Excellent book to help you study and accomplish stock trading.
Brayan Francis (verified owner) –
This book is very well written and contains many valuable insights and statistics.
Raymond Cordova (verified owner) –
I must start by admitting that I am rather biased, as I already own several of Tom’s books, and also find myself referring to the wealth of (free) information available on his website.
Having been a fundamentals investor for many years, it was a culture shock switching to chart pattern investing. I have always been a skeptic, and look for facts to back up statements – which is the main reason I found myself drawn to Tom Bulkowski’s books and writing style. He always backs up his positions, and clearly lays out the facts and analysis (unlike many of the other investment books out there).
This book provides many of the ideas and methods that I groped around with for several years, before stumbling on Tom Bulkowski’s books. This volume is the first of a trilogy that progresses through the necessary stages in the development of a trader. It is invaluable reading, and a great start (or addition) to an investing library.
Violet Bernard (verified owner) –
I find the book “Trading Basics” exactly that — essential trading basics. It is laid out nicely
and well organized making it easy when looking things up and answering your trading & investing questions…
I am glad I purchased it to assist me in my swing & position and even longer term
trades. I especially enjoy and often refer to Chapter 5, entitled “45 Tips every trader should know”.
When I’m caught up in the daily “noise” & need to get back to Trading Basics-ironically the title of
the book and appropriately titled, I review this chapter sometimes daily, if I’m swing trading a position
and want to hold onto my profits, Chapter 5 is essential for holding onto your profits and not turning
a profitable trade quickly into a loss. I also like how Tom in chapter 5 provides examples by using the charts as examples.
I have also started using another book of Tom’s, “Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts” in conjunction with my Trading Basics book to correlate patterns and to help confirm my decisions upon my buy & sell strategies. I am realizing after continued practice with the Encyclopedia what to look for. In summary, I find these two books work well together.
In closing, I would like to add a comment about the author mentioning his other books in some of the chapters. I feel the author is merely informing the reader that he offers other resources that may be of benefit to the investor or daily trader. I highly recommend this particular book as well as his others!
Keenan Bradshaw (verified owner) –
Great trading advice
Berkley Fox (verified owner) –
Clear, concise, well researched, practical. Tom Bulkowski is the real deal.
Kynlee Branch (verified owner) –
The information provide was about par.
The presentation was poor and not well put together.
Would NOT recommend it to others
Heath Duarte (verified owner) –
More of a book with statistics of how stocks trend after entering certain trend patterns than anything else. The author did numerous tests to find these statistics, which is all well and good, but the results mean absolutely nothing for the average investor. “My research found that this happened 37% of the time.” Also a big problem I had was after the author shared a story about a woman who started trading options contracts. From what the author said it sounded like she had a dozen or so successful buy and hold trades under her belt and decided to give options a try. She ended up betting wrong and getting in over her head, wiping out her entire account. Now the problem with this story is that the author’s “lesson” to be learned was to avoid using leverage unless you’ve been trading for 5+ years, which is NOT the problem. The problem was that she went into that trade with risk management as an afterthought; that was where she messed up big, and that’s where the author should be teaching people to be mindful. His reaction was more in line with: “People have gotten injured in car crashes, you shouldn’t drive a car because they’re dangerous!”
Laylani Arias (verified owner) –
Excellent book that busts certain trading myths and presents results of back-tested hypotheses. highly recommend it to investors and swing traders.
Karina Shepherd (verified owner) –
Bulkowski’s books are the best and you cant go wrong with any of them.
Thomas is a genious and puts his knowledge in your hands with his books.
You will learn how to do the stuff the trading pros do if you read his books.
I have all 9 of his books
Imani Schneider (verified owner) –
I really like Bulkowski. This book was pretty tiny compared to his others. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Not bad for a beginner. Doesn’t provide the value of his other works.
Ronald Schwartz (verified owner) –
This book introduces you to the paradigms of intelligent trading, to name a few:
* money management
* stop placement
* support & resistance levels
* recurring patterns of the market backed by statistical research
* entry & exit timing
* market trend & stock trend relationship
Having read a few books by this market veteran author, I find his books distinguished from the rest by a single, crucial aspect:
Thomas conducts and discusses his own research, methods and tools of many years, which he courteously shares with the reader both in his books and at his website (just google his name!)
Aubrielle Shah (verified owner) –
I was convinced by Tom’s writing posted in his own website ( thepatternsite) and then I bought his books and read them (twice in a row) because I have a bunch of questions brought back from the market. Interestingly I read his Swing and Day Trading first. Then Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading. I am so happy to see a lot of my questions got answered (or understand that some of them are not questions that have definite answers), I know I must buy Trading Basics and read it, though I already have some basic knowledge about trading. I am not disappointed.
A smart novice who starts trading now may hesitate because the news already screaming the bear market is coming. He will find out more if he also read the stage analysis in Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading. Tom covers them quite comprehensively.
The more you trade, the more you will appreciate the statistics in the books. Tom doesn’t guarantee a pattern works, as a reviewer implies. Tom provides statistics, which by definition deals with probability. A trader doesn’t ask for guarantee; he only looks for probability on his side. Tom’s books help.
Florence Donovan (verified owner) –
Interesting book, which has a few helpful insights, but definetely not essential for successful trading.
This book is a walkthrough of various trade ideas most of which you can find in some other sources. Nevertheless, it is helpful to have them condensed in one book and reviewed by a weathered stock trader.
The author very often backtests the presented ideas and backs his opinions with the gathered statistical data. The best thing about these tests (and I would say my biggest profit in reading this book) is that they inspired me to backtest the presented ideas after incorporating them in my trading system, which helped me earn a few bucks more per annum.
Amira McCann (verified owner) –
Bulkowski’s Trading Basics review
Bulkowski’s Trading Basics is the FIRST investing book I have read that cleanly backs its statements with FACTS from the author’s ORIGINAL RESEARCH. I was excited to discover many ideas I have not found elsewhere. If you are a serious trader, you will be pleased to get your hands on the tables and charts in this book.
Do not let the title, Trading Basics, fool you. If you have never researched a stock, read a chart or placed a trade, there are plenty of good beginners’ books but this book is so much more. If a beginner asks how to make money in stocks, let them read the short chapter 1: Bulkowski’s personal story of “How to Retire at 36.” It will inspire and challenge them.
If you are serious investor, intent on always improving your stock investing with information that is research-based (and not a blind repeat of common “truths’”), then you will be surprised, delighted and probably shocked by some of the findings in this book.
After 13 years of trading, I am now in the process of incorporating a new layer of investing fact-based rules from this book into my investing plan.
A FEW OF THE MANY TOPICS BULKOWSKI COVERS I HAVE NOT FOUND ELSEWHERE:
• How much money does it take to get started investing – guidelines and justifications for a safe starting investment for each type of investor (position, swing, trend or day traders)?
• A unique position-sizing algorithm that takes into account volatility of both the stock and the market.
• Managing a position based on both stock performance and market rend
• What is the optimal period to hold a stock?
• How many stocks should be held adjusted for trading style?
• Analysis of how nine variations of stops (such as fixed percentage, volatility, chandelier, average true range, and top stop exit) perform including average loss, hold time, percent stopped out, win/loss percent and profit/risk change.
• AND MY FAVORITE: a whole myth-busting chapter on the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of twelve types of support and resistance.
• Each chapter ends with a CHAPTER CHECKLIST of key points and lessons to emphasize the most valuable information.
The book has many tables with the results of Bulkowski’s statistical research, extensively annotated charts of actual stocks showing the concepts in practice, and critical formulas every trader should know. If you are serious about making money in the stock market, buy this book.