by Nicolas Darvas

Nicolas Darvas wrote “How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market” in 1960, shortly after he had made over $2,000,000 trading stocks in a little over 18 months. But the story starts in 1952, when Darvas, a ballroom dancer by profession, acquired his first stock in a Canadian mining company almost inadvertently. He sold it at a profit, and he was hooked. But Darvas knew nothing about the stock market. He learned everything the hard way, and that’s what makes this book interesting. Darvas is a colorful, overbearing, but frank character, and he takes us through his quest to figure out how to make money in the stock market step by painful step.

Darvas divides his learning experience into 4 parts. At first he was “The Gambler“, acting on tips and impulses. That failed. Then he got serious and became “The Fundamentalist“, reading annual reports, listening to analysts, and investing accordingly. That failed. So he became “The Technician“, developing his own method of anticipating a rise in stock price, which he called “box theory”. He wasn’t losing much money, but he wasn’t making much either. Finally Darvas devised a method of predicting stock price movement that incorporated all of his hard-learned lessons. He became “The Techno-Fundamentalist“. He selected stocks based on earning prospects for their sector, but bought the leaders in their sector only when price movement looked promising according to his box theory.

How did a world-famous dancer with no knowledge of the stock market, or of finance in general, make 2 million dollars in the stock market in 18 months starting with only $10,000? Darvas is legendary, and with good reason. Find out why

Electronic Day Traders’ Secrets

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
This timeless, classic investment book was first published in 1923 and is a slightly fictionalized account of the life of the legendary trader Jesse Livermore – a man highly regarded as one of the shrewdest traders and speculators of all time. Despite the fact that it was written quite some time ago, it continues to offer valuable insights into the art of trading and speculation.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds
Originally published in 1841, this is study of crowd behavior and human madness and folly. Although not directly related to day trading, this book is an excellent source for understanding human and crowd psychology in the world of finance generally.

The New Market Wizards
In this book, the author interviews and explores the thinking, tactics and strategies of some of the world’s most successful traders. In so doing, the author gives you an excellent perspective into the minds and attitudes of some very successful traders and how they achieved their success. The book is also very entertaining and written in a non-technical style.

Stock Patterns for Day Trading
This book deals with a number of basic trading strategies including a scalping method designed to capture rapid small profits, intraday trend or momentum trading to benefit from large price movements and a swing trading method for trading over a two to five day time horizon.

Technical Analysis of Stock Trends
This book is widely regarded to be the leading reference book in the area of technical analysis of stocks. Now in its 8th edition, the book is a must for anyone who trades based on charting and other market directional indicators. The book describes such matters as the Dow Theory, support and resistance, trendlines and other stock chart patterns and technical analysis tools.