A good list of books. If someone is interested in learning about the stock market I recommend first determining whether you want to be an investor or trader. They are two entirely different mindsets. Not that you can’t do a little of both, but if you are going to very good at something you have to focus down a bit.

After determining if you want to focus on trading or investing, you will want to focus down to the subniches within each of these. In investing the primary focuses are on growth and value. Growth is looking for companies that are rapidly growing their earnings and have great potential do so in the future. Value is the Buffett style of finding companies that are undervalued relative to various metrics. Their are other types of investing, but these are the top two. Regardless, think of investing as having a deep focus on Fundamental Analysis, or the in depth studying of a companies financials.

In trading their is a plethora of different styles. Value and growth can be a part of a trading system. However, typically many traders are focused heavily on Technical Analysis. Technical Analysis is the study of the stock charts. Support and Resistance, a multitude of indicators including moving averages, Bollinger Bands, RSI, etc. Traders tend to focus on a couple of set ups and perfect them. Examples of these are Mean Reversion, Trend Following, Momentum, etc.

Once you have found your niche that you are interested in studying, you can then focus down on the books and educational resources that will help you. Not that having a broad education is harmful, but today’s world is so complex that focus is important. If you are interested in learning more about trading I have a series on my blog some may find helpful.