Can you learn to trade from books?

I was just thinking about this... but where do MOST people learn to trade? Surely not these internet gurus selling courses for _____. Are books the best way to go? I was reading one where it said traders fail cause they don't invest in trading education... so what do you guys think is the best route?

The best way is to find someone who knows how to trade and let them teach you. Which is very very improbable, those who know rarely teach. Your only option apart from this is wild experimentation, you try different things until you find something that works.

In answer to your question... yes and no.

You can learn how other people trade from reading books on the subject but the only way to learn how to trade YOUR way is to trade. I really can't see how anyone can learn without putting the hours in the market. It's only from actually trading (starting very small of course) that you get to know yourself well enough to come up with a method that matches your psychological make-up.

you can't learn from books or videos or websites and forums only way is through go through way and trade by yourself and doing a lot experiments until you find your successful formula ... trade trade and trade until find something work for you

Trading is all about asking the right questions. So to rephrase yours ..can one learn to be consistently profitable from books?

Any moron can put on a trade. Some will even be successful. But can you do that over and over again so as to be consistently profitable?

So to answer your question...yes if you learn to:

1. Ask the "right" questions and
2. Learn to find the answers to your questions through research.

Can't agree more: ask the right questions.

You can cover off 2 out the 3 things you need with books - the foundations which are really well covered, and the ideas you can use to to implement, check, research and validate trading strategies.
Workable profitable strategies you won't get for obviously reasons, though there are encyclopedias of stuff that don't work like Pring on technical analysis that can save you the bother of testing a lot of stuff.

I think Books, the right books, can help with the learning process if you are totally new to the markets. The best one for me when I was starting out 10 years ago was ' High Probability Trading ' by Marcel Link ( though pay no attention to the amount he reckons you need to start with ). The psychology books such as ' Trading in the Zone ', are also useful, but they come later, when you do actualyy have an edge, and know more or less what you are doing.

Can you learn to trade from books though? My answer would be no, most certainly not, the same way you would not be able to become a successful heart surgeon from reading books. Trading requires screen time, and lots of it.

I think you can certainly learn a lot of useful things about trading from books. However, that of course depends on the book. Some are better written than others, obviously. It's important to learn how to differentiate between a good book and a not so useful book.

Its always good to read books. You can get new ideas on strategies, do's and dont's but the only way to learn trading is to practice. You also need to trade on live account not demo. Most difficult part of trading is dealing with emotions and this you can practice only on live account.

I thoroughly I agree. Whatever you read in books should be put into practice by actual trading. Having the knowledge to do is necessary, having the actual experience is indispensable.

I prefer to learn about forex from discussion forum like in forexfactory than from a book..It's more easy to understand and update.

It’s a passive way of learning according to me! But, not a bad idea.

What about online video tutorials?

How do humans normally learn anything? They learn from someone else. That is why you talk the way you do, walk the way you do, laugh the way you do, sing the songs you do, dress the way you do, and know the things you do.

So, what happens when you have no one to learn from? You have to do it anyway and then you learn from your mistakes. You most likely made mistakes in every single thing you have already learned in life, so don't let the fact that money is involved cause you to think the process is any different. When you copied others, you still made mistakes and you used them to improve. Now, with no one to copy, you simply have to make the mistakes. Each mistake brings you closer to success, so keep making them. Knowing you will make them though, you might consider using demo accounts until you think you know enough. Reading books and forums can give you ideas on what to try and what to not try, so by all means, research everything until you are satisfied.

My first trading book was Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John J. Murphy. Most of the trading books and videos I have seen are blah, blah, blabber, lol, and are mostly theoretical nonsense based on scenarios. They also often start with long overviews of what markets are and the various ways to trade them. No meat. Also, since most books and videos are from trainers and educators, LOL, and are NOT based on real trading from real traders, they are pretty much useless. You have to filter through them to find pertinent ones. It all depends on what you want to read about: history of some person, history of trading, or theories of trading based on historical charts. If you want a trading system, then you have to look for a trading system, disguised as software, not a book.

Babypips and FF are both good sources to start. Various well-known and proven books and education cources (many are available for free) should be good as well. However, your thounds of screen time can not be replaced by them IMHO. You need to invest some time anyway....

I wouldn't suggest forums, public opinions in general for beginners because they can't filter what's right and what's wrong in all the mess. Get some technical analysis related information and trade demo for your own for a long time. Get the basics through babypips, start learning more and more about price action, market behaviour and build your own strategy. Give it 3-4 years time.

That's a good advice. I'd add that one should also probably learn a bit, at least, about fundamental analysis. It's good to be at least aware of the basics.

My thoughts are that it's not possible.

It's a bit like saying "can you learn to ride a bicycle" from books. It's a physical activity, so it'd be hard.

With trading - I know it's a mental activity - but it's a living moving thing and books are.... well quite static. It'd take a lot of describing with subjective terms to describe how the market moves.

Seems to me video is the best medium for that.

I think one should definitely read books and refer online articles, tutorials and videos in order to expand one's area of knowledge in forex trading. You could also possibly enlist the help of fellow experienced traders and learn from them. However you'll notice biggest progress and improvements when you put all these learnings to application and start trading by yourself on demo/live accounts