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I listened to this last week and highly recommend. Stoicism is a funny sounding word, apparently back "in the day" some of these philosophers would hang out near a "stoa" (porch). There's some great lessons in here and unique perspectives.
When we trade we endure hardship, now imagine if you could endure the hardship without any negative feelings. Think about what a huge asset that would be to your trading. When we start to think negatively, we filter information through a bias. (we fail to see things as they are).
The other point I want to make is that for me, trying to trade mechanically didn't work effectively. There was too much variance for my comfort levels. Have you ever played roulette? Do you know that sometimes there can be 14, or 17 reds or blacks in a row?! Think about trading 5 setups mechanically that each show a 60% win rate in your backtests (and you either make 1x or lose 1x). There's going to be times where you take a lot of losses in a row. That's going to feel very uncomfortable for most of us, we generally don't like feeling out of control.
Understanding context (auction market theory + price action) gives me a huge edge and feeling of control in my trading. I rarely experience the types of "emotional rollercoastering" I was going through before on a regular basis.
Another one, if you're looking into stoicism ... one of the most well known stoics, Marcus Aurelius, his thoughts captured in Meditations (Gregory Hays translation is most popular and good).
And on an slightly unrelated note, the ever-popular "Atomic Habits" is practical, actionable, and quite an easy and good read.
I am also listening to Holiday's two well known books (audible) .. I'm not crazy about them but I am trying to give them a chance.
Nice! Ya, Meditations is next on my audible list, I've heard a few people talking about that one. Atomic Habits is one of the most practical books imo, I read it last summer and started implementing the tools.. I'm going to listen to Holiday's Stillness book soon too. I love working out my brain!
tip: if you join his mailing list you'll get some epic sale offers for his courses.
After you absorb and implement that you could join Convergent Trading and build on your knowledge with the members vids from FuturesTrader71.
re: price action, my stuff is largely from my years trading renko. You may want to ask others on that. You want to really understand "higher highs, higher lows, lower highs, lower lows", horizontal support/resistance, stop hunt identification and locations, impulse moves and continuations, price rejections..
Little steps, every single day, over time, compound.
And I'm going to check out Holiday, but yes there is benefit to reading and periodically re-reading Atomic Habits. Life is hard for us all; it's harder for some than for others, but it is hard for all us. Such is what it is.
I'm actually a big fan of the Shull and Couling book. Some folks might find that crazy, but I think they are slightly more approachable than the rest.
Check the reviews, make your own decisions. If you don't want to spend a lot, buy the kindle versions for cheap. Or don't buy at all. Just my rough suggestions.
Edit....some folks treat the Shull book as a psych book, but imo it's really not a psych book in the same way Trading in the Zone is. I find that it incorporates auction market theory heavily, with some psych stuff added in.
There are so many books out there, you can drown in information. I have had Al Brook's books since around 2012 but they didn't help me become profitable because the info was way too complicated, poorly structured imo and for me personally, I don't learn visual things well by reading. Videos are way better for my learning process. I've watched Al Brooks' videos and I listed him as a mentor in this thread, however I wouldn't recommend that to people when there are other much simpler, more effective ways to learn. I think Dalton's book is in the same type of category, its just not highly relevant enough compared to Kam's materials. Kam is a master educator imo.
I've studied volume price analysis and for me it did not lead anywhere toward profitability and I barely look at volume on a horizontal basis anymore, its mostly all vertical (reading the footprint & profiles) except for noticing if r-vol is high or low compared to the average (relative volume on my 15 min zoomed out levels chart). So, for readers, I recommend you investigate others' suggestions but be choosey about picking info that really resonates for you and has high reviews.
ie: When I buy an important product I don't mind spending many hours researching it, reading reviews from others etc, that way I get the products most likely to be a great match. The other night I spent like 2 hours picking out an external keypad lol, but that's my new order entry baby and its an important element to my speed as a scalper.
Trading is a tricky business. Make sure the person you learn from is actually trading this year and at an expert level. Much of what worked 10 years ago doesn't work well today imo. I'm also biased as a short-term trader, and as a renko/price structure trader, I don't make any decisions based on candlesticks.
I generally agree with everything you've said. But I would draw a distinction between learning from those who trade presently and learning underlying concepts/theories about markets. The books I listed above are, I think, better for learning underlying concepts and not specific trading mechanics.
I like learning from videos, but I learn concepts/theories better when I read words on a page or screen. I recognize there is a difference between learning (e.g., to fight or to trade) by reading a book versus learning by actually doing/practicing the act (fighting or trading). Which goes to my point about learning underlying concepts/theories from reading while learning practical skills by doing.
Learning the practicals versus learning the theories.
I find that, if I am going to learn from someone else, I benefit from learning the underlying theory the person has to offer (whether the person presently trades or is retired). However, for me, the best way to learn the practical up-close-and-personal aspects of doing the deed (fighting or trading), it best for me to learn by doing it on my own. To me, there is a benefit from learning the underlying theory from others while learning the practical side from direct firsthand experience. Every week teaches me something.
Yes, lots of firsthand experience is what's needed after one chooses the structures/principles he/she prefers. The trading simulator is super valuable as you can evaluate your ideas reasonably fast and train yourself (conscious + unconscious) to trade certain setups effectively. That's great you focus on learning new stuff each week..
(I use Sierra Charts which has a pretty good simulator although not so good for multi-timeframe approach. )