Rating: 
Summary: If You Read and Implement this book, You Will Make Money
Review: I'm new to Trading, and have now read over a dozen books.
This is by far the best book I've read on trading.
Dr. Elder outlines early in the book the attributes of a looser, and by evaluating my own character, I could identify some of these attributes, and choose to change.
Thanks to this book I am no longer a looser but a winner.
If you only buy one book on trading, or never read any other book on trading, this is the one to read.
If you read, and implement what Dr Elder reveals, (That does mean analyzing yourself honestly) Then You Will Make Money.
Rating: 
Summary: More Losers than Winners
Review: There is much useful information in this book. While Investor's Business Daily suggests you be careful of your entry point, this book has you making trades that could turn out to be risky. For example, buying on an MACD crossover, even though the stock is well below is 50 day moving average. You really need to be careful. If you place tight stop loss orders, maybe 2 percent below your entry, you could rack up a lot of small losses before you hit a really profitable trade. 50 trades (about one per week) losing $200 each amounts to a $10,000 loss. As Dr. Elder points out, there are lots of engineers trying to become traders. Most of them end up broke.
Rating:
Summary: Really good and useful!!!!
Review: This book contains nearly all the necessary materials for a beginning trader to start trading. I think the only area which is missing is fundamental analysis. O'Neil's book has better covering of FA but the part about TA is very weak and hard to understand. I feel the TA part is more concise than the John Murphy's book. The later has more than 500 pages but without covering too much about trading psychology. I learned quite a lot about psychology from this book which I am using everyday in my trading. Some of them are also useful for my daily life. Another strong area of this book is it combines the TA indicators to form a trading system. I got the idea to develop my own trading system from it. Although my system is very different from Elder's one, his idea is valid. Among the hundred trading books that I have read, this is still one of my best favorite and I am still reading it from time to time. The price is slightly high, but I recovered the money from my first trade. Really good!!
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: This is a very clearly written book (unlike some others) written on the basics of trading the markets, with sage advice on the biggest challenge of all - managing yourself! Elder is a Russian born psychiatrist and understandably has a lot to say about trading psycholgy and the self-destructive traps people get into when they dive into the financial markets without a good plan and without an awareness of their own foibles. The market will exploit their weaknesses and leave them penniless. Yet, the market can offer great opportunities, if the trader engages in some self discipline and avoids reacting emotionally to the markets vicissitudes. This is what the book is about and why it is the all time best seller (I am told) in the field on this subject. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!!
Review: This is definitely a book for the novice, the intermediate and the professional trader. The psychological section of the book is useful more towards the intermediate and the professional trader, whilst the trading tactics section is more designed for the novice and the intermediate trader, and the money management section for all three types of traders. I found this book very helpful throughout my trading career and I would highly recommend that once you have read it not to discard it. You will find it greatly more beneficial to your trading career if you were to read it at least once every 1-2 years of your trading life, because certain areas in the book become highlighted and more readily understood as you mature. The only reason why I gave it the 4 stars was Elder's fairly lack-lustre Money Management section (accounts for about 6% of the book). However if you find you would like to know more about Money Management (which is an integral part of trading) I would highly recommed K. van Tharp's "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom."
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: This one is the first book i read on the psychology involved in trading. And up to now, i think i would still rate it in my top 10 books.
Rating:
Summary: thank you for the book
Review: To Dr. Elder,
I read your Trading for a Living 5th times now, I think, I did not really count. This time I focused more on the last section on money management.
At the first few times when I read this, I read through it but deep down in my mind, I did not buy your idea of the 2 percent rule. It really just doesn't "make sense" for those of us who has a small account.
I am glad after about half a year reading and re-reading your book, and I began to hear you speaking to me whenever I am ready to pick-up the phone and place an order. My equity account is still small, and grown just a little bit, but if you said 20% annually would be called a king of Wall Street, and I think I should be contented with that.
I wish many others would have read your book and re-think or re-learn their trading habits.
Many thanks again.
Rating:
Summary: No better book to start learning about trading!
Review: Together with John Murphy's and Martin Pring's technical analysis books, *Trading for a living* is the best book out there for someone to start learning about trading. It must be purchased together with the accompanying workbook *Study guide for Trading for a living* to be complete. Somebody reading other books to start trading will end up being confused.
Dr. Elder's original theory is actually laid out in 3-4 pages but the other chapters in his book are useful in offering the budding trader insights into other aspects he - a newbie - must consider and learn more about if he is to grow.
Elder's Triple Screen system cannot be automatically backtested by the current software packages but it is a profitable method alltogether. Other traders who have been influenced by Elder's work came out with the Balance of Power and Bull/Bear Power concepts to complement his approach (see the Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazine, http://www.Traders.com), but they don't necessarily translate into more hefty profits. The original theory is good enough as it is if well apllied.
This is a book for every trader's personal library that will provide pleasurable re-readings over time! It has already changed the lives of many traders, speculators and investors for the better since 1993 when it was first published.
John Craciun,
http://www.MarketTide.com
.
Rating:
Summary: Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Man
Review: Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management
by Alexander Elder talks about how human nature intersects with the investment world.
Rating:
Summary: "The best book on day/short-term trading I've read to date"
Review: Without a doubt, the author does a fantastic job of describing the key elements of a day trader's success-beginning with the most crucial aspect, mind management. This is by far the best book I have read to date on the psychology of markets & crowds as well as money management. It also serves as a great primer on technical analysis with detailed explanations on how indicators can be used to a trader's profitable advantage. The Triple Screen Trading System (developed by the author) is an awesome starting place for the new trader. I would HIGHLY recommend the purchase of this book to any serious person who has decided to "pull the trigger" and start a future in the most exciting, fulfulling career imaginable-day trading. Also, I would like to thank the author for humbly sharing what I consider to be the most valuable information I have gathered on this subject.
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