What are the top trading books to read over the 2020 holidays?

It’s fair to say 2020 was a whirlwind. While global stocks started January on an incredibly bullish footing, the coronavirus pandemic overhauled everything.

Almost every investor was hit hard by the crash in March, including hedge fund titans such as Ray Dalio, Warren Buffett and Michael Hintze.

That said, some legendary investors did thrive amidst the unprecedented volatility. Big names, such as Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital, and Mark Spitznagel, founder of Universa Investments, proved successful.

Their defiance elevated their industry status and put a renewed focus on grasping the mindsets of great investors. In fact, it’s something many finance authors have explored in their most recent books.

Here, Opto features the texts that dive deep into the world of investing, and tell the stories of how some of the smartest investors think and invest.

Unknown Market Wizards: The Best Traders You’ve Never Heard Of

By Jack Schwager

Highly acclaimed author Jack Schwager has been writing about the investing world’s greatest traders since he published his first Market Wizards book in 1989. The series features interviews with legendary investors, including Ray Dalio, Stanley Druckenmiller and Monroe Trout, to name a few.

In his latest book, Unknown Market Wizards, which was published in November by Harriman House, he focuses on sole traders who were not only operating in complete obscurity but, amazingly, had some of the “best performance records” he’d ever encountered. Several of these traders were discovered via FundSeeder, a financial data and analytics platform, which counts Schwager as one of its founders. The tool connects undiscovered trading talent with investment capital.

How I Invest My Money: Finance Experts Reveal How They Save, Spend and Invest

By Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy

In an effort to pull back the curtain on how smart money invests, two stock market experts have compiled a group of 25 successful investors, including Howard Lindzon, Morgan Housel and Perth Tolle, to give readers a behind-the-scenes look.

The authors of How I Invest My Money, which was published by Harriman House in November, are prominent investors themselves. Joshua Brown is the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and Brian Portnoy is the founder of Shaping Wealth, a financial wellness platform. For Brown, the chapters that seem to resonate with readers the most are “those in which the authors lean into their own backstories very personally and honestly”.

The Psychology Of Money: Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed and Happiness

By Morgan Housel

As an expert on behavioural finance, Morgan Housel, a partner at The Collaborative Fund, brings his deep understanding on how people make financial decisions to the written word in his latest book The Psychology Of Money: Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed and Happiness.

The award-winning author was inspired to write this collection of 19 short stories as he realised that doing well with money wasn’t about what you know, but how you behaved. Housel had recognised that dealing with money was not intuitive and, while behaviour isn’t easy to teach, it’s a lot simpler to grasp. “I think the only way to show people how powerful behaviour is with money is through stories, so I wanted to write those stories,” he says.

Investing For Growth: How To Make Money By Only Buying The Best Companies In The World

By Terry Smith

Terry Smith is a big name in the hedge fund business. He has been working in the industry for more than 36 years and is the founder and CEO of Fundsmith. His most recent book, Investing for Growth, published by Harriman House in October, is an anthology of essays and letters written between 2010 and 2020.

The book follows a timeline, documenting the fund’s financial ups and downs throughout the years, while passing on investment lessons with chapter titles including, Ten Golden Rules Of Investment and Firms Which Provide Good Products Or Services Are Key To Investing.