34 legally free trading and futures books, linked to their official sources. Below are our top picks, then the full list.
Last updated 16 Oct 2026
A thinly fictionalised account of trader Jesse Livermore's career, from beating the bucket shops to winning and losing fortunes on Wall Street. Still one of the most-read books on trading psychology.
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An early-1920s practical guide to stock speculation that covers how markets move, when to buy and sell, and the discipline a speculator needs.
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A 19th-century treatise on how stock exchange speculation works and on the judgement and temperament needed to succeed at it.
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G. C. Selden's 1912 book argues that prices are driven largely by the mental attitude of traders. It explains crowd sentiment, manipulation and why the public tends to buy near tops.
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Henry Howard Harper looks at the human side of stock market trading: greed, fear, hope and the mental habits that lead speculators to lose money.
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Thomas Gibson traces the recurring cycles of speculation in stocks and commodities, with their causes, warning signs and consequences.
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An open-access overview of cryptocurrencies: how they work, their innovations and risks, and where they may be heading.
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An open-access overview of global financial markets, covering systemic risk, regulation and financial innovation.
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An open-access book on commodity exchanges and how they can make agricultural markets more transparent and efficient.
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A monograph on whether index futures, options and program trading changed the systematic risk of stock indexes.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation tutorial explaining how options and futures on financial assets work and how investors can use them.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on measuring and managing the costs of trading equities.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation study of managed futures and why their low correlation with stocks and bonds can help a portfolio.
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A tutorial on interest rate swaps and currency swaps: how they are structured, priced and used.
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The authors examine why currency can be an attractive asset class for institutional investors and how to invest in it.
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A plain-language introduction to futures and options markets, covering how these derivatives work and how they are priced and used.
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Explains how environmental markets such as emissions trading work and why they may form a new asset class.
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Richard D. Wyckoff (writing as Rollo Tape) teaches how to read the ticker tape to judge supply, demand and the next move in stock prices.
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Wyckoff describes his own methods for trading and investing in stocks and bonds, drawn from years in the market.
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A short work by Charles H. Dow, founder of the Wall Street Journal, on scientific approaches to stock speculation. It outlines ideas behind what became Dow Theory.
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William Peter Hamilton's 1922 classic sets out the Dow Theory and argues that stock market averages forecast business conditions.
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S. A. Nelson's 1903 book was the first to collect and explain Charles Dow's market editorials. It gave Dow Theory its name.
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A 19th-century guide to the realities and pitfalls of stock speculation.
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A practical early guide to stock speculation that stresses caution, common sense and avoiding typical mistakes.
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An economist's study of how speculation on American stock and produce exchanges works and what it does for the economy.
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A large exposé of fraudulent and doubtful speculative schemes in stocks, grain and bucket shops in early-1900s America.
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A study of NYSE opening and closing prices that examines how market structure affects volatility and trading volume.
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A monograph that applies a new analytical method to valuing options on Treasury bond futures.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on interest-rate models and the risk premiums built into interest-rate markets.
Download freeA guide for investment professionals on how modern electronic markets work, and why and how to trade efficiently.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation study of the common factors that drive liquidity and trading activity across stocks.
Download freeA monograph on how informed trading affects volatility and liquidity in options markets.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on actively managing currency exposure in a world of floating exchange rates.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation book on hedging, especially hedging currency risk in international portfolios.
Download freeYes. All 34 books on this page are offered free of charge by their official publisher or library. We link only to those official pages and never host files.
Yes, from the linked source. Each listing shows its licence, for example: Free to read (© CFA Institute Research Foundation); Open access (see source for exact licence); Public domain in the USA (check your country). Public-domain status from Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive applies to the USA, so check the rules in your country.
From sources including CFA Institute Research Foundation, DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books), Internet Archive (library-digitised scan), Project Gutenberg.
Every link on this page was last checked on 16 Oct 2026.