The Bitcoin Trading Library
The Bitcoin Trading Library
Resources & Tools to Get You Started on Trading BTC Perpetual Swap Contracts
Hello trading degens!
Below you’ll find a growing collection of profitable resources that can give you everything you need to start trading bitcoin (or any type of tradeable asset).
These resources and tools will help you build the confidence you become a trader with over 50+ videos, audiobooks, downloadable PDFs, and step-by-step walkthroughs!
It is my hope that you experience the positive and life-changing results that a life trading can bring! It’s creative, fun, and requires just as much time and energy as you can give it.
I’m excited to have you get started!
Before we go any further you must watch this video; trust me as you can spare the 9 minutes which will get your mind right and be a constant reminder of the fundamentals of learning anything new and the attitude and psychology required.
This is especially important because (bitcoin) trading is a “solo sport” insofar as the only person who is going to teach you to do this is yourself — not me, not anyone — all the tools you need are available but you’ll do all the heavy lifting and hard work.
I’ve captured a few thoughts as well:
A couple of important notes:
She’s at the top of the world but she wasn’t good when she started. She began like everyone else. You always start at suck. That’s where you are right now. As she said, she “wasn’t natural” and had to practice hard. Mhmm. This is life.
She had goals but it took time to get there — and she eventually did. But it wasn’t her physical skills that got her to the career wins as her body could perform the relatively-simple and straightforward task of jumping rope (most folks can) but it took mental fortitude and a clear and intentional decision to pursue excellence that got her to the results she wanted. Trading is the same. Anyone can do this but to it’ll take years to master. Bet on it.
Although the fundamental exercise of jumping rope is easy to get the superior outcomes one studies the “intricate factors to make one jump come together” which is another reminder that the distance that separates the novice trader and a professional (or full-time trader) is mastery of their tools and knowing those “intricate factors” that can impact price action. As she says, you can say you “know a new skill” after 5 times (of jump-roping) but to say that you “have it” it must be 30 times or more. You’ll see some wins before 5 trades are done but to say that you’ve got a working system will require a lot more attempts.
Injuries in jump-rope come via two forms: Over-training or trying something new. The same goes with trading as a common regret, especially in the beginning, is to over-trade either based on exuberance or “revenge trading” to get back at the market after a loss. That would be the "over-training” part. And since most of this will be entirely new you’re going to get hit with losses quite a bit (this is why “paper trading” is so important)!
When she gets hurt she immediately resets and attempts it again (with more safety measure in place perhaps). Her point was this: “Face your fears and if something does go wrong, instead of panic and abort, problem solve and figure out a way around it.” If you want to become a trader then you’ll have to face your fears and creatively problem solve solutions. She continues and shares that for many folks the initial frustration isn’t their inability to jump rope but rather tool selection and basic use like having the wrong sized length of rope. With proper guidance the real fun can begin!
If this sounds challenging and fun then you should continue to invest time and resources into trading — I’ll join you in this adventure!
Okay, so, now that we’re all on the same page (and thanks for taking time to watch that video!) let’s move forward strongly and courageously!
📚 — Welcome the Trading Library!
This is a growing library of resources and tools that will help get you started along the path of becoming a bitcoin trader (or degen!!). Naturally, anything you learn here can be applied to other assets like stocks, bonds, and commodities. Trade whatever you like and whatever will give you the returns that you desire.
I’ve chosen bitcoin because it’s the asset and technology that I know best but I’ve experimented with my system for other cryptocurrencies and commodities and the results have been the same.
My own personal journey has really only just begun (I consider myself a fairly “green” degen) so I’m still learning how to navigate the markets and take even more advantage of the opportunities that the market provides.
This library is the beginning of your journey and education as a trader, not the end.
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
— Socrates
And I plan on staying a “student” of the market for as long as I continue to trade; I suggest you do the same! These resources helped me go from zero to profitable trader in just a few weeks and my hope is that you can start experiencing similar success in a short amount of time.
You start as an idiot before becoming a master. You have to make mistakes. No one starts as the master. You have to be a fool to even think you can reach that level.
— Mike Tyson
It will be a fight! But, one where you can minimize the stakes and take your time.
Consequently, I’ve organized the library in a way that is both self-paced and sequenced — meaning that you can jump in anywhere but you might find it useful to start in the beginning (“The Why & The What”) and work through it as a progression. You can get through most of the core material in a week (if you really hustle). I know I did.
I can’t promise that you won’t experience a painful drawdown (expect it) but I can tell you that if you don’t give up you can build a winning portfolio.
The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.
— Walt Disney
I and the rest of the community is here to help and we’ll grow and profit together. Ping me on DM or ask a question as a comment if you need anything!
To infinity & bitcoin!
— 8ɃIT
Table of Contents
The Why & What — Why I trade and the tools I use.
Trading Psychology — 99% of trading is in your head.
Fundamental Systems — All you need to get started.
Everything Else — A growing list of important and helpful resources from portfolio construction, risk management, market mechanics, and more.
As I’ve mentioned, this is a growing library that I actively update and curate, often with material that I get from the community! I’ll share important updates to the library in the weekly updates and posts, of course.
Enjoy and good luck!
1. The Why & The What
At this point you’ve more than likely read my overview of why I started trading bitcoin and what I hoped I could accomplish by doing which, to be honest, was simple enough: I could either get angry and upset about the market destroying me or I could do something about it.
So, I started my educational journey. But that doesn’t answer the question as to why I still trade bitcoin because there are many other proven ways to make money! Hell, I know this more than most since I’ve tried most modalities of earning a living wage.
Besides being a better (and faster) way to stack satoshis it’s actually just another way to earn an income; we usually call that a job. But, I have come to believe that it might be one of the better “jobs” that I’ve ever had!
What has kept me interested was how creative the practice of trading really is. In fact, it’s an incredibly creative form of work and one that requires an intense level of thought, processing, and confluence of signal data from a variety of disparate sources.
It is of no surprise to me that trading really does find a home with the most creative of types but it gets even better. What I began to realize is that it was also an independent person’s “dream job” because it puts you in the captain’s seat from start-to-finish. You put in the work and you get to see the results almost immediately.
And, you also get determine how much you want to profit from the effort that you put in. Sure, a good deal of this is luck (unless you’re a large institution or market maker) but there are enough consistent patterns available for one to make more than a decent, full-time living. Trading is both art and science, a deeply creative pursuit that rewards the persistent and those willing to stretch their emotional and psychological capacities.
Anyone can “do” trading because it only takes a few button presses with today’s modern web-based exchanges but not everyone can build a track record with more wins than losses and build an ever-growing equity curve that is consistently full of profit.
But I’ve stuck around as a trader and continue to hone my craft because I love the independence, the autonomy, the creative requirements, the endless pursuit of an edge, and an immediate feedback loop that let’s you know if you’ve gotten it right or teaches you something valuable for the next setup.
I can trade nights, weekends, or take days and weeks off at a time. The bitcoin market never sleeps and will greet me and my trading table with a smile, ready to liquidate my positions or reward me upside.
Honestly, it might be one of the best “jobs” I’ve ever had and there are days where I simply cannot believe I get to do this type of work.
And that’s why I’m a degen bitcoin trader. Perhaps you’ll become one too!
Tools I Use to Get the Job Done:
Whenever I learn something new I like to break the complexity down into their most fundamental form(s) so that I can learn not just how things work but also why they work. This then allows me to build simple workflows that get the results that I want using a minimal toolkit.
This overarching strategy is partly based out of convenience but also because there is a tendency to over-complicate most things in our life and what I’ve learned as a software engineer is that often times the simplest toolset is the best; when we intentionally over-engineer complexity into our systems we therefore become overly-dependent on them and this makes us brittle and reduces our ability to stay flexible and agile in quickly-changing conditions.
And since bitcoin is an extremely volatile asset you have to stay nimble when trading. This, of course, is also the upside since the volatility directly impacts our realized profit potential.
Every trading setup is different and reflects the individuality and personality of the trader who trades. Thus 99% of tool decision(s) is about personalization and preference than anything else.
But, what I know is that it all can work as long as it works! I have friends who chart and TA on their iPhones (which is bonkers imho) and then I know folks who use anything from larger tablet computers all the way to a dozen+ monitors all with multiple keyboards, input devices, software, services, and solutions — you’ve seen the type, I’m sure!
When I started I knew that I wanted to stay mobile and as independent from technology as possible without limiting my ability to comprehensively chart and do my technical analysis. My original goal was that I could create a combination of tools / workflows that I could use and execute against on a single notebook computer and after much work and many iterations I’m happy to say that I’ve found success!
Here’s what it looked like when I first started trading in January:
I did experiment with multiple / larger screens but I found it unnecessary.
Now, I’m back to where I started and I can successfully do everything I need to do with just my notebook computer, my iPhone, and a physical notebook and pen:
You don’t need much! Here’s the full list of primary tools:
2021 13” M1 MacBook Air — I have a mid-tier configuration that has ample processing power and battery life allowing me a full day out at a coffee shop without a power cord. I also use a standing desk and an external, 3-button mouse.
iPhone 12 — I like watching the charts during the day, even if I’m not in a trade. Trading View has a nice iPhone and the exchanges that I use have mobile apps too so I can make some quick, dynamic decisions if I need (but this is rare).
Pen and Paper — I take quite a few notes and I practice charting on paper. There’s something magical that happens for me when I do the process manually and it “sticks” with me a bit faster that way.
Trading View (aff link) — I have a “premium” subscriber and I use this to do all my charting and technical analysis. The free version can get you pretty far and it was only until I decided to become serious about trading (and had enough wins to warrant the cost) that I purchased a yearly subscription (~$500 per year).
Bitget (aff link) — This is one of my favorite exchanges simply because you can trade without KYC or the use of a VPN! I’m a huge believer in privacy and the use of nyms so this was a pleasant discovery. Good liquidity, solid reputation, and demo / simulation accounts that are great for beginners and new degens. I’ll share a bit more on how important this is below.
Good Music / Lighting / Vibes — I love charting and some of my best work is always surrounded by quality tunes (or a really decent podcast) in a well-lit, comfortable environment that gets me vibing. And when I’m well-rested there’s a chance that I can get “in the zone” and observing real-time price discovery is a real pleasure.
Physical Printouts of harmonic patterns, wyckoff distribution workflows, and other material that can help remind me of the fundamentals. You can see that I have a bunch of fib patterns in the picture of my own setup above, right in plain view of my notebook computer.
That’s about it! Have fun iterating on your trading environment and take the time necessary to try all forms and fashions since you won’t know what works until you do.
Finally, it’s important that you stay economical and I wouldn’t upgrade anything until you have some decent winnings. In that way you can reward yourself with better gear as a result of your growing equity curve.
But, you don’t really need much to get the job done right and with good results.
2. Trading Psychology
When I first started trading I was hungry to learn from the very best and there were a few names that kept coming up, one of which was Mark Douglas. There’s a ton of great content on YouTube with him but I’ve found a select few that I’ve now listened to 3 or 4 times each as they are that good.
And, the longer you trade the more you appreciate Mark’s experience and you can apply his teaching to an even deeper degree. Mark knows his shit and you’ll learn a ton via this curated list of 10+ videos (2 full series!) from the psychology of trading to the underlying mechanics and players involved. I’ve also included his full book on audio as well as a wonderful seminar specifically on “Trading Psychology”.
Take lots of notes and I’ll continue to add more to this playlist as I find relevant and related Mark Douglass content!
His full and complete audiobook:
This audiobook is also a fun listen but informative insofar as the details it gives on the history of the stock market and the future markets, in particular.
It’s also neat to hear the lessons learned from someone who was very successful using very simple tools.
I’ve also listened to this story more than 3 times (on 1.5X speed) and I’ve always picked up a new insight that I didn’t quite get the times prior. A fun listen, for sure.
Here are a few more audiobooks that you might find useful:
Benjamin Graham — The Intelligent Investor
Napoleon Hill — How to Own your Mind
Burton G. Malkiel — A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Peter Thiel — Zero to One
John C. Bogle — The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Jesse Livermore — How to Trade In Stocks
I’ll add more as I find them! All of these can be found in other spots on the internet for free as well so there’s no reason to necessarily use these uploads.
3. Fundamental Systems
Okay, so, what the heck are we doing here anyways? We’re trading bitcoin, that’s what we’re doing. And you don’t need to know much to get started as the following materials will give you a strong foundation for your trading adventures.
In fact, I was already trading with real money after reading, listening, and watching the material below! Remember: Trading isn’t hard; trading successfully is.
Let’s dive in, shall we? Here are the high-levels that will get you on the right track! Crazy, but, this is literally all you need (and all I needed) to get started trading!
The basics (and rise) of Perpetual Swaps
Rob Booker’s Currency Series (16 videos)
Mark Douglas Fundamentals Series (14 videos)
Al Brook’s Day Trading Series (19 videos)
CryptoCred’s Technical Analysis Series (17 videos)
Harmonic Trader Patterns Series (11 videos)
Now that you have the fundamentals you’ll need to find a trustworthy cryptocurrency / bitcoin exchange where you can buy and sell perpetual swap contracts and begin your trading career.
If you can you’ll want to find an exchange that also has a “paper trading” system — such as Bitget — that will allow you to trade using fake money but against real-time prices. This is the only way to safely learn how to trade successfully!
Although you can use the order books / history to begin recording your trades I personally recommend that you start with pen and paper to capture your thoughts, jot down lessons-learned, and to practice the economics of trading.
I started with pen and paper, like so:
I watched the above material and I started paper trading throughout that initial foundation-building stage. Then, by late-January I started using real money and took home a little more than $4,300 in profit.
By the end of the first week of February I had crossed five-figures in realized profit! Approximately $11,456 in cold, hard, bitcoin-powered cash.
I continued refining my process, mastering my toolset, and iterating on my workflows and my confidence continued to grow. By mid-February I was ready to stop manually entering in trade results in a physical notebook and upgrade my accounting:
I was doing quite a lot of trades per day which I eventually figured was a bit too many for starters but I was enjoying the process and liking the results. So I moved to creating my own excel document and effectively recreating my pen / paper workflow:
I’ve since upgraded beyond this system as well as my trading has matured and evolved but I try not to upgrade too far beyond my capacity and skill-level; this keeps me humble and also gives me short-term goals like upgrading my display / monitor if I’m able to win $X.XX amount in trades.
Now it was time to continue to hone my skills, refine my craft, and begin to develop my own creative combination of signal data to build out my own personal and profitable workflow! The real work — and journey — had just begun!
4. Everything Else…
The truth of the matter is that you’re effectively equipped to trade bitcoin and from here it’s just a matter of you practice and building a winning portfolio. It’ll take time and it’ll be a real challenge but that’s why launched this newsletter and why I put together our growing community!
See, trading is like golf: You can party with others (and have a really great time!) but when it comes to execution there’s only one person who can swing the club and put the ball in the cup.
And if we continue the golf metaphor there are a near-infinite number of “strategies” and golf-ball-hitting systems and types of clubs to use that range from the super-cheap to the crazy-expensive. You have to decide on the tools, the techniques, the workflows, and find something that ultimately works for you.
The only way to find the “best” trading strategy for you is to figure it out for yourself, combining trading signals that you like and that give you the results you desire.
In my posts I share a bit of how I trade and the systems that I use; they include:
RSI, MACD, Volume / Volatility, Stochastics
Accumulation and Distribution via Wyckoff and Darvas (see video walkthrough)
Entries and exits via Fibonacci Retracements and Harmonics
There really isn’t anything fancy here!
I’ll try to find confluence between these signals with basic trend lines to help me understand the larger context.
If there’s an overall workflow it’s like this:
Identify harmonic patterns, find confluence with (ideally) 2-3 sequences.
Are we in accumulation or distribution phase in the trading timeframe? Are there obvious “darvas” zones or support and/or resistance? Is there a Wyckoff forming?
Is RSI trending in the right direction? Is volume declining in preparation for a big larger (and more profitable) move?
How is the general sentiment in the larger market? What is the DXY and other industry indexes doing (image above)? What are the social media “influencers” peddling and how scared are participants in the market? Are there any major industry / financial events happening (e.g. FOMC)?
Determine trade size, entry point (PRZ — “Price Reversal Zone”), stop loss, and profit targets. Enter order (with all those details) and then wait for order to fill! Hopefully it works and we’re in profit! See a full trading sequence here.
This is just my general workflow and I’m still working out the kinks and trialing new systems, oscillators, and workflows. In addition I share my actual trades — and even my daily trading setup! — in my weekly updates and posts and I usually include additional signal data too that can be useful for traders of all types:
I also spend time reviewing on-chain material, watching videos from people I respect in the industry, practice my charting and TA skills (and learn new ones) and I even tune into mainstream media — and popular follows — to get an understanding of what retail is consuming (i.e. retail sentiment) so I can trade against them. The point is to increase the amount of right signal and filter out all the noise.
(－‸ლ)
BTW: I do not follow trading advice from social media influencers and neither should you. Ever. Never ever. Ever, ever. Why? Because you want to build your own, personalized workflow and trading strategy. Watching and learning from others is good but don’t “copy-trade” without thought.
And you shouldn’t copy me either; do your own research!
You might also care about the “Trading Days of the Year” as well:
There’s so much that can help give you an edge so you can be ready to trade whenever.
The point is this: I never stop learning and that’s my alpha; that’s how real traders win and how they survive this game for the long-term.
Here are a few books that I have really enjoyed:
Gartley Trading Method by Ross Beck (.pdf) — $50+ value!!
Technical Analysis by Richard Schabacker
Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison
Turning Patterns into Profits by Scott Carney
They even have these available on Apple iBooks, which I use:
A few PDFs / downloads / resources that you might find useful:
W.D. Gann — Master Commodities (.pdf)
Bill Wolfe – Wolfe Waves (.pdf)
Fibonacci, Retracements, Cycles (videos)
Advanced Technical Training — Jon Fibonacci (.pdf)
Chart Patterns — Thomas N. Bulkowski (.pdf)
Breakthrough Strategies for Predicting Any Market — Jeff Greenblatt (.pdf)
Emperor BTC Trading Strategies (.pdf)
Charting Diamond Patterns (.pdf)
Trading Binance Futures (video)
Position Risk Calculator (.xlsx)
Candlestick Bible, Pattern Cheat Sheet (.pdf / bearish / bullish)
On Market Making (.pdf)
Trading Psychology (.mp3)
Speculation: A Profitable Profession — W.D. Gann (.pdf / .pdf)
Truth of the Stock Tape — W.D. Gann (.pdf)
Trendlines, Ascending Triangle, Flag, Cup and Handle, Diamond,
Chart patterns, Encyclopedia, Ichimoku Cloud, Heikin-Ashi
Elliot Waves, Principles, Charting Elliot (with Gann)
Technical Analysis (video playlist), Candlesticks, Advanced, Overview
A few tools and services that I have used:
The Kelly Criterion: Sizing Bets
FX Street: Economic Calendar, Trading Economics
Significant Trades: Liquidations — Turn on to listen to death in real-time!
BTC Derivatives Dashboard
Blockchain Whispers: Longs vs Shorts — Tons of useful metrics here
S&P 500 Map
Wyckoff Method
List of All Known Harmonic Patterns, Suri Notes
Top 100 Richest Bitcoin Addresses
Large BTC Transactions
Bitcoin Monthly Return
Bull Run Index
US National Debt, Charts, Shadow Stats
Ichimoku Cloud Formation
Cointracker: Taxes
Look into Bitcoin Charts
50 Week EMA
Fear and Greed Index, Sentiment Analysis
Puell Multiple
WooBull Charts
Long / Short ratio
Open Interest
Blockchain Explorer, Bitcoin Stack Exchange
Mining Calculator, Basics
Bitcoin Jobs
Bitcoin and Tether
Bitcoin and History
Bitcoin Treasures of Public Companies
One of the ugliest sites I’ve ever seen with some of the best content out there on chart patterns and even specific trading categories / industries. Amazing. This one too (and you can get this amazing .pdf too).
Good luck and I’ll see you in the comments, on Twitter, or in the Discord chat! Let me know how I can help and feel free to suggest other great material that has given you the results you want!
To infinity & bitcoin,
— 8ɃIT