Key takeaways
ICT says his development began with Ken Roberts’s commodities course in 1992, whose one-two-three reversal and breakout entry prompted his later optimal trade entry research, followed by Larry Williams’s Futures Millionaire Confidential Trading Course and books that made Williams his first real mentor despite never meeting him.
Read the full summary
ICT says his development began with Ken Roberts’s commodities course in 1992, whose one-two-three reversal and breakout entry prompted his later optimal trade entry research, followed by Larry Williams’s Futures Millionaire Confidential Trading Course and books that made Williams his first real mentor despite never meeting him. How I Made One Million Dollars Last Year Trading Commodities, especially chapters four through six, encouraged long-term learning, while Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading influenced his basic market structure framework and The Secret of Selecting Stocks for Immediate and Substantial Gains shaped cross-market comparisons and SMT divergence. Other milestones included William J. O’Neil’s How to Make Money in Stocks, The Definitive Guide to Futures Trading volumes on zero balance and accumulation and distribution, Sure Thing Commodity Trading and Steve Moore’s research on seasonality, Street Smarts setups Turtle Soup, Turtle Soup Plus One, and Anti for false breakouts, stop runs, and liquidity, Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards interviews with Michael Marcus, Ed Seykota, O’Neil, and Linda Raschke, George Angell on intraday S&P analysis, equilibrium, and price vacuums, Toby Crabel on intraday probabilities and opening and closing relationships, The Trading Game by Ryan Jones and Ralph Vince’s more mathematical books on position sizing, and John Murphy’s Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets as a conventional reference. ICT calls the Bible his most important source of motivation, discipline, stewardship, and perseverance and stresses that these works were costly, sometimes unproductive prompts for observation, testing, and adaptation rather than complete versions of his teachings, a shopping list, or independently verified evidence of profitability.
How we researched this article
BestProps used document-based research from primary firm sources, checked September 25, 2026. The complete source list, scope, limitations, and commercial-state record appear near the end of this article.
Early Trading Books That Influenced ICT
In What Trading Books Influenced ICT Early On?, ICT reviews the books, courses, and authors he says shaped his development beginning in the early 1990s. He repeatedly emphasizes that these sources were milestones rather than complete versions of what he later taught. He also discourages viewers from treating the video as a shopping list.
According to ICT, his first exposure to trading came through his uncle. His more formal study began in 1992 after he responded to a classified advertisement and purchased a commodities course from Ken Roberts. At 6:00, he connects the course manual’s one-two-three reversal pattern with the early framework that prompted his thinking about what he calls an “optimal trade entry.” He does not claim that the manual taught his later model in full. Instead, he says its breakout-oriented entry led him to investigate whether an earlier retracement entry could be identified.
How Larry Williams Influenced ICT Trading
ICT describes Larry Williams as his first “real mentor,” although he clarifies later that he had never met Williams. His initial exposure was through a four-tape course identified in the captions as the Futures Millionaire Confidential Trading Course. He says he studied those recordings intensively and then bought Williams’s books.
How I Made One Million Dollars Trading Commodities
At 29:50, ICT introduces Larry Williams’s How I Made One Million Dollars Last Year Trading Commodities. He calls it his favorite book outside the Bible and highlights chapters four through six, while acknowledging that he may not be recalling the chapter numbers perfectly.
ICT says the book gave him hope and encouraged a long-term approach to learning. He contrasts his original expectation (developing over approximately two decades) with promises of immediate riches. He did not accept everything in the book; for example, he rejects its discussion of lunar phases. His endorsement and the book’s trading claims are personal assessments, not independent evidence that its methods are profitable.
Trading Books on Market Structure and Relative Strength
ICT identifies Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading as useful primarily for Larry Williams’s concise treatment of market structure. This discussion begins around 36:40. He says that framework influenced one form of market structure he teaches, while distinguishing it from his later “institutional market structure” interpretation.
At 40:20, he discusses a Williams book identified in the captions as The Secret of Selecting Stocks for Immediate and Substantial Gains. ICT says it influenced his use of cross-market comparisons and what he calls SMT divergence. He also mentions William J. O’Neil’s How to Make Money in Stocks as a complementary resource for stock traders.
Two volumes described as The Definitive Guide to Futures Trading contributed narrower ideas. ICT recalls one chapter on “zero balance” and another on measuring accumulation and distribution in commodities, but he is uncertain which chapter appears in which volume. He says these discussions prompted his own experiments comparing a bar’s open and close with the prior bar’s close and the next open.
Early Trading Lessons on Seasonality
A book called Sure Thing Commodity Trading introduced ICT to seasonal tendencies, according to his account at 54:30. He says some examples concerned markets that no longer existed by the time of the video. The larger influence was the idea that recurring seasonal behavior could be studied across different historical windows. He also credits Larry Williams with directing his attention toward Steve Moore’s seasonal research.
Other Trading Books That Influenced ICT
- Street Smarts: At 1:00:18, ICT highlights the “Turtle Soup,” “Turtle Soup Plus One,” and “Anti” setups. He says the first two helped him conceptualize false breakouts, stop runs, and liquidity around prior extremes. The book’s setup-by-setup format also encouraged him to simplify his process.
- Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards: He singles out interviews with Michael Marcus, Ed Seykota, William J. O’Neil, and Linda Raschke. Raschke’s analogy between reading charts and reading sheet music was especially memorable to him.
- George Angell’s work: ICT says Angell’s material on S&P trading exposed him to intraday analysis, equilibrium, and the older term “price vacuum.” The transcript does not clearly state the relevant book title.
- A Toby Crabel book: Around 1:14:35, ICT says Crabel’s data-heavy work influenced his study of intraday probabilities and the relationship between opening and closing prices. The title is not spoken clearly in the captions.
- The Trading Game by Ryan Jones and Ralph Vince’s books: These shaped ICT’s interest in position sizing and money management. He characterizes Jones as more accessible and Vince as more mathematical. His comments include aggressive theoretical growth scenarios, which should not be read as performance expectations.
ICT’s Final Message About Trading Books
Near 1:22:44, ICT restates the main qualification: these works influenced his development but did not contain his later teachings verbatim. He presents them as prompts for observation, testing, and adaptation rather than ready-made answers.
He also names John Murphy’s Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, but mainly as a reference for understanding conventional technical-analysis logic. Finally, ICT identifies the Bible as his most important source of personal motivation, discipline, stewardship, and perseverance rather than as a technical trading manual.
The educational takeaway is therefore broader than a reading list: ICT attributes different parts of his thinking to different sources (reversal structures, seasonality, market comparisons, intraday probabilities, and money management), while warning that buying many books was expensive and often unproductive. The transcript provides his retrospective interpretation; it does not independently verify the methods, unseen charts, trade results, or profitability.
Resources
- Primary source: What Trading Books Influenced ICT Early On? — The Inner Circle Trader (YouTube, 91:40)
- Books mentioned by ICT: Ken Roberts, Larry Williams, Street Smarts by Linda Raschke and Lawrence Connors, Market Wizards by Jack Schwager, George Angell, Toby Crabel, Ryan Jones (The Trading Game), Ralph Vince — cited as ICT early influences and stepping stones (source: video captions; specific editions not independently verified)
- Note on accuracy: ICTs recollection of his reading history is a personal account. The video captions have not been independently cross-referenced against book records.
