Do I need to buy Al's books, and/or the video trading course?

Thanks for your enquiry. The video course is a totally separate product that goes beyond the books. Al’s original book, the blue one, was very popular but difficult to read so that Al then wrote his Trading Price Action trilogy to make his content easier to learn.

Al then decided to create a video course (the original 2012 version) to go along with the books so that traders who learn better from video could learn his stuff. But the course was designed as standalone and traders did not have to buy his books. Many do of course, and having both is still a popular choice.

Al’s current video course is a complete rewrite of old course, and adds lots of new stuff that the books and old course does not cover. It also uses animation to better show off content for effective learning. This new course and its added material has been prompted by the many questions Al has received over the years in his trading room, on site, and from his book readership.

So, if you learn Ok with video, best to stick to online course. No need to buy books. If you learn better from books, you can buy them first if preferred, and consider the video course later when ready. The video course will consolidate your book learning and add the newer stuff discussed.

Here's a video from Al himself:
Should I buy the books or trading course (videos)?

From my personal experience I'd suggest to watch the course first and them read the books. I bought books years ago but could not understand go past first 10-20 pages, they are just too difficult to grasp, mostly because Al throws different definitions at you without introducing them to the reader, like "here's a parabolic wedge" but as a beginner you don't have a single idea what it is and what's the purpose of it. HOWEVER! After watching the whole course I found books to be a great fountain of knowledge, there's a glossary and you can always find something very quick and enjoy reading it from the comfort of your sofa. I'd highly suggest finish the whole course first (might take you few months to properly understand it) and then buy the books and use them from time to time.

@richardhk I had the books initially but soon was overwhelmed, until after completed the video course.  Now the 3 books are much easier to digest.  I went back to watch the videos time and time again but often use the books as a reference to consolidated the training materials.  

Good information Vincent, thanks for adding that.

Yes, the books are a useful reference after spending enough time with videos. Good to just get away from our screens now and again for a good old-fashioned read!

@basileus  Yes, agree 100% As noted above to Vincent, it is great to get away from our screens, after having completed video course, and enjoy reading those incredibly rich and informative "Trading price action..." 3 books that Al wrote!

I tried to read the book(s) first, but decided to go with the online course instead. Now that I’m done with the online course, I also find the book(s) much easier to digest. 

Question - is the original book still up to date, or would I miss out on key pieces of information by not reading the newer trilogy?

I tried to read the book(s) first, but decided to go with the online course instead. Now that I’m done with the online course, I also find the book(s) much easier to digest. 

Question - is the original book still up to date, or would I miss out on key pieces of information by not reading the newer trilogy?

Hi Albert, the 3 new books added clarity and new material given their length, but essentially a rewrite of the original book. So if you are comfortable with first book, and completed video course, you do not really need the new books unless you are really Ok with, and keen on reading. Many traders find repeating video course helps a lot and easier to absorb the material.

Hi I am a new comer.  I have done the 3 books.  Would like to know what will be the most effective way to start the video course then?  Any hints? 

Thank you very much. 

I would recommend going through the video course slowly and drawing out concepts as you watch them. I watched them through and obviously didn't retain a lot. Then I read the books and still needed more. Now I'm going through the video course again and I'm starting to see the hard work pay off. If I could do it all over, I would just watch the video course once through very slowly and draw out each concept as I watched them.

From the personal experience

Have the bar-by-bar book for 3 years with the magnifying glass next to it. Picking up this book and hold in the hands made me feel more intelligent already 😮 

For the most part things didn't register cause of the glossary, terminology, the new field and so much of other things.

However now since last two month when subscribing to the BTC - it's the breath of fresh air. 

But of course visuals in the BTC course would be my preference to start with, however glad that it didn't 🥳  

This may not be the most popular opinion, but if you consider yourself at a fairly advance level, then it may be best to just use the original blue book. It has everything you need. Then jump to old webinar recordings. Trade the day on sim, at 2x speed, then compare your read with the webinar recording watching at about 1.5x speed. This takes about 6 hrs of work per session. 

To make learning more specific, you can also work on systems based on the principles you have learned from the book, then trade those systems (instead of 100% discretionary), use webinar to improve your context understanding on how and when to use it to filter out the signals. 

Eventually, your goal should be to come up with  systems tailormade for your personality, encyclopedia based on your patterns and day structures based on your classifications. They all are inspired by brooks, but customized for your taste and hence more useful to you. 

Study the video course.  That is what I am doing.  It is clarifying many things from retail.  Now, I am looking to go to review of the day for ES, etc.  Hopefully, I will have opportunities to view the live trading where I will observe what I have studied in live action before I purchase it.