Showing results by author "Max Koren" in All Categories

Order Flow for Beginners is an educational introduction to how market activity unfolds beneath price movement. Rather than focusing on outcomes or techniques, this book explores order flow as a way of describing how buyers and sellers interact in real time. It explains how transactions form, how participation changes, and how price responds when agreement shifts. Written in plain, everyday language, this book is designed for readers who are curious about what happens inside markets but want a grounded, non-promissory explanation. Concepts are introduced gradually, defined simply, and ...

Most traders don’t fail because they’re “not smart enough.” They fail because they trade the E-mini S&P 500 (ES) with no structure—no environment filter, no risk framework, and no repeatable execution rules. This book is the antidote. If you’ve ever felt like the ES market moves too fast, stops you out “for no reason,” or punishes you the moment you click—this is your blueprint to trade with the mindset and structure professionals rely on. Inside, you’ll learn how to approach E-mini S&P 500 futures and options the right way: not by predicting the market… but by ...

Technical Trading Mastery Learn Market Structure, Indicators, and Chart Setups with Confidence By Max Koren Most traders don’t fail because they lack information. They fail because they lack structure. Technical Trading Mastery is a professional, framework-driven guide to understanding how markets actually behave—and how disciplined traders make decisions inside uncertainty. This book is not about predictions, shortcuts, or signal-based strategies. It is about building repeatable decision-making skills that apply across stocks, futures, and options. Rather than offering isolated setups ...

Day trading tests more than your strategy—it tests your psychology. Day Trading Psychology explores the mental patterns that can disrupt execution, from bias-driven decision-making to emotional escalation during volatile sessions. Max Koren presents practical, process-focused frameworks to help readers build stronger standards, improve discipline, and reduce rule-breaking under pressure. You’ll learn how to: Spot common mental traps and bias patterns Respond to FOMO, revenge trading, and tilt more effectively Strengthen your routine for planning, execution, and review Build habits that ...

Market makers, liquidity, and short-term price behavior are often misunderstood. Many traders study charts, indicators, and news yet still find price acting in unexpected ways. This book explores why that confusion is so common by examining markets through the lens of liquidity, participation, and market structure rather than prediction. Think Like a Market Maker is an educational study of how price often behaves in modern markets, especially during moments of volatility, false breakouts, and sudden reversals. Instead of offering strategies or instructions, it focuses on interpretation - ...

Swing Trading Foundations and Trend Structure is an educational study of market swings, regimes, volatility, and risk frameworks - written for readers who want clearer language and steadier interpretation when markets change character. Markets move, but the hardest part is often not the movement itself. It is the meaning we assign to it. A quiet pullback can feel like a breakdown. A fast rally can look “obvious” in hindsight. Volatility can change the ruler you measure with - and suddenly the same chart seems to “say” something different. This book focuses on the skill underneath ...

Understanding the Tape: A Beginner’s Guide to Level 2 Market Data is an educational introduction to reading Level 2, market depth, and the order book—so you can better understand how liquidity and order flow behave in real time. Inside, you’ll learn: What Level 2 shows (and what it doesn’t) How bids/asks shift, stack, and thin as price moves How to combine Level 2 with Time & Sales (the tape) for clearer context The role of market makers, ECNs, and common order-book behavior Practical examples and repeatable exercises to help you build pattern recognition This book focuses on market...

0DTE options and same-day expiration options can behave very differently from longer-dated contracts. With little time left, option premiums may respond quickly to small price changes, shifts in implied volatility, and changing liquidity. 0DTE Options Trading Foundations offers a clear, beginner-friendly explanation of these mechanics, with a steady focus on interpretation and risk. Topics include: What 0DTE means and why same-day expiration can feel “compressed” The option contract in plain English, including intrinsic vs extrinsic value Bid, ask, spreads, and why the “price” is ...

Unlock the professional edge in futures trading—without the hype. If you’re tired of guesswork, emotional trades, and inconsistent results, this book delivers the clarity and structure most traders never develop. "How to Trade Stock Index Futures" is a no-fluff, execution-focused guide designed to transform beginners into disciplined operators in the futures market. Written by Max Koren with the voice of a veteran Wall Street trader and the clarity of a performance coach, this book reveals how real professionals approach U.S. index futures—including ES (S&P 500), NQ (Nasdaq 100), RTY ...

ThinkorSwim Scripting for Beginners Unlock the Power of ThinkScript — and Let ChatGPT Help You Do It. By Max Koren Have you ever looked at custom indicators or strategy scripts on ThinkorSwim and thought, “I wish I could build something like that”? You can — and it’s easier than you think. ThinkorSwim Scripting for Beginners is your complete, beginner-friendly guide to learning ThinkScript—the powerful coding language that drives ThinkorSwim’s custom charts, scans, and alerts. Written in plain English and packed with real examples, this book takes you from absolute novice to ...

Understanding Prop Firm Trading Evaluations examines how modern proprietary trading firms design evaluations, manage risk, and monitor participant behavior under tightly defined rules. Rather than focusing on tactics or outcomes, this book explores the structure of prop firm environments themselves. It looks at why evaluations are built around drawdowns, time limits, rule density, and consistency constraints, and how those design choices shape behavior, perception, and pressure. Written in plain English for non-specialists, this book treats proprietary trading evaluations as systems to be ...

VWAP for Beginners provides a clear, calm introduction to Volume Weighted Average Price in intraday markets, with a focus on understanding rather than prediction. This book explains what VWAP measures, how it forms during the trading day, and why it is commonly referenced by market participants. Instead of presenting rules or strategies, this book approaches VWAP as a contextual reference. Readers are guided through how VWAP reflects participation, how time of day influences its behavior, and why the same VWAP line can describe very different sessions. The emphasis is on observation, ...

Options feel confusing for one reason: most traders try to trade them like stocks. They focus on direction—then get blindsided by time decay and implied volatility. That’s when you hear, “Theta crushed you,” or “IV collapsed,” and it sounds like a mystery. It’s not a mystery. It’s exposure. Options Greeks Explained is a practical, beginner-friendly guide that teaches you how options actually behave—so you can stop guessing and start managing trades with a simple, repeatable framework. Inside, you’ll learn how to diagnose any option’s movement using the only three ...

Agricultural Futures Trading is a professional, education-first guide to understanding how grain and soft commodity markets actually work—and how disciplined traders learn to operate within them over time. Unlike books that focus on predictions, indicators, or hype-driven strategies, this book is built around structure, seasonality, participation, and repeatable execution. Agricultural futures behave differently than equities and financial markets because they are rooted in biology, weather, logistics, and production cycles. Traders who fail to understand these realities often struggle ...

Same-day expiration index options (0DTE) are a widely discussed part of modern derivatives markets, especially around SPX index options. Understanding 0DTE SPX Index Options is an educational, plain-English study of how these contracts are structured, how pricing can behave as expiration approaches, and why intraday volatility can feel different when time is measured in hours rather than weeks. Readers may learn about: What “0DTE” means in practice and how the shrinking clock can change option sensitivity Core SPX index option features, including cash settlement and expiration mechanics...

0DTE options strangles, intraday Greeks, liquidity, and implied volatility can look confusing at first glance - especially when time is measured in hours instead of weeks. 0DTE Options Strangles is a text-only, beginner-friendly study that explains what same-day expiration markets often reflect, using plain English and repeatable observation prompts rather than charts, screenshots, or formulas. Inside, readers may learn about how strangles are structured, how option premiums can shift even when price barely moves, and why bid-ask spreads and quote stability can matter as much as the ...

0DTE options credit and debit spreads for beginners, explained in plain English with a contract-first, diagram-free approach. This educational guidebook explores vertical spreads, same-day expiration mechanics, and how option premiums behave as time and uncertainty change. Readers may learn about: What credit spreads and debit spreads are in simple, word-based terms Strikes, widths, and “expiration zones” without payoff charts Intrinsic vs extrinsic value and why 0DTE premiums can shift quickly Delta, gamma, theta, and vega as descriptive sensitivities, not formulas Bid, ask, and ...

0DTE options research in liquid ETFs, SPY, QQQ, and DIA options mechanics, pricing sensitivities, and expiration behavior - this book is a structured study of how same-day options can be observed and documented without hype or promises. It focuses on how implied volatility, skew, term structure, and quote quality can shift intraday, and how a careful notebook can turn those observations into comparable records. Readers may learn about: The core mechanics of 0DTE ETF options, including time-to-expiration effects and settlement considerations Observing implied volatility as a surface: IV ...

0DTE options, intraday liquidity, and inflation shocks have become closely linked topics in modern markets. The 0DTE Options Liquidity Cycle examines how same-day expiration options can interact with rate expectations and shifting liquidity conditions, especially around inflation-driven event minutes. Written in plain English, this book treats markets as a sequence of observable constraints - spreads, depth, volatility repricing, and late-day deadline pressure - rather than a single headline story. Across the open, midday, and close, the market’s “liquidity cycle” can change character...

Gold futures and options are widely discussed but rarely explained in a way that feels clear, grounded, and realistic for beginners. This book takes a calm, educational approach to understanding how gold is traded in modern financial markets through futures and options, without promises, shortcuts, or hype. Gold Futures and Options for Beginners is a descriptive guide to how gold derivatives work, how futures and options differ, and why prices move the way they do. Rather than focusing on predictions or outcomes, the book emphasizes structure, mechanics, and interpretation. It is written ...