To be a skilled trader you have to endure a lot of losses first and learn from your experiences, but one advise that is always very effective in knowing where prices will go is watching out for news and latest economic calendars.
The truth is that you don't have to subject yourself to lots of losses to become a skillful trader as the best way to learn a thing is from other people's experiences, wait to learn from your experience might end up a fatal experiment. Good news is that there are many useful sites and resources online and that are even free to get you on your way to successful trading only time and patience is highly needed, unfortunately so many people are having them in short supply
While I certainly agree that it is better to learn from other people's mistakes and experiences, but it is rarely the case. And what is more distressing, people typically don't make the same mistake twice. It is usually three or more times, while some people can learn it only the hard way, very much like in gambling, and some cannot learn at all. Books can be helpful if they suggest specific techniques, strategies (which are mostly useless, anyway), or explain in detail such intricate financial assets like futures, options and swaps. Other than that, books are pretty much useless too, primarily because they tend to complicate the matters beyond what is actually required for a wannabe trader...
After all, the authors of such books have to write about something on two or three hundred pages