22 Trading rules for Traders and Investors

“I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet.”

1)  All successful traders use methods that suit their personality; You are neither Waren Buffett nor George Soros nor Jesse Livermore; Don’t assume you can trade like them.

2)  What the market does is beyond your control; Your reaction to the market, however, is not beyond your control. Indeed, its the ONLY thing you can control.

3)  To be a winner, you have to be willing to take a loss; (The Stop-Loss Breakdown)

4)  HOPE is not a word in the winning Trader’s vocabulary;

5)  When you are on a losing streak — and you will eventually find yourself on one — reduce your position size;

6)  Don’t underestimate the time it takes to succeed as a trader — it takes 10 years to become very good at anything; (There Are No Shortcuts)

7)  Trading is a vocation — not a hobby

8)  Have a business/trading plan; (Write This Down)

9)  Identify your greatest weakness, Be honest — and DEAL with it

10)  There are times when the best thing to do is nothing; Learn to recognize these times (Nothing Doing)

11)  Being a great trader is a process. It’s a race with no finish line.

12)  Other people’s opinions are meaningless to you; Make your own trading decisions
(The Wrong Crowd)

13)  Analyze your past trades. Study what happened to the stocks after you closed the position. Consider your P&L game tapes and go over them the way Vince Lombardi Bill Parcells reviewed past Superbowls

14)  Excessive leverage can knock you out of the game permanently

15)  The Best traders continue to learn — and adapt to changing conditions

16)  Don’t just stand there and let the truck roll over you

17)Being wrong is acceptable — staying wrong is unforgivable (I liked this one! –BMB)

18)  Contain your losses (Protect Your Backside)

19)  Good traders manage the downside; They don’t worry about the upside

20)  Knowing when to get out of a position is as important as when to get in

21)  To excel, you have to put in hard work

22)  Discipline, Discipline, Discipline !