Classic Trading Rules for the Modern Trader
Recently A
member of Silicon Investor
posted these Clasic Rules.
Classic Rules of Trading by
Linda Bradford Rascke
Time Tested Classic Trading
Rules for the Modern Trader to
Live By.
A senior trader collected these
rules from classic trading
literature throughout the
twentieth century. They
obviously withstand the age-old
test of time.
I'm sure most everybody knows
these truisms in their hearts,
but this list is nicely edited
and makes a good read.
2. Keep records of your trading results.
3. Keep a positive attitude, no matter how much you lose.
4. Don't take the market home.
5. Continually set higher trading goals.
6. Successful traders buy into bad news and sell into good news.
7. Successful traders are not afraid to buy high and sell low.
8. Successful traders have a well-scheduled planned time for studying the markets.
9. Successful traders isolate themselves from the opinions of others.
10. Continually strive for patience, perseverance, determination, and rational action.
11. Limit your losses - use stops!
12. Never cancel a stop loss order after you have placed it!
13. Place the stop at the time you make your trade.
14. Never get into the market because you are anxious because of waiting.
15. Avoid getting in or out of the market too often.
16. Losses make the trader studious - not profits. Take advantage of every loss to improve your knowledge of market action.
17. The most difficult task in speculation is not prediction but self-control. Successful trading is difficult and frustrating. You are the most important element in the equation for success.
18. Always discipline yourself by following a pre-determined set of rules.
19. Remember that a bear market will give back in one month what a bull market has taken three months to build.
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Limit Your
Risk
Only trade with monies you can afford to lose. Keep those retirement and college funds where they are.
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Never Gamble
If you want to gamble go to a casino. Remember the house rule; you lose. A fool and his money are soon parted.
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20. Don't ever
allow a big winning trade to turn
into a loser.
21. Stop yourself out if
the market moves against you 20%
from your peak profit point.You must
have a program, you must know your
program, and you must follow your
program.
22. Expect and accept losses
gracefully. Those who brood over
losses always miss the next
opportunity, which more than likely
will be profitable.
23. Split your profits right down
the middle and never risk more than
50% of them again in the market.
24. The key to successful trading is
knowing yourself and your stress
point.
25. The difference between winners
and losers isn't so much native
ability as it is discipline
exercised in avoiding mistakes.
26. In trading as in fencing there
are the quick and the dead.
27. Speech may be silver but silence
is golden. Traders with the golden
touch do not talk about their
success.
28. Dream big dreams and think tall.
Very few people set goals too high.
A man becomes what he thinks about
all day long.
29. Accept failure as a step towards
victory.
30. Have you taken a loss? Forget it
quickly. Have you taken a profit?
Forget it even quicker! Don't let
ego and greed inhibit clear thinking
and hard work.
31. One cannot do anything about
yesterday. When one door closes,
another door opens. The greater
opportunity always lies through the
open door.
32. The deepest secret for the
trader is to subordinate his will to
the will of the market. The market
is truth as it reflects all forces
that bear upon it. As long as he
recognizes this he is safe. When he
ignores this, he is lost and doomed.
33. It's much easier to put on a
trade than to take it off.
34. If a market doesn't do what you
think it should do, get out.
35. Beware of large positions that
can control your emotions. Don't be
overly aggressive with the market.
Treat it gently by allowing your
equity to grow steadily rather than
in bursts.
36. Never add to a losing position.
37. Beware of trying to pick tops or
bottoms.
38. You must believe in yourself and
your judgment if you expect to make
a living at this game.
39. In a narrow market there is no
sense in trying to anticipate what
the next big movement is going to be
- up or down.
40. A loss never bothers me after I
take it. I forget it overnight. But
being wrong and not taking the loss
- that is what does the damage to
the pocket book and to the soul.
41. Never volunteer advice and never
brag of your winnings.
42. Of all speculative blunders,
there are few greater than selling
what shows a profit and keeping what
shows a loss.
43. Standing aside is a position.
44. It is better to be more
interested in the market's reaction
to new information than in the piece
of news itself.
45. If you don't know who you are,
the markets are an expensive place
to find out.
46. In the world of money, which is
a world shaped by human
behavior, nobody has the foggiest
notion of what will happen in the
future. Mark that word - Nobody!
Thus the successful trader does not
base moves on what supposedly will
happen but reacts instead to what
does happen.
47. Except in unusual circumstances,
get in the habit of taking your
profit too soon. Don't torment
yourself if a trade continues
winning without you. Chances are it
won't continue long. If it does,
console yourself by thinking of all
the times when liquidating early
reserved gains that you would have
otherwise lost.
48. When the ship starts to sink,
don't pray - jump!
49. Lose your opinion - not your
money.
50. Assimilate into your very bones
a set of trading rules that works
for you.