"DON’T SPECULATE. IF YOU DO YOU WILL LOSE"

DON’T SPECULATE. IF YOU DO YOU WILL LOSE. In all of the years that I have been a trader and associated with traders, I have never met a successful speculator. It is impossible to speculate and consistently print large winners. Don’t be a speculator. Be a trader.

"DON’T WORRY ABOUT NEWS. IT’S HISTORY"

DON’T WORRY ABOUT NEWS. IT’S HISTORY. I have never understood why so many electronic traders listen to or watch CNBC,MSNBC, Bloomberg News or FNN all day long. The “talking heads” on these programs know very little about market dynamics and market price action. Very few, if any, have ever even traded. Yet they claim to be experts on everything. Before becoming a “trading and markets expert”. the guy on CNBC reporting hourly from the Bond Pit, was a phone clerk on the trading floor. Obviously this qualifies him to be an expert! He, and others, can provide no utility to you. Treat it for what it really is… entertainment. The fact is: The reporting that you hear on the business programs is “old news”. The story has already been dissected and consumed by the professional market participants long before the “news” has been disseminated. Do not trade off of the reporting. It’s too late.

"DEVELOP A METHODOLOGY AND STICK WITH IT. DON’T CHANGE METHODOLOGIES FROM DAY TO DAY"

DEVELOP A METHODOLOGY AND STICK WITH IT. DON’T CHANGE METHODOLOGIES FROM DAY TO DAY. Write down the specific market prerequisites (setups) that must take place in order for you to make a trade. Doesn't really mater what the methodology is, but you do want to make sure that you have a set of rules, market setups or price action that must appear in order for you to take the trade. You must have a game plan.

It could be as simple as this:
“My metric for everything I look at is the 200-day moving average of closing prices. I’ve seen too many things go to zero, stocks and commodities. The whole trick in investing is: ‘How do I keep from losing everything?’ If you use the 200-day moving average rule, then you get out. You play defense, and you get out.” --PTJ

“The secret to being successful from a trading perspective is to have an indefatigable and an undying and unquenchable thirst for information and knowledge.”

2.   “Intellectual capital will always trump financial capital.”

3.   “Every day I assume every position I have is wrong.”

4.   “Losers average losers.”

5.   “You adapt, evolve, compete or die.”

6.   “Trading is very competitive and you have to be able to handle getting your butt kicked.”

7.   “The whole world is simply nothing more than a flow chart for capital.”

8.   “At the end of the day, the most important thing is how good are you at risk control.”

9.   “Always think of your entry point as last night’s close.”

10.   “I will keep cutting my position size down as I have losing trades. When I am trading poorly, I keep reducing my position size. That way, I will be trading my smallest position size when my trading is worst.”

11.   “Don’t be a hero. Don’t have an ego. Always question yourself and your ability. Don’t ever feel that you are very good. The second you do, you are dead.”

12.   “Markets trend only about 15 percent of the time; the rest of the time they move sideways.”