1. Thou shalt have a  trading plan
 If you don’t have a plan, get one. What is your approach? What are your  rules? These are questions that you need to answer before you can title  yourself a trader. Creating a plan gives you something to follow, an  outline of where you want to be, and what is required in between.
 2. Thou shalt not trade with emotion

 This includes, fear, greed and lack of discipline. There is no room for it in  this equation. Find a way to get a better handle on it, and or walk away  from it. I can tell you from experience that you will have an impossible  time being successful at trading when making emotional decisions.

 3. Thou shalt embrace losing
 A trader has to fight a lot of expensive enemies within himself. It is  inevitable, it is going to happen, therefore you should plan for it. If I know I am going to lose, I will try and make it easier on myself in  anticipation. Please do not judge the success of a trader by the win loss  percentage they have. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about making  money.
 4. Thou shalt know how to control losses
 As a trader, you will have many losing trades. The idea is that if you  keep them small, you give your winners a chance to outpace them. If you  can successfully do this, you will be a profitable trader. Identify places
 on a chart that you know prices should not go in order to take your loss  (broken support/resistance for example).
 5. Thou shalt not turn a trade into an investment
 If you didn’t chuckle after you read this rule, then perhaps you need to  revisit rules 1,2,3 and 4 again. Have you turned a trade into something  longer in duration than expected? Do you remember why you did this?
 Sure…it was because the stock went against me and I figured “It will  come back.” When you feel the need to stay in a trade until you are right, something is wrong. Know where you are getting out before you get in.
 STICK TO THE PLAN!
 6. Thou shalt remember: Tips are for waiters

 Jesse Livermore said it best…”The fruits of your success will be in direct  ratio to the honesty and sincerity of your own effort in keeping your own  records, doing your own thinking and reaching your own conclusions”
 He goes on to further state…”The average man doesn’t wish to be told  that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically  which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for
 nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn’t even wish to have to  think.” Wouldn’t you agree? It is so easy to take the stock pick from  someone assuming they have done all the work for you. Truth is, they  probably know less than you. This includes commentary you listen to on  the television, something you’ve read on a website, or discovered on this  crappy blog. My point is… do your own research, trade your own  trades, and be original in your analysis and activities.
 7. Thou shalt repeat after me “A gain is not a gain until you  sell”
 Kenny Rogers said “You never count your money when you’re sitting at  the table.” That profit is not realized, so don’t mentally take inventory of  it until the trade is closed and you have realized that gain. This will create
 emotion, and you will stay in trades for the numbers rather than the  logical reasons.
 8. Thou shalt not know too little about too much 

 I guess it is hard not to in your position. You are learning to trade. But  you need to try to differentiate what you know, and what you are  learning. You also must remember that the basics are called basics for a  reason. They are the foundation we stand on. Next time you overrule a  trend because of a candle formation, or something silly like that, remember that discipline trumps conviction. No matter how strongly you  feel that the “*Double Bottom Outside Inverted Triangle Reversal  Pattern” will result in a failure of the beautiful uptrend the stock has been
 trading in, you must defer back to the principles of discipline when you  trade. Discipline will allow you to trade tomorrow, whereas the gut  feeling of a new trader will send you to the poor house later today.
 *- This is not an actual pattern, so please don’t e-mail me and ask where  to learn more about it. Just think of it as an exaggeration of a funny role  we have all played.
 9. Thou shalt trade with the trend

 It takes a trader a long time to learn all the lessons of all his mistakes. They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to  the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right  side. Try to pick a style that you can easily adapt to a changing market. At times the “motion of the ocean” will differ and different approaches  are warranted. It is at these times you need to be able to recognize the  changes and adapt accordingly.

 10. Thou shalt take the easy opportunities

 You don’t need to trade everything. There are opportunities that present  themselves everywhere and everyday in this market. Just remember two  things: Number 1: Its not necessary to play every move, its only  necessary to have a high winning percentage on the trades you choose to  make. Number 2: Don’t go for the trades that don’t totally jump out at  you as an easy analysis. I call these the “Easy Trades.” The trades where  you are not 100% sold and convinced of what is going to happen, stay  away from them.