Gut feel is very important. Being a successful trader also takes courage; the courage to try, the courage to fail, the courage to succeed, and the courage to keep
on going when the going gets tough.

 If trading is your life, it is a tortuous kind of excitement. But if you are keeping your life in balance, then it is fun. All the successful traders have a balanced life; they have fun outside of trading.

The first rule of trading is that don’t get caught in a situation in which you can lose a great deal of money for reasons you don’t understand.

Place your stops at a point that, if reached, will reasonably indicate that the trade is wrong, not at a point determined primarily by the maximum dollar amount you are will to lose per contract.

A common mistake is to think of the market as a personal nemesis. The market, of course, is totally impersonal; it doesn’t care whether you make money or not.