There is a famous saying about trading the markets;

“I just wait until there is money lying in the corner, and all I have to do is go over there and pick it up.”

I always thought that it was first said by Jim Rodgers in Market Wizards, but someone told me the other day that it was actually Jesse Livermore who said it (or a version of it) first.

I really don’t care who said it, so for the purposes of this post let’s just say it was Joey Heatherton who said it after a two-week sold out run at The Sands.

It’s a good saying, but it’s a little deceptive.  Nothing in the market is that easy.  Even if you see the money sitting there and you go to pick it up, how do you know that it’s not booby-trapped with a napalm grenade, ready to blow your face off and send you writhing away in agony like some flaming blob of melting flesh?

And don’t forget, it’s in the corner.  What happens if you are not paying attention and turn around with your spoils only to be confronted by an angry bear or bull move?  Where you gonna go?  What you gonna do?  You done dropped your pistol when ya busted the window!

Anyway………….

The convoluted non sequitur point I am making here is that if you want to “pick up money,” in addition to being patient, you have to work out all the angles, know the risks, know how you will minimize them, and what your escape plan is if things go bad.  And that is done by taking a “script” for a setup and making it meet certain criteria before you trade it.