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Trading Lessons

  • Don’t sacrifice your position for fluctuations.
  • Don’t expect the market to end in a blaze of glory. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t expect the tape to be a lecturer. It’s enough to see that something is wrong.
  • Never try to sell at the top. It isn’t wise. Sell after a reaction if there is no rally.
  • Don’t imagine that a market that has once sold at 150 must be cheap at 130.
  • Don’t buck the market trend.
  • Don’t look for the breaks. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t try to make an average from a losing game.
  • Never keep goods that show a loss, and sell those that show a profit. Get out with the least loss, and sit tight for greater profits.

  • Fear: fearful of profit and one acts too soon.
  • Hope: hope for a change in the forces against one.
  • Lack of confidence in ones own judgment.
  • Never cease to do your own thinking.
  • A man must not swear eternal allegiance to either the bear or bull side.
  • The individual fails to stick to facts!
  • People believe what it pleases them to believe.

Amos Hostetter :Invaluable Trading Principles

  1. Try to find a long term trend and ride it up. Stay with the trend and don’t be tempted to grab a quick profit. Patience is one of the most important traits of a trend follower.
  2. Be careful not to be shaken out by market fluctuations. Instead try to sit tight as long as there are no warnings showing up. Prices that come back so that your initial gain halves are not necessarily a reason to sell.
  3. Big wins can only be achieved with major trends. Find them and don’t hesitate to buy at high prices when you may think it is too late. A market is never too high to buy or too low to sell.
  4. Necessary is of course a stop loss near the entry point. A stop is the easiest way to put your capital at work on a trend, because otherwise you are too often and too long stuck in a trading market which goes nowhere or worse in a falling market.
  5. Absolutely forbidden is averaging down or fighting the market trend.
  6. To think that a market is cheaper now after prices came down and therefore must offer a better chance than it did when prices were higher, will put you in the wrong stocks at the wrong times.
  7. Never try to sell at the top. The trend may continue. Sell after a reaction if there is no rally.
  8. On the other hand don’t expect the market to end in a blaze of glory. Look out for warnings.
  9. Tape reading can tell you only that something is wrong. Don’t try to analyze the flow of transactions as the tape shows them in too much detail.
  10. Don’t look for breaks. Look out for warnings.
  11. Pyramid stocks only if the initial investment shows a gain.
  12. Look out for normal market behavior. If a market doesn’t act right, don’t touch it.
  13. If in a bear market a complete demoralization develops suddenly it may be a sign for a starting bull market.
  14. Observation of the market gives the best tips of all. Follow your experience to exploit them, while sticking to facts only.

Amos Hostetter-Trading Wisdom

Amos Hostetter: Trading Dont’s

  • Don’t sacrifice your position for fluctuations.
  • Don’t expect the market to end in a blaze of glory. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t expect the tape to be a lecturer. It’s enough to see that something is wrong.
  • Never try to sell at the top. It isn’t wise. Sell after a reaction if there is no rally.
  • Don’t imagine that a market that has once sold at 150 must be cheap at 130.
  • Don’t buck the market trend.
  • Don’t look for the breaks. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t try to make an average from a losing game.
  • Never keep goods that show a loss, and sell those that show a profit. Get out with the least loss, and sit tight for greater profits.

Amos Hostetter: Dangers in Trading caused by Human Nature

  • Fear: fearful of profit and one acts too soon.
  • Hope: hope for a change in the forces against one.
  • Lack of confidence in ones own judgment.
  • Never cease to do your own thinking.
  • A man must not swear eternal allegiance to either the bear or bull side.
  • The individual fails to stick to facts!
  • People believe what it pleases them to believe.

Amos Hostetter: One Great Trend Trader

Amos Hostetter: Trading Dont’s

  • Don’t sacrifice your position for fluctuations.
  • Don’t expect the market to end in a blaze of glory. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t expect the tape to be a lecturer. It’s enough to see that something is wrong.
  • Never try to sell at the top. It isn’t wise. Sell after a reaction if there is no rally.
  • Don’t imagine that a market that has once sold at 150 must be cheap at 130.
  • Don’t buck the market trend.
  • Don’t look for the breaks. Look out for warnings.
  • Don’t try to make an average from a losing game.
  • Never keep goods that show a loss, and sell those that show a profit. Get out with the least loss, and sit tight for greater profits.

Amos Hostetter: Dangers in Trading caused by Human Nature

  • Fear: fearful of profit and one acts too soon.
  • Hope: hope for a change in the forces against one.
  • Lack of confidence in ones own judgment.
  • Never cease to do your own thinking.
  • A man must not swear eternal allegiance to either the bear or bull side.
  • The individual fails to stick to facts!
  • People believe what it pleases them to believe.

Think about how simple Hostetter’s wisdom appears on the surface. But how many adhere to such principles?

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