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Successful Traders Must Have Discipline

  
  Education
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Discipline is paramount for success over the LONG term. Every trader has a limited amount of capital (money) available to trade. The trader without discipline will make trades, be quick take the profit when he is right, and call his trade an investment when he is wrong. 

This action of cutting winners and letting losers run will almost certainly eventually lead to trading capital being wiped out. The natural tendency in humans is to take profits.  Learning to cut losing positions and let winners run is a skill that must be developed. 

 Have you ever caught yourself saying any of the following statements to justify inaction on cutting a losing position?

  •  I am holding on to this trade and hoping it recovers 
  • If I didn’t own it already I would be buying it here
  • I just want to get back to break even and then I will get out
  • The market is wrong

Everyone has said these things at some point in their trading lives, but let me tell you, any time your position requires HOPE it is likely HOPELESS!

If you say I would buy it here and you don’t want to buy more – you may be better off selling what you have!

The market doesn’t know or care what price you bought a position. The market price of a stock is the value of that stock right here, right now!  Even though the market presents opportunities, market pricing is not WRONG. 

While I am not giving buy sell or hold advice, I would strongly recommend that when you find yourself staring at a losing position consider selling it! If you  close it out completely,  you can really make an honest determination when you ask yourself, “Do I REALLY want to own it here?” 

Too often I see traders let their existing positions do the talking for them. Don’t fall into that trap!

Jim Rogers: Here's The Most Important Thing On What Investors Should Do

  
  Education
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I would say one lesson we all need to learn is that after you’ve had a great success, you really should be very worried. Let’s say you sell and say you’ve made 10 times on your money. You should be extremely worried. You should close the curtains, not read, look at the TV, or anything because that’s when you’re full of hubris, arrogance, confidence. You think, “God, this is something easy,” and you’re desperate to jump around to something new. You should do your very best to avoid making another play until you’ve calmed down a lot. Just wait. It’s a very dangerous time for any investor.

Likewise, if you take a huge loss and there’s a big panic and things are dumped on your head because you’re overextended or wrong for whatever reason, calm down, don’t say, “I’m never gonna invest in stocks again or commodities or whatever.” That’s the time you really should be willing to invest again if you can gather together some capital money. The investments can be terribly emotional. You have to figure out a way to control your emotions and deal with your emotions if you’re going to survive in these markets.

My advice is that, most of the time, most investors should do nothing. They should look out the window or go to the beach. You should wait until you see money lying in the corner and all you have to do is go over and pick it up. That’s how most investors should invest. The problem is we all think we need to jump around all the time and be jumping in and out and that’s not good. (more…)

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