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8 Trading Psychology Quotes

Your biggest enemy, when trading, is within yourself. Success will only come when you learn to control your emotions. Edwin Lefevre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923) offers advice that still applies today.

  1. CautionExcitement (and fear of missing an opportunity) often persuade us to enter the market before it is safe to do so. After a down-trend a number of rallies may fail before one eventually carries through. Likewise, the emotional high of a profitable trade may blind us to signs that the trend is reversing.
  2. PatienceWait for the right market conditions before trading. There are times when it is wise to stay out of the market and observe from the sidelines.
  3. ConvictionHave the courage of your convictions: Take steps to protect your profits when you see that a trend is weakening, but sit tight and don’t let fear of losing part of your profit cloud your judgment. There is a good chance that the trend will resume its upward climb. (more…)

Control Your Emotions

1. Caution.

Excitement (and fear of missing an opportunity) often persuade us to enter the market before it is safe to do so. After a down-trend a number of rallies may fail before one eventually carries through. Likewise, the emotional high of a profitable trade may blind us to signs that the trend is reversing.

2. Patience.

Wait for the right market conditions before trading. There are times when it is wise to stay out of the market and observe from the sidelines.

3. Conviction.

Have the courage of your convictions: Take steps to protect your profits when you see that a trend is weakening, but sit tight and don’t let fear of losing part of your profit cloud your judgment. There is a good chance that the trend will resume its upward climb.

4. Detachment.

Concentrate on the technical aspects rather than on the money. If your trades are technically correct, the profits will follow.

Stay emotionally detached from the market. Avoid getting caught up in the short-term excitement. Screen-watching is a tell-tale sign: if you continually check prices or stare at charts for hours it is a sign that you are unsure of your strategy and are likely to suffer losses.

5. Focus

Focus on the longer time frames and do not try to catch every short-term fluctuation. The most profitable trades are in catching the large trends. (more…)

The Psychology Of Market Timing

The biggest enemy, when market timing the stock market via mutual funds, ETF’s, even individual stocks (or in any trading for that matter), is within ourselves. Success is possible only when we learn to control our emotions.

Edwin Lefevre’s “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” (1923) offers advice that still applies today:

Caution Excitement (and fear of missing an opportunity) often persuades us to enter the market before it is safe to do so. After a down trend a number of rallies may fail before one eventually carries through. Likewise, the emotional high of a profitable trade may blind us to signs that the trend is reversing.

It is important to follow a tried and true timing strategy that puts you in the right position for established trends, and also gets you out of failed trends quickly to protect capital. Excitement results in losses more often than not.

Patience Wait for the right market conditions. There are times when it is wise to stay out of the market and observe from the sidelines. (more…)

Trading Psychology

Your biggest enemy, when trading, is within yourself. Success will only  come when you learn to control your emotions. Edwin Lefevre’s

 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923) offers advice that still applies  today.

 Caution
 Excitement (and fear of missing an opportunity) often persuade us to enter the market  before it is safe to do so. After a down-trend a number of rallies may fail before one  eventually carries through. Likewise, the emotional high of a profitable trade may blind  us to signs that the trend is reversing.

 Patience
 Wait for the right market conditions before trading. There are times when it is wise to  stay out of the market and observe from the sidelines.

 Conviction
 Have the courage of your convictions: Take steps to protect your profits when you see  that a trend is weakening, but sit tight and don’t let fear of losing part of your profit  cloud your judgment. There is a good chance that the trend will resume its upward  climb.

 Detachment
 Concentrate on the technical aspects rather than on the money. If your trades are  technically correct, the profits will follow.

 Stay emotionally detached from the market. Avoid getting caught up in the short-term  excitement. Screen-watching is a tell-tale sign: if you continually check prices or stare at  charts for hours it is a sign that you are unsure of your strategy and are likely to suffer  losses.

 Focus
 Focus on the longer time frames and do not try to catch every short-term fluctuation.  The most profitable trades are in catching the large trends.

 Expect the unexpected
 Investing involves dealing with probabilities ? not certainties. No one can predict the  market correctly every time. Avoid gamblers? logic.

 Average up – not down
 If you increase your position when price goes against you, you are liable to compound  your losses. When price starts to move it is likely to continue in that direction. Rather  increase your exposure when the market proves you right and moves in your favor.

 Limit your losses
 Use stop-losses to protect your funds. When the stop loss is triggered, act immediately 
 – don’t hesitate.

 The biggest mistake you can make is to hold on to falling stocks, hoping for a recovery.  Falling stocks have a habit of declining way below what you expected them to.  Eventually you are forced to sell, decimating your capital.

 Human nature being what it is, most traders and investors ignore these  rules when they first start out. It can be an expensive lesson.

 Control your emotions and avoid being swept along with the crowd. Make consistent  decisions based on sound technical analysis.

10 Great Quotes of Jesse Livermore

“Do not anticipate and move without market confirmation—being a little late in your trade is your insurance that you are right or wrong.” -Jesse LivermoreJL-ASR

“The good speculators always wait and have patience, waiting for the market to confirm their judgment.” -Jesse Livermore

“{Limit} interest in too many stocks at one time.  It is much easier to watch a few than many.” -Jesse Livermore

“Experience has proved to me that the real money made in speculating has been: “IN COMMITMENTS IN A STOCK OR COMMODITY SHOWING A PROFIT RIGHT FROM THE START. ” -Jesse Livermore

“As long as a stock is acting right, and the market is right, do not be in a hurry to take a profit. You know you are right, because if you were not, you would have no profit at all. Let it ride and ride along with it. It may grow into a very large profit, and as long as the “action of the market does not give you any cause to worry,” have the courage of your convictions and stay with it.” -Jesse Livermore

“It is foolhardy to make a second trade, if your first trade shows you a loss. ” “Never average losses. ” Let that thought be written indelibly upon your mind.” -Jesse Livermore

“One should never sell a stock, because it seems high-priced.” -Jesse Livermore

“Profits always take care of themselves but losses never do. ” The speculator has to insure himself against considerable losses by taking the first small loss. In so doing, he keeps his account in order so that at some future time, when he has a constructive idea, he will be in a position to go into another deal, taking on the same amount of stock as he had when he was wrong.” -Jesse Livermore
“It is significant that a large part of a market movement occurs in the last forty-eight hours of a play, and that is the most important time to be in it.” -Jesse Livermore

“A speculator should make it a rule each time he closes out a successful deal to take one-half of his profits and lock this sum up in a safe deposit box. The only money that is ever taken out of Wall Street by speculators is the money they draw out of their accounts after closing a successful deal.” -Jesse Livermore

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