rss

20 Lessons From Stock Market Wizards

3994-1Most of you have probably heard of this book and some may have read it. For the benefit of those who have not read it or heard of it, Stock Market Wizards is basically a book that consists of interviews with 15 top stock traders in America. These top traders come from a myriad of backgrounds and have varied interests- from mathematician, historian, scientist, to those with an interest in photography and even farming. But they have quite a few things in common when it comes to trading:
DISCIPLINE
LOSS CONTROL
HARD WORK

Most of the traders interviewed were quite forthcoming, but a few were reluctant to talk about their strategies (even past strategies that worked but is now no longer used) for fear that disclosure would render its effectiveness. Of the 15 traders, only Mark Cook and John Bender are options trader. By the way, Mark Cook’s story is one of my favourite and he is also the guy that likes to farm.
I am interested to read about these traders, not simply because they are top traders, but also because many of them encountered major failures and lost tons of money before they become successful in trading. The path to success is never easy and this book really keeps me inspired. I think in future if I meet with setbacks in my trading journey, This is 4th time ,I had completed reading this book.

Here’s my 20 lessons from Stock Market Wizards (more…)

Lessons From The Wizards

One of the first books I read in this business oh-so many years ago was Stock Market Wizards. It had a profound impact on my thinking about trading, psychology, risk, capital preservation, etc.

Sometime ago, I came across a good discussion of the lessons from the book at Simply Options Trading. What follows is my edited adaptation of those rules he derived from Stock Market Wizards:

  1. All successful traders use methods that suit their personality; You are neither Waren Buffett nor George Soros nor Jesse Livermore; Don’t assume you can trade like them.

 What the market does is beyond your control; Your reaction to the market, however, is not beyond your control. Indeed, its the ONLY thing you can control.

 To be a winner, you have to be willing to take a loss; (The Stop-Loss Breakdown)

 HOPE is not a word in the winning Trader’s vocabulary;

 When you are on a losing streak — and you will eventually find yourself on one — reduce your position size;

 Don’t underestimate the time it takes to succeed as a trader — it takes 10 years to become very good at anything; (There Are No Shortcuts)

 Trading is a vocation — not a hobby (more…)

Lessons from the Wizards

All successful traders use methods that suit their personality; You are neither Waren Buffett nor George Soros nor Jesse Livermore; Don’t assume you can trade like them.

What the market does is beyond your control; Your reaction to the market, however, is not beyond your control. Indeed, its the ONLY thing you can control.

To be a winner, you have to be willing to take a loss; (The Stop-Loss Breakdown)

HOPE is not a word in the winning Trader’s vocabulary;

When you are on a losing streak — and you will eventually find yourself on one — reduce your position size;

Don’t underestimate the time it takes to succeed as a trader — it takes 10 years to become very good at anything; (There Are No Shortcuts)

Trading is a vocation — not a hobby

Have a business/trading plan

Identify your greatest weakness, Be honest — and DEAL with it

There are times when the best thing to do is nothing; Learn to recognize these times
(Nothing Doing)

Being a great trader is a process. It’s a race with no finish line.

Other people’s opinions are meaningless to you; Make your own trading decisions
(The Wrong Crowd)

Analyze your past trades. Study what happened to the stocks after you closed the position. Consider your P&L game tapes and go over them the way Vince Lombardi Bill Parcells reviewed past Superbowls

Excessive leverage can knock you out of the game permanently

The Best traders continue to learn — and adapt to changing conditions

Don’t just stand there and let the truck roll over you

Being wrong is acceptable — staying wrong is unforgivable

Contain your losses (Protect Your Backside)

Good traders manage the downside; They don’t worry about the upside

Wall street research reports are biased

Knowing when to get out of a position is as important as when to get in

To excel, you have to put in hard work

Discipline, Discipline, Discipline !

The Tortoise and The Hare

The job of a trader is to make good risk / reward decisions over and over.

To get better and better at doing this over time. 

The cash will follow. 

If you are only about the money your longevity, in my humble opinion is limited.

One danger about only focussing on the $$ is that you push it too hard in the quest. The risk is burning out or blowing up your account.  We’ve all seen or heard of traders who break down under the pressure that they’ve put themselves under to hit their monetary target or who have swung for the fences so hard that they have destroyed their account.  Occasionally these traders fly through the finish line in magnificent style.

On the other hand:

If you love the process that you take to define the good risk / reward trades and the execution of them then you are likely to be a success. (more…)

ARE YOU SMART?

SMARTTalking about goals. Having goals in trading is more than important, because at the end of the day you have to see if you are still on track or if you lost focus. There will be days that bring you closer to the status you want to obtain and there are days which are bringing you nowhere. But how do you know which type of day you have just had? By having goals.
To define goals that motivate you and really guide you, you should use a formula that helps creating the right goals.
It is called SMART, which stands for 
S pecific, 
M easurable, 
A ttainable, 
R ealistic, 
T ime phased.
Your goal needs to be specific; you have to know what you want to reach. (more…)