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9 Trading Rules

1. Move: Always be flexible.  The beauty of the stock market is polygamy is perfectly acceptable.  Never get married to a particular position or a particular strategy.   The market is complex, dynamic and always changing.  Learn to change with it if necessary.

2.  Plan de Vida: Always invest with a plan.  Have strict rules and a machine-like approach.

3.  Downshift: Pulling yourself out of the game when you’re not certain will help you from making debilitating mistakes.  When in doubt get out.

4. 80% Rule: Never let more than 20% of your portfolio put 80% of your portfolio at risk.  Position sizing is key to risk management.

5. Hope is a 4 letter word: Holding and hoping is not a strategy.  Cut your losses, learn from it and never look back.   Never ever get into something you can’t get out of.

6. Understand your risks: You can’t avoid black swans, but they don’t have to rip your face off.  Understand your risks and your rewards.

7. Goals and accountability: Set goals and keep track of your performance.  You are responsible for your own decisions.  Own your mistakes.

8. Psychology: Learn to control your emotions and understand the emotions of those around you.  Always remember what General Patton said: “if everyone is thinking the same then someone isn’t thinking”.   Also the famous Buffett quote: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

9. Your Tribe: Always remember that there is more to life than investing.  Don’t live to invest.  Invest to live.  Being the richest man/woman in the graveyard is worthless if there isn’t anyone to bury you there.

Follow Trends

From Richard Russell:

Primary trends can be likened to the power of the ocean tides. Build a sand castle against the ocean tide, and the first wave will wash your castle away. Build a cement wall against the tide, and in a matter of years the cement wall will be reduced to sand and rubble…primary trends, one way or another, go to completion. Or to put it another way, a primary trend will go to completion, no matter what..I said from the beginning, “let the bear market fully express itself.” One way or another it will express itself regardless of the wishes of Washington or the Fed or the Treasury. Interfering with the primary trend will just drag out the situation and make it worse — it will be turning a menace into a Frankenstein…According to Dow Theory, neither the depth nor the duration of a bear market can be predicted in advance. In this bear market, the Dow could fall to 4,000 or 400. I honestly don’t know the answer. In my experience, primary trend tend to carry further than anyone expects. I do know this — yesterday the following broke below their June lows — the Dow, the Transports, the NYSE Composite (which includes ALL NYSE stocks), the S&P Composite, the NASDAQ and the Russell 2000. Any way you look at it, that’s bad action. Maybe just as bad, new lows on the NYSE surged to 164. Hundreds of stocks are breaking down, and even more are hovering just above their 52-week lows. The lower depths of this market are opening up like a giant graveyard. It is said that in a big bear market, stocks return to their original homes — Wall Street.”

Can it happen? Yes. Does anyone know for sure? No. Follow trends.

9 Trading Rules

1. Move: Always be flexible.  The beauty of the stock market is polygamy is perfectly acceptable.  Never get married to a particular position or a particular strategy.   The market is complex, dynamic and always changing.  Learn to change with it if necessary.

2.  Plan de Vida: Always invest with a plan.  Have strict rules and a machine-like approach.

3.  Downshift: Pulling yourself out of the game when you’re not certain will help you from making debilitating mistakes.  When in doubt get out.

4. 80% Rule: Never let more than 20% of your portfolio put 80% of your portfolio at risk.  Position sizing is key to risk management.

5. Hope is a 4 letter word: Holding and hoping is not a strategy.  Cut your losses, learn from it and never look back.   Never ever get into something you can’t get out of.

6. Understand your risks: You can’t avoid black swans, but they don’t have to rip your face off.  Understand your risks and your rewards.

7. Goals and accountability: Set goals and keep track of your performance.  You are responsible for your own decisions.  Own your mistakes.

8. Psychology: Learn to control your emotions and understand the emotions of those around you.  Always remember what General Patton said: “if everyone is thinking the same then someone isn’t thinking”.   Also the famous Buffett quote: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

9. Your Tribe: Always remember that there is more to life than investing.  Don’t live to invest.  Invest to live.  Being the richest man/woman in the graveyard is worthless if there isn’t anyone to bury you there

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