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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.

SIMPLIFY

simplifyWhen we follow a standardized process for trade execution, we help negate the impact that emotions can have on that process.  And when we create a set of rules within which is a subset of rules that allow for less mechanical, more intuitive management of our trades, we can potentially realize additional profits from those intangible insights into market direction without over-exposing our account to risk.  Here is how it works:

  S – Scan your charts .  Create a “Watch List” to help manage your inventory of trading opportunities.

I – Identify a high probability set up.    

 M – Map out the trade’s entry point, stop-loss exit point, and profit exit point. 

P – Pull the trigger.  By systematizing the process as we are talking about here, the anxiety associated with executing a trade is greatly reduced.  Instead of focusing on whatever issues keep you from pulling the trigger, your focus is on following a procedure, a set of instructions.  Mapping out and understanding exactly what our risk is also reduces the anxiety of entering a trade.    

 L – Let the market do its thing.  It’s not very often that you won’t have to take some heat on a trade.  It’s a great feeling when a trade goes in your favor immediately and stays that way.  But that’s the exception and not the rule.  As a good friend of mine would say, “Let it breathe!”  (more…)

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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