the dominant principle

I actually heard this one first from a rap song, not from advertising:

"You got to be in it to win"

...because I spent(sometimes still do) a lot of my time charting out perfect setups, outlining targets....and then, 2-500 pips later, seeing them hit, while being out of the market

I.e. you can't be afraid to risk your money(=put on your trade) if you want to make more.
If there's a valid setup you have to take it, if there's only noise you mustn't.


Phil's adage is pretty important, too. Market can turn on a dime after finishing a retrace e.g. and being able to go from "the AUDUSD needs to die" back to "oh wait it's still in an uptrend, I need to buy buy buy" like a good traitor guerilla is sometimes not easy.

I also still believe it's smarter to be in a trade at/near the beginning of a move rather than at/near the end.
Maybe "I'd rather be in early and get out late, than be in late and get out early"?
Makes for a good party slogan, too. Nooooooo not political parties..although they seem to like doing that, too...

Oh, this one just came to me, very important:

"Trade the what, not the why." (a big nyer to all you FA people! LOL)

Just rephrasing "trade what you see, not what you think", but hey, it sounded catchy and it works ;p

For more ideas see the giant tail that is my sig

I'm not sure, but I think by "protecting capital" he meant trading sensibly and intelligently. Like a boxer knowing the importance of staying strong and alive long enough to win the title. The fact that he has to be in the ring swinging is a given.

I live in the North Country and all of us up here agree with your bias on colored snow.

Cheers
Bill

Just Win Baby - Art Shell

Even though the Raiders havent won anything in the last 20 or more years.

I like, "Be like water."

It reminds me that we trade in an ever changing environment where countless factors influence chart information feedback, everything that we believe to be, based on what it is "now", can become false in 5 minutes when natural change takes place.

And also, that no setup no matter how perfect is valid until proven so by producing a profitable trade. Since we can't individually influence what is happening we should avoid trying to "control" and rather just adapt to that which is predominant...

I use the analogy of a great battle; one in which we are too incapable of participating due to our handicapped or obsolete weapons, but smart enough to understand by the sheer sight of the mass, who is winning and who is loosing, thusly who remains on the battle field. Our aim is not to jump in a light-sabre fight with a billy goat stick and get slaughtered, but just wait secretly... hide in a bush and then change clothes to match the winning side once the bloodshed is done, smear some blood on our face, let out a few artificial battle cries and victory cheers, then take a whistled stroll to better riches.

Regards,
E. Lang

"It's just another trade"

No trade is special and should be accorded special money management or treatment. When a trade is done, it's done and time to look for the next one.
Always, but always stick to the trading plan and absolutley the money management. The trading may make you successful, the money management will make you rich.

So, Life and trading is a Roller Coaster, enjoy the ride.

"I am trading to make money and not to have fun or excitement"

Slow trading is boring and profitable.

He who pick bottom get stinky finger.

The old saying: believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.

i like this one too! its in my top 5 at least!

agreed, and at one time this was my mantra too. but after i experienced the "it takes a 100% gain to come back from a 50% loss" a couple times for myself, i realized the real key to trading is to protect capital. and over the years this has become the dominant principle upon which every trading decision i make is based.

btw, im not saying i hate to lose a trade or anything like that. i feel the same when i win or lose any single trade. what i mean here is that every decision i make in trading, i always consider the loss aspect first. i call this having "respect for risk".

How long have you been trading???????

wasn't that Bruce Lee?

agree merlin, in fact an interesting topic for a discussion i think.

Better to be wrong about the trend continuing once or twice than to be wrong about it ending every day.

Here's one I learned decades ago from my First Sergeant and then read it in one of the Market Wizards books. I think of this all the time and even talked about it today with a couple of guys.

The most comfortable thing is rarely the correct thing to do.

That I'd actually disagre with(depending on interpretation).

What's more hard to do than sit around, be comfortable, waste time and wait for that trade?

The correct thing to do to make profit is usually not to do anything.

Depending on how you live, that's usually pretty darn comfortable

It's also really simple and comfortable to have clean charts, trade one direction and only a few times.
Putting correct = profitable, that'd be that.
And yet it's usually hardest.

Mark Douglas "Trading in the Zone" - Chapter 7
"In what way does a trader have to learn how to be rigid and flexible at the same time?
The answer is: We have to be rigid in our RULES and flexible in our EXPECTATIONS"


This one really hit home to me. How many times did I sit in front of the market, breaking my own rules because I just KNEW the market would eventually turn around and go in my direction...only to be left licking the wounds of massive losses and regrets....beating myself over the head for not sticking to my rules in the first place....which were designed to protect me from thos massive losses and regrets. What a horrible circle to be in!!

This one was my sig for a while and credit goes to a platoon sergeant we had:
As a famous person once said (I forgot which one, probably me): "As a man of responsibility, you take charge and damn the charges".

Here was a rule that helped me a lot in the beginning (read it somewhere, cannot remember where):
If taking somebody else's advice leads you to a world of problems, don't blame them. It was their advice, but it was your decision.

i love that one SL

not sure i would agree that sitting around NOT trading is comfortable though boredom is often very uncomfortable if you ask me

carrying on from that, what used to be really hard for me was buying tops - euro just hit 1.4520 - how hard would it be right now for you to buy Euro?

I know for the most it would be very hard to take the trade at all time highs, but that's what trend followers do - otherwise they would never breakout

Was it not Jesse Livermore that said "Man who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon"