5)YOUR BIGGEST LOSER CAN’T EXCEED YOUR BIGGEST WINNER:
Keep a trade log of all your trades throughout the session. If, for example, you know that, so far, your biggest winner on the day is five e-Mini S&P points, then do not allow a losing trade to exceed those five points. If you do allow a loss to exceed your biggest gain then, effectively, what you have when you net out the biggest winner and biggest loss is a net loss on the two trades. Not good.
6)DEVELOP A METHODOLOGY AND STICK WITH IT. DON’T CHANGE METHODOLOGIES FROM DAY TO DAY:
I require my .students. to actually write down the specific market prerequisites (setups) that must take place in order for them to make a trade. I don.t necessarily care what the methodology is, but I do want them to make sure that they have a set of rules, market setups or price action that must appear in order for them to take the trade. You must have a game plan. If you have a proven methodology but it doesn.t seem to be working in a given trading session, don.t go home that night and try to devise another one. If your methodology works more than one-half of the trading sessions, then stick with it.
7)BE YOURSELF. DON’T TRY TO BE SOMEONE ELSE:
In all of my years as a trader I never traded more than a50 lot on any individual trade. Sure, I would have liked to be able to trade like colleagues in the pit who were regularly trading 100 or 200 lots per trade. However, I didn.t possess the emotional or psychological skill set necessary to trade such big size. That.s OK. I knew that my comfort zone was somewhere between 10 and 20 lots per trade. Typically, if I traded more than 20 lots, I would .butcher. the trade. Emotionally I could not handle that size. The trade would inevitably turn into a loser because I could not trade with the same talent level that I possessed with a 10 lot. Learn to accept your comfort zone as it relates to trade size. You are who you are.
8)YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE ABLE TO COME BACK AND PLAY THE NEXT DAY:
Never put yourself in the precarious position of losing more money than you can afford. The worst feeling in the world is wanting to trade and not being able to do so because the equity in your account is too low and your brokerage firm will not allow you to continue unless you submit more funds. I require my students to place daily downside limits on their performance. For example, your daily loss limit can never exceed $500. Once you reach the $500 loss limit, you must turn your PC off and call it a day. You can always come back tomorrow.
9)EARN THE RIGHT TO TRADE BIGGER:
Too many new traders think that because they have $25,000 equity in their trading account that they somehow have the right to trade five or ten e-Mini S&P contracts. This cannot be further from the truth. If you can.t trade a one lot successfully, what makes you think that you have the right to trade a 10 lot? I demand that my students show me a trading profit over the course of te consecutive trading days trading a one lot only. When they have achieved a profitable ten-day period, in my eyes, they have earned the right to trade a two lot for the next ten trading sessions. Remember: if you are trading poorly with two lots you must lower your trade size down to a one lot.
10)GET OUT OF YOUR LOSERS:
You are not a .loser. because you have a losing trade on. You are, however, a loser if you do not get out of the losing trade once you recognize that the trade is no good. It.s amazing to me how accurate your gut is as a market indicator. If, in your gut, you have the idea that the trade is no good then it.s probably no good. Time to exit. Every trader has losing trades throughout the session. A typical trade day for me consists of 33 percent losing trades, 33 percent scratches and 33 percent winners. I exit my losers very quickly. They don.t cost me much. So, although I have either lost or scratched over two-thirds of my trades for the day, I still go home a winner.
11)THE FIRST LOSS IS THE BEST LOSS:
Once you come to the realization that your trade is no good it.s best to exit immediately. .It.s never a loser until you get out. and .Not to worry, it.ll come back. are often said tongue in cheek, by traders in the pit. Once the phrase is stated, it is an affirmation that the trader realizes that the trade is no good, it is not coming back and it is time to exit.
12)DON’T HOPE AND PRAY. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL LOSE:
When I was a new and undisciplined trader, I can.t tell you how many times that I prayed to the .Bond god.. My prayers were a plea to help me out of a less-than-pleasant trade position. I would pray for some sort of divine intervention that, by the
way, never materialized. I soon realized that praying to the .Bond god. or any other .futures god. was a wasted exercise. Just get out!
13)DON’T WORRY ABOUT NEWS. IT’S HISTORY :
I have never understood why so many electronic traders listen to or watch CNBC, MSNBC, Bloom berg News or FNN all day long. The .talking heads. on these programs know very little about market dynamics and market price action. Very few, if any, have ever even traded a one lot in any pit on any exchange. Yet they claim to be experts on everything. Before becoming a .trading and markets expert,. the guy on CNBC reporting hourly from the Bond Pit, was a phone clerk on the trading floor. Obviously this qualifies him to be an expert! He, and others, can provide no utility to you. Treat it for what it really is.. entertainment. The fact is: The reporting that you hear on the business programs is .old news.. The story has already been dissected and consumed by the professional market participants long before the .news. has been disseminated. Do not trade off of the reporting. It.s too late.
14)DON’T SPECULATE. IF YOU DO,YOU WILL LOSE:
In all of the years that I have been a trader and associated with traders, I have never met a successful speculator. It is impossible to speculate and consistently print large winners. Don.t be a speculator. Be a trader. Short-term scalping of the markets is the answer. The probability of a winning day or week is greatly increased if you trade short term: small winners and even smaller losses.
15)LOVE TO LOSE MONEY:
This rule is the one that I get the most questions and feedback on by traders from all over the world. Traders ask, .What do you mean, love to lose money. Are you crazy?. No, I.m not crazy. What I mean is to accept the fact that you are going to have losing trades throughout the trading session. Get out of your losers quickly. Love to get out of your losers quickly. It will save you a lot of trading capital and will make you a much better trader.
16)IF YOUR TRADE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE IN A GIVEN TIME FRAME, IT’S TIME TO EXIT:
This rule relates to the theory of capital flow. It is trading capital that pushes a market one way or another. An oversupply or imbalance of buy orders will push the market up. An oversupply of sell orders will push the market lower. When price stagnation is present (as typically happens many times throughout the trading session), the market and its participants are
telling us that, at the present time, they are happy or satisfied with the prevailing bid and offer. You don.t want to be in the market at these times. The market is not going anywhere. It is a waste of time, capital and emotional energy. It.s much better to wait for the market to heat up a little and then place your trade.
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