- Embrace the laws of nature. Springs produce either salt water or fresh water. Not both. I am either trading the long side (bullish equities) or the short side (bearish equities) but never both. That’s just experience and knowing myself.
- Review every chart of every position you own – every day – even if you only allocate 10 seconds of eyeball time to each position.
- It’s okay to be wrong; it’s unforgiveable to stay wrong. Marty Zweig.
- The maximum number of positions you should hold in your trading account is determined by the number of equities you are able to know well. Remember their costs, know their present stops and picture their charts in your mind’s eye.
- Keep a diary of the lessons the market taught you and don’t ever repeat them.
- Be aware when you distort market information to fit your personal beliefs. These trades are most likely to fail. You must learn to neutralize your feelings and accept whatever reality the markets present. Learn to manage your own perceptions.
- Monitor and manage your precious time. Be selective in all your tasks and stick to the routines you’ve assembled that accommodate the realities of your personal schedule.
- Don’t let sudden success result in an inflated opinion of yourself and cause you to forget proper trading rules. Even a broken clock is right twice a day!
- Don’t blindly adopt others’ trading tools. Tutor yourself about each new indicator, and test it out within your own style of investing before you begin to embrace it.
- Subscribe to CANI. Constraint and never-ending improvement each and every day. Tony Robbins
I find it works to model oneself repeatedly after highly successful people – adopting both their attitudes and behaviors. Read about them. Act like them. Where most investors go wrong is that they are motivated by a need to avoid pain as they seek only to gain pleasure in the here and now. The successful ones are those willing to accept some short-term pain in exchange for greater pleasure and gains in the long run.
Trade well; trade with discipline!
-- Gatis Roze
About the author:
Gatis Roze, MBA, CMT, is a veteran full-time stock market investor who has traded his own account since 1989 unburdened by the distraction of clients. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is a past president of the Technical Securities Analysts Association (TSAA), and is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT). After several successful entrepreneurial business ventures, Gatis retired in his early 40s to focus on investing in the financial markets. With consistent success as a stock market trader, he began teaching investments at the post-college level in 2000 and continues to do so today.
Learn More
