What are your favorite trading quotes?
Please let us know in the comment section below what your favorite trading quotes are and what you’ve taken from them in order to make yourself a better trader.
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Let us first consider the qualities essential to the
equipment of the speculator. We name them: Selfreliance, judgment, courage, prudence, pliability.
-
Self-Reliance. A man must think for himself, must follow his own convictions. George
MacDonald says: “A man cannot have another
man’s ideas any more than he can another
man’s soul or another man’s body.” Self-trust
is the foundation of successful effort. -
Judgment. That equipoise, that nice
adjustment of the faculties one to the other,
which is called good judgment, is an essential
to the speculator. -
Courage. That is, confidence to act on the
decisions of the mind. In speculation there is
value in Mirabeau’s dictum: “Be bold, still be
bold; always be bold.” -
Prudence. The power of measuring the
danger, together with a certain alertness and
watchfulness, is very important. There should be
a balance of these two, Prudence and Courage;
Prudence in contemplation, Courage in execution. Lord Bacon says: “In meditation all dangers
should be seen; in execution one, unless very formidable.” Connected with these qualities,
properly an outgrowth of them, is a third, viz:
promptness. The mind convinced, the act should
follow. In the words of Macbeth; “Henceforth the
very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings
of my hand.” Think, act, promptly. -
Pliability. The ability to change an opinion, the power of revision. “He who observes,”
says Emerson, “and observes again, is always
formidable.”
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Every day the future market is different. You have to find the right spot to get in. Have to read the market and be flexible. Wait for the path of the least Resistance. Not every day is a trading day. The Quote: “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” Bruce Lee "
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that is correct @Emile_Beijl Successful traders are incredibly flexible in their thinking. They can see solutions and opportunities that other people miss, and they are willing to adapt their approaches to different situations.
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I want to think of successful traders as high-altitude mountain climbers. Mountain climbing is the pursuit of a goal with a great deal of heart, grit, and determination. It is the willingness to persist through incredible hardships and obstacles to achieve a goal, just like traders.
While everyone celebrates when they get to the top, the climb is quite challenging. On the way to the top is getting steep, exhausting, and has many obstacles. You may encounter vertical angles that are hard to climb, physical strains, and sometimes get even discouraged if you are ever going to make it to the top. When you finally reach the top, you realize you need to come down. That could be a challenge itself. Once you completed your goal, you take the smiling picture. But that smile comes with the pain of enduring mother nature.
The path of a successful trader is to show a positive return. There will be challenges, setbacks, and mental setbacks, doubting if the journey is worth it.
Whether you are a mountain climber, a business entrepreneur, or a trader, you will have to climb your mountain. Knowing what’s ahead will help you. Being realistic about what is ahead will prepare you better. Accepting what is ahead will give your strength when you encounter it.
Trading is a mountain of changing weather, steepness, and other difficulties. Every time you climb, it will be a different mountain. Market conditions change; you have to adapt to them. Your climb will be ongoing.
Get your gear out, accept what is ahead and do your best to survive.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
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I don’t believe in “Enthusiastic Traders”; I appreciate Skeptic Traders.
Enthusiastic traders are those who say comments like, “I checked into day trading, and this is what I want to do.” Skeptics, on the other hand, dig deep into the W questions.
What makes trading challenging?
Why isn’t everyone doing it?
What am I missing?
True Skeptics may appear to be cynics, but in reality, they are risk-averse than the people who believe things just because they want to. Their extra homework lets them make better decisions.
In my opinion, the most skeptical people are the best performing traders. They are willing to put in the time to do the homework and think through their decisions more carefully – instead of just wanting to go all-in’ or 'buy the dip. Finally, in my opinion, the skeptics will stay in the trading game longer. They don’t come for “fast cash,” and when that does not work out, they are on to the next venture.
You might do better if you are always asking yourself whether you have a sufficient reason for doing what it is that you are doing.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures.
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I don’t know many trading quotes but this one got me thinking a bit. An interesting and simplistic breakdown.
“Price advertises, time regulates, and volume confirms or rejects” - Jim Dalton
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“…the fears of the successful traders were not those of drawdown or missing a market move. Rather, they feared deviating from their plans. Dedication to purpose was the cornerstone of their success.”
Steenbarger, Brett N… The Psychology of Trading
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One of the worst questions you can ask yourself before putting a position on is, “what if I lose”? I believe that to some degree, we all ask ourselves this question in one form or another. But, in many cases, it is a destructive question. I believe it is so dangerous that it could make you do the exact opposite of what your method intended. For example, the trend is up, and the market is already high. Now you get a signal that says “buy,” what do you do? You go short and sell. Why? Because you asked yourself, “What is I lose? I am buying into the high of the market!” then you go short.
If you catch yourself doing that, stop! Be conscious of your thought process.
Second, if you lose, you lose. Traders are willing to risk loss and do things that put the odds in their favor. Be an order taker when the system (your system) spits a trade, not a thinker.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
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One of my old favorites:
“There is only one certainty in the markets - Prices will always fluctuate” - J.P.Morgan
- P11
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@Emile_Beijl, Love it!
Also, to your point, not every day is a trading day - some days start as a good trading day and afterwards turn to “no more of a trading day” for example, the liquidity dries up, or the news anticipation creates a super chop etc.
One should try to work on developing signals for when to trade, how much to trade and when “not” to trade. The later being of equal importance to the rest as in what one does NOT loses one actually gains.
P11
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I like this one @Mod-MattZ - “…be an order taker, not a thinker…”
There are floor clerks that have been placing orders for their clients for years
and after a while they decided to start trading themselves.
It was interesting that some of them found that trading for “themselves” was a totally different game then placing orders for their clients / broker(s).
The psychology behind placing a trade with one’s own money is very different and one often finds themselves fighting themselves, their feelings, and the market…
I find that mechanics and focusing on the process seems to be one of the best ways to defeat our emotion-driven minds.
Be an order taker of your own system. Love it!
P11
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This weeks mantra is Fail Forward -
Get comfortable with failure! Seek Failure!
That’s where the adaptation is
Extract the lesson
This is the next stage of success
Take a shot! Live at the edge of your capabilities
Make the adjustment
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Making $$ in any profession is a result of a certain factor.
In trading, making $$ is a result of your risk management. Not your ability to predict the markets. Many new traders can not wrap their heads around it. They think that trading is about what the market will do in the next minute, hour, or day. This is the part we don’t know; no one knows. Risk is: learning how to minimize your exposure when you are wrong, even if you are wrong ten times in a row. Plan your trades, know your entries and exits, and follow the method you set for yourself.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
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Wonderful quote and perspective
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My fav. Trading Quotes, * "It’s not always easy to do what’s not popular, but that’s where you make your money.
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“The goal of a successful trader is to make the best trades. Money is secondary.” (Alexander Elder). This quote really put things in a different perspective for me. If you focus more on your progress and how well you are executing each trade, it is easier to let go of emotions like greed or fear.
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“We don’t care about ‘why’. Real traders only have the time and interest to care about ‘what’ and ‘when’ and ‘if’ and ‘then’. ‘Why’ is for pretenders.”
-JC Parets.
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“One trade a day keeps disaster away”. When you try trading again after winning a trade, I find that I usually lose money. Take your win and go home!
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I think my inspiration comes from reading the stories of people who were able to train enough to make a decent living from trading. I admire those that have the intelligence to use more fundamental analysis, because that is a difficult skill for me.
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