the looser approach: * keeps over 50% of his net worth in a trading account. some go 100%......then when having a really bad day/week/month..........they try to "get even" and bust a gut and lose everything.......very long careers end very quickly with this approach.... * using stops.......because they have no confidence in position to begin with......or are fading a powerful trend......or are over leveraged.......or have all capital on one position......constant fear and doubt plagues this strategy... * fading trends......sometimes good for a scalp but full reversals are rare and this is a high risk low reward approach over the long run...... the winner approach: * never speculates with more than 10-20% of risk capital......so even a blow up doesn't really do much damage to net worth....... * trades trends......scaling in and out depending on market action.....never overleveraged......hence never any need to use stops except to sideline and take profits after market turns from trending to choppy or to reverse on reversal opportunities... * sweeps profits weekly......never keeps excess capital in account........sweeps profits into diversified buy and hold account for retirement....