I learn better by writing it. I am typing the list of "Wizard Lessons" from Jack D. Scvhwager's book Stock Market Wizards for anyone who finds it useful. I may rephrase it to make it shorter. 1. There is no single true path 2. The Universal Trait: strategy+plan covering all contingencies; stick to the plan 3. Trade your personality 4. Failure and perseverance 5. Flexible 6. it takes time 7. record your observations 8. a trading philosophy 9. an edge 10. confidence 11. hard work 12. Obsessive 13. an innovator 14. take a loss to win 15. risk control: stop-loss, smaller position, low-risk position, small initial position, diversify, short, hedge. 16. willing to risk 17. focusing on undervalued 18. value alone is not enough 19. catalysts 20. exit on stop-loss, profit, time, violation of trade premise, unexpected, portfolio considerations. 21. Get out if market does not comfirm expectation 22. Liquidate for better oppertunity 23. patience 24. goals 25. "This time is different" always wrong 26. bullish/bearish relative to price 27. do not predict 28. Trust no-one/nothing; verify 29. Never listen to other opinions 30. Beware of Ego 31. Self-Awareness 32. No emotion 33. Personsal Problems are cautionary flag 34. review past trades 35. never mind looking stupid 36. danger of leverage 37. position sizing 38. complexity is not equal to success 39. Trading is a vocation, not a hobby 40. need a plan 41. define h-probability trades. 42. low-risk opportunities 43. have good reason for any trade 44. common sense 45. trade the hard to fill 46. Do not refrain from a trade only because you missed a better fill 47. Do not hold a losing position 48. Need not all-or-nothing trading(scale) 49. pa response to news 50. insider buying 51. big boy holdings 52. get out when hoping 53. diversification is not necessarily a virtue 54. data mining caution 55. synergy+marginal indicators 56. persistent condition engender persistent performance 57. no popularity contest 58. two-sided coin is fair; long/short are not. 59. shorting to hedge 60. shorting loss is unlimited 61. shorting candidates: high receivables, change accountants, high turn-over cfo's, blaming shorting, change core business, high p/e, vulnerable catalyst, uptrend stalled/reversed 62. Use options to express stock's expectation 63. sell otm puts for to be longed stocks 64. research reports tend to be biased 65. the universality of success.
you miss one very important lesson: IBM vice president. Did you read Steve Cohen who took a position before IBM released its earnings report? Think about it, who takes a large position just before an earnings report? Answer: the one who has insider information. A wizard who was not written about: the Sri Lankan guy who managed Galleon hedge fund. All the other stuff like "trading your personality" is pure BS, don't buy it. The author of the wizard books is a miserable failure in trading. He started by stealing those wizards' trading strategies, he pretended he was a journalist interviewing them, he asked all kinds of questions, trying to find out the "secret" of trading. Those wizards, finding it amusing that this media guy simply walked in and expected to get the secret of trading, just dished out all kinds of bs to him. Those wizards were never serious about what they said to the fake journalist. A lot of the things they said were simply jokes. He traded those "secrets" and lost all his money. So he turned around and wrote those "secrets" into books. Accidentally, he made lots of money out of the books, thanks to the suckers like you.
u r strange. me just doing ETers s favor, expressed no opinion about the list. i got the book from lib by the way. how is YOUR trading?
what? MY trading? well, it was a long story, to make my long story short, here is my answer: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=186377
right on the nail! tradersxchange secrets with trading buddies, not a journalist,LOL. but people swallow it hook, line and sinker. just do a search on this forum and you will find many "knowledgeable" traders recommend his books to eager newbies.
Adadadog, You took the time to pare down and post some good ole common sense â âfood for thoughtâ⦠and simply cite its origin How others interpreted your intentions as they did is peculiar to say the least Aside; For any anyone to think they will not trade exactly who they are inside (their personality) â is ludicrous imo As for the list you posted â some I agreeâ¦, and some I don'tâ¦., but then that is the real beauty of trading â isnât itâ¦. No one way is best for all. Good trading to you Sir RN
he may or may not have had inside information, but if you think fund managers of all stripes don't take positions before earnings announcements, completely without inside info, you are naive. To the OP, nice list.
Thanks Rn. almost everything people does reflects his/her character and personality, including trading and posting on ET. You can feel if the person is a winner or loser, if not at the very moment, but will be at long term.