Best Online Trading Tips & Quotes from the Internet

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After many years of browsing various channels for trading knowledge and wisdom, this list is a mix of all the best trading tips and quotes I have come across from books, websites, social media, and my own experiences.

My advice is to bookmark this page and read a couple of tips a day, then trying putting them into practice.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the compounding results!

In this post, I will share all the best online trading tips and quotes from internet, so that we can learn from everyone’s knowledge and experience.

Here are some of the best online trading tips and quotes from the internet:

If you look at any price chart, you will notice that price patterns are constantly being repeated.
You will see recurring patterns that appear over and over, with slight variations.
This is because markets are driven by humans — and human nature never changes.
When you look at a chart, ask yourself:
1. Where has price been?
2. Where is it likely to go?
3. What’s the risk if you’re wrong?
4. What’s the reward if you’re right?
You want to look left to plan right.
Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux.
Money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.
The crowd is usually wrong at extremes. Independent thinking and independent action is what makes great traders.
Only when you truly accept that you’re taking a risk on every trade, and that the outcome is NEVER guaranteed, can you really focus on the process & take your trading to the next level.
Forget your pride and ego; the market doesn’t know or care what you think.
No matter how smart you think you are, the market is always smarter.
Your ego could cost you a lot of money.
Most traders want to ride big trends, but do you know that:
A tight trailing stop loss won’t cut it
You have to endure the swings that come with it
You have to watch your open profits turn to losses
You’ll get stopped out and watch the market reverses back in your favor
There is only one side to the market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.
Do not be 100% bullish or 100% bearish all the time.
Stay mentally agile and remove all bias when you analyse the market, to make sure you are on the right side.
7 ways you can exit a trade:
1. Trailing stops
2. Support & resistance
3. Fibonacci extension
4. Swing high & low
5. Setup is invalidated
6. Previous candle high/low
7. Margin call
Remember this:
When you are doing nothing, those speculators who feel they must trade day in and day out, are laying the foundation for your next venture.
You will reap the benefits from their mistakes.
Remember that the number 1 goal as a trader is NOT to make money, but to trade well.
If your goal is to make money, performance anxiety will cripple you.
If your goal is to trade well, you will make money.
Many beginners get it wrong, which is why they will never make money.
You have to know what pays you. Most successful traders have a setup or scenario that generates the bulk of their profits each year. It’s the “chasing other shit” that gets us in trouble.
Also, one trader’s key setup is another one’s “other shit” so no point placing judgement.
If you study the great/legendary traders, you’d realized there are different approaches to trading.
But the common denominators you can find is…
Risk management, position sizing, and mental capital — and that speaks a lot.
There are three legal investment strategies:
You can be smarter than others.
You can be luckier than others.
Or you can be more patient than others.
Know your edge and how hard it is to maintain.
You could make money by breaking your trading rules.
But you’re LIKELY to:
Attempt it again thinking you can get away again
Have inconsistency in your trading
Mess your psychological makeup
Compound your trading errors
Get punished big time
Think like a guerrilla warrior.
We wish to fight on the side of the market that is winning, not wasting our time on futile efforts to gain fame by buying the lows or selling the highs of some market movement.
If neither side is winning, then we don’t need to fight at all.
The pain you feel when you take a loss because you followed your plan is insignificant compared to the pain you feel when you take a loss because you did NOT follow it.
A small loss is part and parcel of trading.
A large unplanned loss is what wipes out your trading account.
Profitable trading is all about math:
Risk/reward ratios
Position sizing
Backtesting
Draw downs
Returns
Win%
Losing streak probabilities
Risk of ruin
Stop losses
Profit targets
It’s all math.
When putting on a trade, enter it as if it has the potential to be the biggest trade of the year.
Don’t enter a trade until it has been well thought out, a campaign has been devised for adding to the trade, and contingency plans set for exiting the trade.
Most trading errors come from a lack of patience and a compulsion ‘to do something’ when nothing is needed to be done.
Where there is no good trade, the best option is to STAY OUT and wait patiently.
Markets are never wrong, but opinions often are.
Remember, the market is designed to fool most of the people most of the time.
Learn to read the market, and change your opinion once the market has spoken to you.
Put aside your ego, and stay on the right side of the market.
Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
As a trader, you need to know the exact risk of every trade before you take it.
Quantify the risk. Manage it.
And make sure you know what you are doing.
When a trend begins, it tends to continue on for a while.
Therefore, to do good in trading, you don’t need some insider information, or even a special “edge.”
You just need to identify a low risk entry point, hop onboard, and manage your expectations.
A trader must learn how to utilize hope and fear at the right time.
Instead of hoping he must fear & instead of fearing he must hope.
He must fear that his loss may develop into a much bigger loss (cut losses), and hope that his profit may become a big profit (hold winners).
It is foolhardy to make a second trade, if your first trade shows you a loss.
Never average losses.
Let this thought be written indelibly upon your mind.
The elements of good trading are:
(1) cutting losses,
(2) cutting losses, and
(3) cutting losses.
If you can follow these three rules, you may have a chance.
Never trade in situations you don’t have control.
I don’t risk significant amounts of money in front of key reports, since that is gambling, not trading.
Do not try to predict the news or bet on news events.
That is a sure way to lose big when you get it wrong.
Here’s the deal:
There’s no best timeframe out there. Likewise, there is no best indicator, strategy, or whatsoever.
It depends on you — your goals and what you want from trading.
Once you figured it out, then you can find an approach that suits you best.
The sad part is that, as much money and brain hours that go into predicting the market, it is a completely unnecessary activity in achieving success in the market.
Trading is about probability and risk management, not about predictions.
The markets are the same now as they were five to ten years ago because they keep changing – just like they did then.
Do not believe the pundits and analysts who say “this time it is different”.
Trust the charts and trust your analysis.
Decrease your trading volume when you are trading poorly; increase your volume when you are trading well.
Trades who do this are good risk managers with steady account growth.
Traders who do the opposite are gamblers who try to go for big wins to cover their losses.
In trading:
– Don’t be a hero.
– Don’t have an ego.
– Always question yourself and your ability.
– Don’t ever feel that you are very good.
The second you do, you are dead.
I set protective stops at the same time I enter a trade.
I normally move these stops in to lock in a profit as the trend continues.
Sometimes, I take profits when a market gets wild to calm my nerves.
Losing a position is aggravating, but losing your nerve is devastating.
Markets form their tops in violence; markets form their lows in quiet conditions.
Do you agree?
You will learn by watching:
1. How price approach a level
2. What it does at a level
3. Is it rejected
4. Is it accepted
5. Who’s winning
6. Who’s losing
Successful Investing takes time, discipline and patience.
No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time:
You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.
Traders can’t follow rules for very long unless they reflect their own trading style. Eventually, a breaking point is reached and the trader has to quit or change, or find a new set of rules he can follow. This seems to be part of the process of evolution and growth of a trader.
Quit trying to trade every level on your chart.
Instead, pick a spot to trade where you’ll earn big when right and lose small when wrong.
The result?
Less trading, less commissions, less mistakes, and a fatter bottom line.
It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.
Work hard, study hard, and stick to simple rules.
Discipline and consistency are the keys to trading success.
No market trends all the time.
No range sustains all the time.
No strategy works all the time.
That’s why you MANAGE RISK all the time!
Anyone can make money in the markets.
The important questions are:
Can you keep the money you make or will you just lose it?
Can you compound & grow your capital?
Are your profits based on luck or skill?
Is your money making method quantifiable & repeatable?
If after entering a trade you:
• Feel nervous
• Immediately drop to low time frames
• Pray you can move to break even/close as quickly as possible
• Cry
There’s a good chance you’re risking too much.
Reduce your risk (% of equity risked), chill, and let your setup unfold.
The old adage that “you never go broke taking a profit” is maybe the most worthless piece of advice ever given.
Taking small profits is the surest way to ultimate loss I can think of, for small profits are never allowed to develop into enormous profits.
If you have a losing position that is making you uncomfortable, get out.
Because you can always get back in.
It is better to get out to clear your head and get a neutral frame of mind.
Do not cling on to a particular position even after the market has changed.
The trading rules I live by are:
(1) Cut losses.
(2) Ride winners.
(3) Keep bets small.
(4) Follow the rules without question.
(5) Know when to break the rules.
There comes a point in trading where too much information HURTS.
You must put what you know into practice, a plan, something concrete you can test, verify, and validate.
If you’re not getting the results you want, take a step back and work with what you have — NOT add more.
Replace these emotions at different stages
Buying: Greed by Fear
Selling: Fear by Greed
Selection: Hope by Caution
Profits: Short Term by Long Term
Losses: Long Term by Short-Term
Quantity : Envy by Contentment
Holding: Activity by Boredom
Markets: Prediction by Observation
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy only when others are fearful.
Remember that the majority is usually wrong at market extremes, so do not follow blindly.
Trust your own independent analysis if you want to win in this game.
Many traders think you need to take high risk for high returns.
Wrong!
You should risk small, let your edge play out, add capital, and compound your gains over time — that’s how you make it BIG.
The first and most important rule is – in bull markets, one is supposed to be long.
This may sound obvious, but how many of us have sold the first rally in every bull market, saying that the market has moved too far, too fast.
I suspect almost every trader is guilty of this.
Don’t take action with a trade until the market, itself, confirms your opinion.
Being a little late in a trade is insurance that your opinion is correct.
In other words, don’t be an impatient trader.
Successful traders always follow the line of least resistance.
Do not try to swim against the current.
Follow the trend.
The trend is your friend
Things that HURT your trading:
– Trading against trend
– Trading without stops
– Averaging losers
– Predictions
– Opinions
– News
– Ego
Things that HELP your trading:
– Risk management
– A focus on price
– Tune out noise
– Position sizing
– Consistency
– Discipline
– Process
Buy that which is showing strength – sell that which is showing weakness.
The public continues to buy when prices have fallen.
The professional buys because prices have rallied.
The rule of survival is not to “buy low, sell high”, but to “buy higher and sell higher”.
Markets move sharply when they move.
If there is a sudden range expansion in a market that has been trading narrowly, human nature is to try to fade that price move.
But most of the time the market is actually getting ready to move in the direction of that expansion.
Systems don’t need to be changed.
The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible.
The market will test your system.
But as trader you must find the rules that suit your style, and stick to them through thick and thin.
The market doesn’t care:
– That you don’t have a position on in your stock
– That you’re waiting for a pullback
– That you think the market is overbought/oversold
– That you think it’s overpriced
– That you won’t buy this high
– That you’re right and its wrong
Trading one strategy with discipline beats 10 strategies without discipline.
Stay FOCUSED my friend.
There are many ways to make money in the markets.
But you must find one that suits your psychology, fits your time schedule, and commitment.
E.g. It doesn’t make sense to be a day trader if you have a full-time job.
There are many times when I have been completely in cash, especially when I was unsure of the direction of the market and waiting for a confirmation of the next move.
Not having a position is also a position.
Be smart and wait for the good trades.
Good trading is not about being right, it is about trading right.
If you have many small losses and a few large wins, you can still be very profitable.
If you want to be successful, you need to think of the long run and ignore the outcomes of individual trades.
Risk is the uncertain possibility of loss.
If you could quantify risk exactly, it would no longer be risk.
Always quantify your risk before taking on a trade.
In a narrow market, when prices move within a tight range, there is no sense in trying to anticipate what the next big movement is going to be.
The thing to do is to watch the market, note the support & resistance levels, and wait till price breaks out in either direction.
Don’t be too concerned about where you got into a position.
The only relevant question is whether you are bullish or bearish on the position that day.
Adjust your position according to the market.
Do not get stuck in a position because of where you got in.
If you’re not disciplined in your life, you won’t magically be disciplined in trading.
So, if you are to become a disciplined trader, discipline has to become a way of life.
It’s about developing the habit of doing what’s necessary over what’s easy and comfortable.
During a bear market professionals go to cash early and short the downtrend, waiting to buy after the crash at bargain prices.
Amateurs hold stubbornly hoping each rally will signal an end to the pain and eventually sell when it becomes unbearable.
Know the major trend.
The most important rule of trading is to play great defense, not offense.
And great defense means managing risk.
NOT the constant swinging for big gains.
Manage your risks well, and the wins will come in.
If you manage your risk, your profits will take care of itself.
If you don’t, your parents will take care of you.
Technical analysis is misunderstood to be a predictive tool – an instrument to reveal what is going to happen next.
What it actually does is deconstruct what is happening right now.
Which has great utility if you think about situational awareness rather than crystal balls.
If you’re in conflict trying to decide whether you should follow your rules or feelings — go with your rules.
Your feelings are always changing whereas your rules are fixed and concrete — and that’s what gives you CONSISTENCY.
Know your rules. And stick to them.
Be impatient.
As always, small loses and quick losses are the best losses.
It is not the loss of money that is important.
Rather, it is the mental capital that is used up when you sit with a losing trade that is important.
If trading is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money.
Good investing is trading.
If you are looking for thrill and excitement, the casino is a better option.
Traders take a good system and destroy it by trying to make it into a perfect system.
No system is perfect.
No system wins 100% of the time.
If you have a profitable system, work on improving it, but know that perfection is not the goal.
The secret to being successful from a trading perspective is to have an indefatigable and an undying and unquenchable thirst for information and knowledge.
Keep an open mind, and keep learning every day.
Watching your trade hit a stop loss and then rallying hurts.
But not hitting your stop loss and then watching the it go down hurts a lot more.
A wise trader always has stops in place.
If I were buying, my point would be above the market.
I try to identify a point at which I expect the market momentum to be strong in the direction of the trade, so as to reduce my probable risk.
Trend + Momentum = Profits
A trader has to know:
When to let a winner run and when to lock in profits.
When to cut your loss and when to give it more room.
When to trade and when to just stay in cash.
When to be aggressive and when to trade small.
The solution: A trading system with an edge.
Advice to new traders:
You’re not going to get rich
Ride winners for all it’s worth
Don’t hop from system to system
Limit your loss to not more than 2% of capital
The early years are for learning, profits come later
Trading is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them; that will only cause troubles.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like, as long as your P/L keeps on growing.
The worse a situation becomes, the less it takes to turn it around, and the bigger the upside.
Quite often, the biggest gains come during major market reversals, when everyone appears to be bullish or bearish.
Remember that the majority is usually wrong at market reversals.
Do more of what is working for you, and less of what’s not.
Each day, look at the various positions you are holding, and try to add to the trade that has the most profit while subtracting from that trade that is either unprofitable or is showing the smallest profit.
If I buy on John’s tip then I must sell on John’s tip. I am depending on him. Suppose John is away on holiday when the selling time comes around?
A man must believe in himself and his judgement if he expects to make a living at this game. That is why I don’t believe in tips.
The key to success is DISCIPLINE
– Patience
– Risk Management
– Position sizing
– Emotional and Mental control
It’s NOT in the “golden strategy”
It’s NOT in ANY chat room
It’s NOT in alerts, scanners, news feed service
It will only be found within!!!
Some people trade like the market is going to close tomorrow….FOREVER!
If you miss a trade so be it.
There will ALWAYS be other opportunities, always has been and always will be.
A casino doesn’t make money by predicting.
They manage their risk and let their edge play out — and it’s the same for trading
Trade like how a casino operates, not like a gambler in a casino.
If you can’t take a small loss, sooner or later you will take the mother of all losses.
Losses are a necessary part of trading.
Before you take any trade you must accept it in your heart that there will be losses.
So when the time comes be happy to cut losses.
Be patient.
Once a trade is put on, give it time to work;
Give it time to insulate itself from random noise;
Give it time for others to see the merit of what you saw earlier than they.
Trust your analysis, and be patient.
The four most dangerous words in investing are:
This time it’s different.
You can have a losing day but a profitable week.
You can have a losing week but a profitable month.
You can have a losing month but a profitable year.
You can blow up a small account then build a big one.
It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade, than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance.
Do not worrying about your capital size until you have mastered your craft, because your account will grow exponentially after that.
In order of importance to traders are:
(1) the long-term trend,
(2) the current chart pattern, and
(3) picking a good spot to buy or sell.
Those are the three primary components of all trading systems.
When sharp losses in equity are experienced, take time off.
Close all trades and stop trading for several days.
The mind can play games with itself following sharp, quick losses.
The urge “to get the money back” is extreme, and should not be given in to.
There are 5 possible outcomes for your trade:
1. Breakeven
2. Small win
3. Small loss
4. Big win
5. Big loss
Eliminate #5 and you’ve just taken a big step forward
If you can get rid of big losses, you have a great chance of being profitable for years to come.
Before placing a trade, you should have a clear target where to sell if the market moves against you.
Never sustain a loss of more than 2% of your capital per trade.
Losses are twice as expensive to make up
Always establish a stop before making a trade.
Many traders dont understand its better making $400 a day every single day than to swing up and down many thousands a day and ending the year about the same stressed out. For a part time trader, $400/day, $100k a year is huge and can be life changing!
Key is become CONSISTENT!
The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many trading losses even among the professionals, who feel that they must take home some money every day, as though they were working for regular wages.
One tip I can give to a fearful trader is to trade smaller.
Keep reducing risk to your comfort level, and slowly work your way up.
As a professional trader, our job is to look for opportunities caused by temporary inefficiencies based on emotions in the market and exploit them to make money, NOT to be “right”.
Lose the ego, make money.
I believe that having the discipline to follow your rules is essential.
Without specific, clear, and tested rules, speculators do not have any real chance of success.
Test and refine your rules, then stick with them.
This is the hallmark of a disciplined trader.
10 things to AVOID in trading:
Ego too big to take a loss
This time is different
Hope for a reversal
Trading too large
Buy downtrend
Short uptrend
No trading plan
No discipline
No process
Gut feeling
Everything gets destroyed a hundred times faster than it is built up.
It takes one day to tear down something that might have taken ten years to build.
One wrong trade can destroy profits that took years to build up.
Focus on managing your risk well.
Assiduity is the ability to sit on your ass and do nothing until a great opportunity presents itself.
When there are no good trading opportunities, it is better to wait on the sidelines than to jump into a bad trade.
And if you run out of bullets you will miss the good trades.
I find predicting long term is a dangerous game for traders as it gives them a bias that causes them to often overlook what’s actually happening.
Trade what you SEE, not what you THINK.
To study the market is to study others.
To study others is to study yourself.
To beat the market, you first have to master yourself.
Never, ever under any condition, add to a losing trade, or “average” into a position.
If you are buying, then each new buy price must be higher than the previous buy price.
If you are selling, then each new selling price must be lower.
Follow this rule without question.
If you screw up: Pick up where you left off!
If you don’t journal for a week, start with the next trade
If you broke your rules, start using your trading plan again
If you eat one cheat meal, get back to healthy eating with the next one.
Don’t memorize patterns, candlesticks, and etc.
If you want to get better at this game, ask yourself:
What are traders on the sideline thinking?
Where will other traders get trapped?
Where’s the path of least resistance?
Where will new players enter?
Where will losers cut loss?
One of the most helpful things that anybody can learn is to give up trying to catch the last eighth – or the first.
These two are the most expensive eighths in the world.
They have cost traders, in the aggregate, enough millions to build a concrete highway across the continent.
The market is random long enough to frustrate the majority… the undisciplined. Once it has fluctuated enough to the point where they say… “I need a break” or “I give up,” then the opportunity for alpha finally arrives… and the quitters watch from the sidelines in disgust.
The best trades I put on are always the trades that I don’t expect a certain outcome on.
It is absolutely key to accept that the outcome will be completely random for each trade, even if you have the best system.
This mindset really makes trading much easier & less stressful.
This is trading mastery:
• You are confident, consistent, and disciplined
• You trust your trading strategy
• You have a good understanding of the market
• You have a probabilistic mindset
• You approach trading with calmness and serenity
You can succeed in trading only if you handle it as a serious intellectual pursuit. Emotional trading is lethal. To help ensure success, practice defensive money management.
A good trader watches his capital carefully as a professional scuba diver watches his air supply.
General rule of thumb:
For trend-following indicators, when in doubt, make them longer.
For oscillators, when in doubt, make them shorter.
A Healthier Approach To Trading in 5 Simple Steps.
1. Follow your plan.
2. Focus on process, not outcome.
3. Work smart (limit screen time, use contingent orders, etc.)
4. Worry less; think positive.
5. Exercise and meditate daily.
Never let a winning trade go to your head, or a losing trade to your heart.
Trying to stay out of shit trades is like watching paint dry.
It’s right there in front of you and you know you shouldn’t touch it but…
Oh fuck I shouldn’t have touched it.
A good trading mentor will:
Push you to create your own system
Guide you to ask the right questions
Expect continuous improvement
Have you write goals
Challenge assumptions
Be a lifelong student
Appreciate self-taught mentees
Teach you how to trade, not what to trade
Trading is a game where you simply challenge yourself to see if you can wait long enough for a really good opportunity to appear, without losing your money in the meantime.
There are no excuses in trading.
You are 100% responsible for your mistakes and
You are 100% responsible for your achievements
despite having no control whatsoever on the market.
Find ways to control yourself, or your emotions will.
Trading ―if you’re in it for the long haul, it will force you to fix your life.
• Get better sleep
• Eat healthier
• Stress and worry less
• Exercise more
• Develop a growth mindset
It’s not so much that consistently profitable traders have an uncanny ability to predict price movement, rather it’s the fact that they deal with uncertainty in a methodical and consistent way.
… therein lies their strength.
One reality of trading that never fails:
When a trader is really right on a trade the position is always too small.
When a trader is really wrong on a trade the position is always too large.
In trading, most of the hustling is done BEFORE market hours.
DURING market hours, you wait, and, when the time is right, you execute.
Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.
In the market, there is no beginning, middle, or end – only what you create in your own mind.
You cannot control the market.
The only one thing you can control is YOURSELF.
As a trader, you have the power to either give yourself money or give money to other traders.
Do not get greedy and rush to trade – take your time to learn.
The markets will be there with more good opportunities in the months and years ahead.
Beginners who rush to trade often blow up their accounts before they have time to master the skills to trade.
Respect the strength of the crowd – but do not fear it.
Crowds are powerful, but primitive, their behavior simple and repetitive.
A trader who thinks for himself can take money from crowd members.
Are you able to think independently in the market?
You start losing your independence when you watch prices like a hawk & feel elated if they go your way or depressed if they go against you.
Try to come back to your senses; if you cannot regain your composure, exit your trade.
You have to observe yourself and notice changes in your mental state as you trade.
Write down your reasons for entering a trade and the rules for getting out of it, including money management rules.
You must not change your plan while you have an open position.
Winners feel rewarded when prices moves in their favour, and losers feel punished when price moves against them.
Crowd members remain blissfully unaware that when they focus on price they create their own leader.
Traders who feel mesmerized by price swings create their own idols.
Successful trading stands on three pillars:
1. You need to analyse the balance of power between bulls and bears.
2. You need to practise good money management.
3. You need personal discipline to follow your trading plan and void getting high in the markets.
The biggest problem in charting is wishful thinking.
Traders often convince themselves that a pattern is bullish or bearish depending on whether they want to buy or to sell.
A good chartist needs to stay mentally neutral.
Trade what you SEE, not what you THINK.
If prices closed higher than they opened, then market professionals were probably more bullish than amateurs.
If prices closed lower than they opened, then market professionals were probably more bearish than amateurs.
It pays to trade with the pros and against the amateurs.
How to trade TRENDING vs. RANGING markets:
You have to follow strength during trends – buy in uptrends and sell short in downtrends.
When prices are in a trading range, you have to do the opposite – buy weakness and sell strength.
A surprisingly simple and profitable rule.
Most traders ignore the fact that markets usually are both in a trend & in a trading range at the same time.
Markets exist in several timeframes simultaneously.
When you are in doubt about a trend, step back and examine the charts one timeframe higher to get a clearer picture.
When the market gives no clear signals to trade, many beginners start squinting at their screens, trying to spot signals.
A good signal jumps at you from the chart and grabs you by the face – you can’t miss it!
Amateurs look for challenges; professionals look for easy trades.
A man who is cool and sober calmly picks his fights.
He chooses his battles out of hundreds available.
He doesn’t have to chase every rabbit like a dog with its tongue hanging out – he lays an ambush for his game and lets it come to him.
Fight smart.
Successful traders are self-assured but never arrogant.
People who survive the markets remain alert.
They trust their sills and trading methods, but keep their eyes and ears open for new developments.
Confident and attentive.
Calm and flexible.
Ready to strike.
Key things to focus on in trading:
– Focus on the absolute best trades
– Avoid the absolute worst setups
– Work on increasing the number of shares/lots traded
If you can follow this you will be more profitable than 95% of all traders, with your trading account growing steadily.
“Fight every battle, everywhere, always, in your mind… Every possible series of events is happening, all at once. Live that way, and nothing will surprise you. Everything that happens will be something that you’ve seen before” – Lord Baelish
Applies to trading as well.
It’s not so much how you use an indicator but when you use an indicator.
Don’t give up on trading.
It is a difficult skill to acquire.
It will require years of trials and errors before you get good at it.
But once acquired, that skill will allow you to compound your money for the rest of your life like nothing else can.
Start by following 1 trader online.
Start by reading 1 blog post.
Start by reading 1 trading book.
Start by looking at 1 chart.
Start by doing 1 backtest.
Start by buying 1 stock.
Start by cutting 1 loss.
Start by letting 1 winner run.
Start today. Repeat tomorrow.
No matter how great a trade setup looks,
No matter how great a stock looks,
No matter how great a system looks,
No matter how great an investment looks,
and No matter who recommended it,
…it could lose.
Many know that fact. Few have fully accepted it.
For many things in life, you put in time, effort, and then, you see returns immediately.
In trading, it’s a little bit more complicated. Your time and effort do matter, but to see returns, the outer conditions have to also be right ―and sometimes they are; sometimes they’re not.
Only about 5% of traders & investors have clear, specific, written trading systems & plans that they follow each day. The other 95% have hopes, dreams, wishes, & fantasies, but not quantified trading systems. And the great tragedy is that they don’t know their results are doomed.
Shoshin (初心) ―a concept in Zen referring to a lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, or practicing a skill; an attitude of openness to new knowledge and experiences; a mind filled with eagerness, curiosity, and playfulness.
Approach trading from a place of Shoshin.
There’s more to life than just trading.
Family, friends, relationships, experiences, society, and the world.
Just because you have a bad trading day doesn’t mean it’s over. Savor what life has to offer and fight another day.
Your family, friends and the world still needs you.
Perhaps the biggest mistake I made in the past was that I believed trading was all about finding the right strategy. In reality, trading is mostly about becoming the right person.
Trading is a job. It is not an identity. It is not who we are, it is what we do to make money so we have the freedom to be who we truly are.
If trading becomes who u are, the Reaper will steal ur sole, haunt ur sleep, grind u to dust, and feed u to the maggots.
Traders need to develop:
• Discipline ―being able to delay short term gratification
• Good judgment ―being as objective as humanly possible
• Maturity in dealing with emotions ―maintaining composure
• Resilience ―having perspective, wisdom…
Seven steps to wealth:
1) Start early
2) Invest regularly
3) Think long term
4) Have patience
5) Ignore volatility
6) Ignore noise
7) Stay the course
Some traders will advertise their winners only thereby creating the illusion that this game is all about being right.
Traders worth listening to:
• Talk about the inevitability of losses
• Preach the importance of risk management
• Urge you to work on the Mindset component
Trading is a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement.
We first discover how little we know about ourselves.
And we then need to find ways to improve by building upon that self-awareness of our strengths and shortcomings.
Everyone loves the idea of buying fear until they experience fear in the market.
Everyone loves the idea of selling greed until they have a position that’s running and their imagination takes over.
Everyone learns the difference between theory and execution.
Top causes of big losses in trading:
Too stubborn to exit when proven wrong.
Too much ego to take a loss.
Too much hope for a reversal.
Trading too big a position size.
Buying a downtrend.
No trading plan
No trading system
No discipline
Each time you are about to make a trade, ask yourself, “if I could only make 10 trades per year, would this be one of them?”
That’s how to trade like a champion. Make every decision a quality choice.
Things required to trade:
1. Money: Enough money to make trading meaningful.
2. Knowledge – Understanding the principles of profitable trading.
3. Patience – Don’t try to get rich quick.
4. Perseverance: Don’t quit before you’re successful.
My stock investment strategy:
1) Buy quality companies
2) Expect to hold for 10+ years
3) Try not to overpay
4) Keep track
5) Sell rarely
The meticulous process of trading involves:
• Spotting asymmetric opportunities
• Managing risk
• Thinking clearly/using common sense
• Accepting that outcomes are ultimately out of your hands
When that process becomes well established in your mind, it becomes a way of life.
You don’t trade to ‘beat the market’ like you would beat an opponent at a game of chess.
Instead, you keep up with it by placing low risk-high reward trades with acceptable probabilities of success.
And you do that time and time again.
It’s strategy, skill, and luck.
Formula for trading success.
1. Admit you suck at predicting the future.
2. Believe you can be good at just following the price action.
3. Learn to create trading systems.
4. Overcome your ego & follow your system.
Your winning rate is irrelevant.
Your risk to reward is meaningless.
Your pip/tick gained is not important.
Do you know what matters?
Your winning rate COMBINED with your risk to reward, — that’s what matters.
Though it is true that a missed opportunity is lost forever, the market offers us SO many opportunities that we have the luxury to be picky.
We can wait, free of charge, until we have pocket aces in hand.
Most traders say they want to trade for a living but then trade like they have to retire next week.
Everyone is a trader.
Some people trade time for a paycheck.
Some people trade tuition for a degree.
Some people trade risk for profits.
Some trade happiness for security.
Some trade principles for politics.
Some trade ethics for cash.
Everyone trades, few understand this.
People often ask me why I use discretionary entries and systematic exits.
I use discretion in my entries because I use conditions that cannot be coded, and that also makes me part of my edge.
I use systematic exits because I lose my objectivity as soon as I’m in a trade.
As your trade is unfolding, pay attention to your thoughts.
If there is desire, observe it; if there is anxiety and fear, observe that.
Don’t add to them. Just watch and feel whatever comes up.
This is what mindfulness is and trading can be a wonderful time to practice it.
One of the toughest thing in trading:
Switching our focus from:
“If it goes down -5% from here, I’m gonna lose $2,000 of my profits!” ?
to:
“It’s still above my stop. Moving on to another chart.” ?
To achieve a multi-bagger in the portfolio, you have to hold a multi-bagger in the portfolio. Don’t bother finding the next multi-bagger if you aren’t going to develop the conviction to hold it. You will have to hold onto something that is cheap, expensive, hated and volatile.
Fast ways to lose money trading:
Trade too much
Trade too big
Trade randomly
Trade based on your emotions
Trade to prove you’re right
Trade based on predictions
Be stubborn
No stop loss
Fight the trend
Cut winners fast
Let losing trades run
Trade illiquid markets
Bull markets climb the wall of worry, while bear markets descend the slope of hope.
You can’t control the market. You can only:
1. Identify high-probability opportunities
2. Manage risk
3. Train your mind to accept the outcomes of probability-based decisions
Do not confuse a setup with a signal. Two very different things.
A setup is the building toward, or formation of, an opportunity.
A signal is when a trade should be executed to benefit from that opportunity.
New traders try to avoid being wrong.
Experienced traders prepare to be wrong.
If your financial objective is to make some serious money, you will have to do some serious ignoring.
There is so much noise, opinions, fear mongering and awful advice on TV, radio, social media, blogs and in newsletters.
We live in the world of information overload!
Someone asked me whether he should increase his position size when he has a good feeling about a trade.
I would say that, unless he has really developed a valid gut feeling, for 99% of people, a gut feeling going into a trade is probably just a stomachache.
Both investors and traders use price action for entries. Investors use fundamentals based on price action like book value, P/E, and ROE while traders use moving averages, breakouts, and chart patterns.
If you just got into trading, don’t make it your full-time gig right from the get-go.
Since you’re learning, the first years are emotionally and financially taxing.
Learn to trade well first, and then transition. Don’t put the cart before the horse.
Just because a position doesn’t start moving the moment you put a trade on doesn’t mean you are not right. Patience is part of the game.
The average trader spends the majority of time vacillating between two emotions: indecisiveness and regret. This stems from not clearly defining one’s style. The only way to combat paralyzing emotions is to have a set of rules that you operate from with clearly stated goals.
As traders, we should seek to understand the range of emotions we might experience in different circumstances so that we can achieve some deeper clarity as to why we have them and how to use them constructively.
We tend to attach too much importance to the outcome of a single trade and underplay the significance of trading results as a whole.
Don’t dwell on one result but regularly review the last 20-50-100 trades. This will give you the insight you need to execute with confidence.
Good traders are riders of uncertainty.
• They’re good at identifying high probability opportunities
• They understand that ‘high probability’ doesn’t mean ‘certainty’
• They manage and accept risk
• They are disciplined and rigorous
• They take their ego out of the picture
The power in technical analysis is not in its predictive ability but in the way it allows you to create good risk/reward ratios based on key levels & the direction of the trend.
A major challenge in trading is learning to lose the right way. If we change how we trade after every random loss, we will become incoherent in our approach to markets.
The Cheetah is the fastest animal in the world & can catch any animal on the plains. However, it will wait until it is absolutely sure it can catch it’s prey. It may hide in the bush for a week waiting & attacks only when odds are in its favor. Trade like a Cheetah.
Markets: millions of investors with different goals, perspectives, and time horizons making emotional decisions with their life savings.
Investors: I can’t figure out why prices are not converging on the numbers I put into Excel.
Good traders dont predict the future. They just trade what they see on chart, work out probabilities & manage risk. If the trade works, good else they just move on & find next trade. No hard feelings, no ego issues. They know market is supreme & they follow it like a kid!
To be candid, why would I spend time looking at fundamental data, which can be biased or wrong, when a price chart can tell me where to get in, where to get out, and allow me to measure my risk when I’m wrong?
Emotions don’t get in the way of your trading, they are a part of your trading. Instead of trying to block them (which is impossible) embrace them. They are telling you something about the situation…recognize it, study it, find a way to use them to your advantage.
Trading is a continuous cycle of messing up, acknowledging it, learning from it and then doing better the next time.
This doesn’t happen by itself. You HAVE to take action: keep track of what you could do better and take note of your thoughts in the process.
Many traders think that to be a good trader, they should focus on winning every trade.
You actually want to win on your trading career instead.
It means always getting better at preparation, execution, process & discipline. Showing up. THAT is going to pay off in the long run.
If price never reaches your entry level and instead moves away, you didn’t “miss the trade”.
Missing implies that you failed to get on board. You didn’t. You simply didn’t want to compromise on your original trade idea.
In my book, that’s called sticking to the plan.
Every time you:
– patiently wait for an entry
– stick with your trading plan
– journal your last trade
– don’t unnecessarily move your stops
You train your process and habit muscle. IT GETS STRONGER. And next time, guess what:
It’ll be a tiny bit easier to do the right thing.
Cheat sheet to avoid over trading:
1- If you could only take 10 trades a year, would you take this one?
2- If you were to take that setup a 100 times, are you 100% confident you’d make money in the end?
Great traders have the ability to watch the market and not take action unless they can exploit their edge. This requires a detached mindset: being able to see price move without feeling like you’re missing out.
Volatility doesn’t imply that we always need to be on board.
My trading improved dramatically when I stopped focusing on the news, stopped focusing on macro analysis, stopped focusing on other peoples opinions, and just focused exclusively on a few simple price setups day in and day out. This kind of simplicity is hard to grasp at first.
The scientific literature on decision-making is clear: your capacity to reason and make rational financial decisions will diminish when you are under stress.
So, make stress management an integral part of your approach to the markets.
Defining your edge means exploring every potential path to optimize your trading. It means understanding that you did everything within your means to make it work and at the same time, also accepting the uncertainty that remains.
If done right, it gives you heaps of confidence.
As a trader:
1. Being wrong shouldn’t scare you
2. Your focus should be on the long term picture
3. You should focus on placing good trades, not on money won or lost
4. You should approach trading with a learning mindset
5. You should cut out the noise from your trading
The financial market is a place where 2 types of people meet: those with experience and those with money. Towards the end of the day, they exchange their assets and go home.
One of the biggest reasons traders keep struggling is that they don’t want to admit to themselves that they suck at trading because they’ve spent so many years on it. So they continue to suck instead of reaching out for help.
You don’t have to trade a market that makes you highly emotional and pushes you so far out of your comfort zone.
Being a good trader is also about developing the wisdom to say to yourself “Okay, I’m going to step back for a while now and watch how things unfold.”
If you want to become a great trader, then seek to emulate great traders.
The great traders I know:
• Have ample market experience
• Are excellent risk managers
• Are hard workers
• Are deep thinkers
• Have a philosophy that connects them to something bigger
Not doing anything stupid in your trading can be just as important as doing something brilliant.
In 99%, gut feel is not a valid trade reason. Gut feel is just a lame excuse to break your rules and act on FOMO.
Gut feel takes years to develop and if you haven’t been profitable for a few years, you certainly have no gut feel.
Some people can handle market volatility.
A few even love it — they tend to hate weekends.
However, most successful business people & investors get on about doing things that are important…
Instead of watching volatility of their investment or business on a daily basis.

Now that I have shared the best online trading tips and quotes from the internet, which is your favourite trading tip?

Let me know in the comments below.

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Spencer Li

Spencer is an avid globetrotter who achieved financial freedom in his 20s, while trading & teaching across 70+ countries. As a former professional trader in private equity and proprietary funds, he has over 15 years of market experience, and has been featured on more than 20 occasions in the media.