Your Trading Holy Grail Rule

[Blik]

What do each of you consider to be your holy grail rule that must never be broken in terms of trading, if you only had to pick one, and stop losses donA¢A_ATt count A¢A_A" I assume that these are placed irrespective? Would it be a particular support or resistance level, a momentum indicator level, something to do with liquidity, a particular trading pattern or other? SPB, for example, has posted certain rules on JustOneLap, like only risking a set amount of your capital. He has also clearly defined his rules in his lazy trading system. I know this is a bit of a general question, but I am curious to read what other people consider their one critical most important rule never to be broken, to potential success in trading. Since I donA¢A_ATt consider myself a Trader....yet....mine maybe something to do with linking the movement of the share or derivative back to a larger trend. IA¢A_ATll sum and post if there are a reasonable amount of responses.

[SimonPB]

discipline .. whatever the rule(s) ..

[prancing_horse]

1.Never be greedy 2.Trade with money you can afford to loose

[3JN2]

Most critical is to stick to your rules on trade entry. Gives you best probality of a good trade, leading to profit. Take a chance on entry, take a loss.

[Preston]

My holy Grail is never trade when you are angry with the wife,dog,father in law, mother in law, brother in law, employer, bank manager etc ,etc.

[barry_1]

NEVER,NEVER trade at market That can result in large losses.

[#7]

patience, still havent got it right though.

[#8]

I remember someone (Fred?) saying "NEVER BUY A STOCK IF THE 200 SMA IS FALLING", which I thought was quite good.

[partridge]

nobody died taking a profit

[SimonPB]

depends what you trade ..

[SimonPB]

hmmm, but they also never got rich .. you gotta milk the winners for everything they got ..

[suki]

u forgot "Let the profits run"

[Preston]

U forget, let your losses eat into your capital

[#14]

For how long and till what point???

[Pluto]

Keep on the right side of the market - long in a rising market, short ina falling market

[Fredsed]

With obedient guesswork that obtains ethereal directives that are both fleeting and occasional. An instinctive doctrine of shake, rattle and roll. Relax and worry, repeat. React and hesitate. Survivors are one in seven. Know your destiny and accept it.

[Skerp]

Start small, don't go for big score straight away, however tempting! Burnt my account twice before I learnt this lesson. Now comfortable making R500.00 - R1000.00 every second/third day net with on average three out of five trades winners. Losers I jump out of after R500 loss! Don't overtrade! I only trade at market, ALSI CFD'S. Agree, never trade when angry, work out a system that works for you, not SOROS, keep it simple, always works better for me. Mine so simple it's embarrassing.

[Blik]

At SPB - I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of technical rule. Discipline alone will do you no good without a technical strategy. Having said that, I agree discipline is vital for both trading and investing.

[SimonPB]

yes.no.maybe .. that exactly my point .. it not about an indicator, system or anything .. it is about discipline ..

[Blik]

Ok - true - but assuming discipline is a given. Your LTD rules are clearly defined, with conditions for long and short trades.