It’s the first Friday of the month and that means today is all about NFP, Non Farm Payrolls, i.e. the Unemployment Rate in the US.

Every once in a while something comes across my desk or I have a conversation with somebody that just hits me in the face with their awesomeness. This week it happened to be from one of our newest trainees. Below you will find his summary on the top advice from that bible of trading advice, Market Wizards by Jack Schwager. His summary reminded me how frickin’ chock full of awesomeness Market Wizards is. Below is our trainee’s summary for your reading enjoyment and your trading betterment over the Payroll figure (and indeed for your trading career). Enjoy.

MARKET WIZARDS SUMMARY

RISK MANAGEMENT
1. Cut your losses and let your winners run
2. Never commit more that 1-5% of your money in a single idea
3. Money management is the most important ingredient of a successful strategy
4. Reduce your size after devastating loss to regain rhythm and confidence

STRATEGY
1. Always commit to an exit point on every trade before executing it and never deviate from it
2. Do not try to average your losers
3. It is not wise to have your stop where everyone else has their stop
4. Unexpected and impossible happen every now and then on the markets so be prepared
5. If you have a losing position that makes you uncomfortable, get out
6. Not only price change can tell you that you’ve been wrong – time can as well
7. Don’t focus on making money, focus on protecting what you have
8. Best way to learn discipline and patience is to think through a trade before placing it
9. Develop a plan of your strategies for various contingencies
10. When market gets good news and goes down, it indicates weakness (and vice versa)
11. Great traders are willing to take on a larger position when they perceive a major opportunity
12. Usually a down Friday is followed by a down Monday
13. Reduce your size after devastating loss to regain rhythm and confidence

jason-berry-trader

DISCIPLINE
1. Liquidate all positions to achieve mental clarity when losing money or lacking clear picture
2. Follow your own mind rather than others when trading
3. Do not trade impulsively
4. Do not overtrade
5. When having destabilizing loss, put a little time between that and your next decision to regain clarity and avoid emotions affecting your judgment
6. A streak of winning trades can just as easily cloud your judgment as a streak of losing trades so, trading good or bad, always keep an emotional detachment from the market

PSYCHOLOGY
1. A good trader should be strong, independent, disciplined, patient, willing to lose but a strong desire to win, and have a good balance between confidence and humility
2. Don’t be a hero, don’t have an ego, always question yourself, never think you are very good
3. Markets are always changing so the successful trader needs to adapt to these changes
4. Losing trader is someone who has no protection from stress, has negative outlook on life, conflicting personality, blames others or the market when things go wrong and who is disorganized and impatient
5. Top traders believe that money is not important, it is ok to lose and that trading is a game

For those of you trading it up today, good luck and may the above help you negotiate the Payroll figure like a Market Wizard. Happy Free Money Friday and have a great weekend.