LoggingTradesThese lines come from the books traders pass around most: Mark Douglas’s Trading in the Zone, Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards, Edwin Lefèvre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor and Daniel Kahneman’s research on decision-making. Under each one: what to do with it.
On uncertainty
“Anything can happen.”
— Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone · Share this quote
Do this: before each entry, say out loud what the stop is and that the trade can hit it. A trade you have already accepted can lose without hurting your next decision.
“You don’t need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money.”
— Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone · Share this quote
Do this: stop grading trades by outcome. Grade them by whether you followed your plan — a planned loss is a good trade; an unplanned win is a bad one.
“There is a random distribution between wins and losses for any given set of variables that define an edge.”
— Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone · Share this quote
Do this: judge your strategy in batches of 20+ trades, never one at a time. Run your numbers through the expectancy calculator.
“Every moment in the market is unique.”
— Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone · Share this quote
Do this: when a setup “looks exactly like” yesterday’s loser, take it anyway if it meets your rules. The last trade has no memory.
On losses
“The elements of good trading are: (1) cutting losses, (2) cutting losses, and (3) cutting losses.”
— Ed Seykota, in Market Wizards by Jack Schwager · Share this quote
Do this: place the stop the moment you enter, and never move it further away.
“Losses loom larger than gains.”
— Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, Prospect Theory; see Thinking, Fast and Slow · Share this quote
Do this: expect the urge to hold losers and cut winners early — it’s wired in. Rules decided before the session beat feelings during it.
“If you personalize losses, you can’t trade.”
— Bruce Kovner, widely attributed, from Market Wizards · Share this quote
Do this: journal losses as data (“setup B, stop hit, followed plan”), not as verdicts on you.
“Don’t focus on making money; focus on protecting what you have.”
— Paul Tudor Jones, widely attributed · Share this quote
Do this: set a daily loss limit and a maximum number of losing trades, and stop when you hit either.
On patience
“It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting.”
— Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator · Share this quote
Do this: track your exit efficiency. If winners routinely run far past where you exit, your problem is patience, not entries.
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”
— Warren Buffett, widely attributed · Share this quote
Do this: write down the setups you trade and skip everything else. Most overtrading is impatience wearing a strategy costume.
“Cut your losses short and let your profits run.”
— Old trading maxim, often credited to David Ricardo · Share this quote
Do this: compare your average win to your average loss. If losses are bigger, this maxim is the fix.
On yourself
“The investor’s chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.”
— Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor · Share this quote
Do this: tag your mistakes (revenge, FOMO, moved stop) for a month and total what each costs. The biggest number is your next project.
“Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market.”
— Ed Seykota, in Market Wizards by Jack Schwager · Share this quote
Do this: ask honestly what you get from trading on a bad day — excitement, being right, getting even. Then decide if that’s what you want to pay for.
“An edge is nothing more than an indication of a higher probability of one thing happening over another.”
— Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone · Share this quote
Do this: define your edge in one sentence. If you can’t, that’s the first thing to work on.
On the market
“There is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills.”
— Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator · Share this quote
Do this: keep a screenshot library of your best setups. The same patterns repeat; your job is to recognise them.
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
— John Maynard Keynes, widely attributed · Share this quote
Do this: size so being wrong for longer than you expect is survivable — see the risk of ruin calculator.
FAQ
What is the best book on trading psychology?
Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas is the most recommended; Market Wizards and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator are close behind.
How do I use trading quotes?
Pick one per week, turn it into a single rule (like “stop goes in at entry”), and check it in your journal every day.