Ok - first my disclaimer... I didn't write these. I thought they were pretty good. If you have your own trading rules or advice for our newer customers please add them to the list! :) Marilyn It's always time to put your emotions in check in the market. After all, we don't care what the market does. We really don't. All we care about is what we do when the market does it. To be a successful trader you must be neither a bull nor a bear. You should feel just as comfortable in cash as you should feel fully invested. You should feel comfortable shorting as going long. People often ask what it takes to be a good trader, and the thing is... everyone knows! But it doesn't matter because most people won't follow the simplest rules. Let your winners run. Don't let profits turn into losses. Cut your losers instantly. More often than not people let their egos get in the way of their trading. Remember; don't confuse intuition about a stock with "intu-wishing"! Here are a few more trading rules to live by: 1 Never, ever average down in a stock. That is a recipe for portfolio devastation. 2 Don't confuse a good stock with a good company. For example, Wal-Mart’s a great company, but right now, it's a terrible stock to own. 3 Stay with the trend (but be right in the end) 4 When you have a winning stock, just raise your stop point of where you will get out. Your stop point should be a break of the upward balance line, momentum line, and indicator sell signal, or one of the other tools you have been taught. 5 Don't get overly confident or emotional. If you feel too good when things do well, you'll feel too bad when things do poorly. If you think you finally got it knocked, that is exactly the time the pit god will take all the marbles back. 6 Don't trade for "money". Just make the right decisions and the money will come. 7 Not making the wrong trades is just as important as making the right ones. Not losing money is just as important as making money. Not giving profits back is the name of the game! It is not a game it’s a fight to the death! Win, win, and win. 8 Enter your stop orders ahead of time. Enter them right after you go long. That way, your emotions won't get in the way if the stock goes down and you'll avoid "wishing" the stock back up. Then, as the stock rises, you re-enter your stop order. 9 Stocks that fall 50% can often fall 50% again. 10 Stocks that double can often double again 11 Know the difference between "trading" and "investing". When you're trading you have a profit target. When you are investing you are willing to hold for as long as the stock is maintaining its technical and fundamental attributes. For example, Suncor is a stock you're buying for an "investment" and a penny stock would be something you trade for a quick profit. In reality, either way we are speculators. The key word "investing" gets used by brokerages to make stocks sound less risky. In fact, all stocks are just speculations! There are no investments, just different time frames of trading 12 Don't make "goals" about how much you want to make. All opportunity is not created equal. Sometimes there is very little opportunity in the market and sometimes it is everywhere. You are at the mercy of whether there is opportunity or not. You cannot create opportunity. You can only take advantage of it. Take what the stock or market is willing to give you, because there is no more to get