General Trading Rules
from Trading Rules: Strategies For Success by William F. Eng
Divide your trading capital into ten equal risk segments
Use a two-step order process
Don't overtrade
Never let a profit turn into a loss
Trade with the trend
If you don't know what's going on, don't do anything
Tips don't make you any money
Use the right order to get into the markets
Don't be whimsical about closing out your trades
Withdraw a portion of your profits
Don't buy a stock only to obtain a dividend
Don't average your losses
Take big profits and small losses
Go for the long pull as an outside speculator
Sell shorts as often as you go long
Don't buy something because it is low priced
Pyramid correctly, if at all
Decrease your trading after a series of successes
Don't formulate new opinions during market hours
Don't follow the crowd - they are usually wrong
Don't watch or trade too many markets at once
Buy the rumor, sell the fact
Take windfall profits when you get them
Keep charts current
Preserve your capital
Nothing new ever occurs in the markets
Money cannot be made every day from the markets
Back your opinions with cash when they are confirmed by market action
Markets are never wrong, opinions often are
A good trade is profitable right from the start
As long as a market is acting right, don't rush to take profits
Never permit speculative ventures to turn into investments
Don't try to predetermine your profits
Never buy a stock because it has a big decline from its previous high, nor sell a stock because it is high priced
Become a buyer as soon as a stock makes new highs after a normal reaction
The human side of every person is the greatest enemy to successful trading
Ban wishful thinking in the markets
Big movements take time to develop
Don't be too curious about the reasons behind the moves
Look for reasonable profits
If you can't make money trading the leading issues, you aren't going to make it trading the overall markets
Leaders of today may not be the leaders of tomorrow
Trade the active stocks and futures
Avoid discretionary accounts and partnership trading accounts
Bear markets have no supports and bull markets have no resistance
The smarter you are, the longer it takes
It is harder to get out of a trade than to get into one
Don't talk about what you're doing in the markets
When time is up, markets must reverse
Control what you can, manage what you cannot