Here's the promised legend, Bernie
Cut your losses, let your profits run
"We used to know a trader, whose entry signals were supposedly coming from some green men out there beyond the moon. He maintained he is getting information via some interplanetary cellular phone, built out of an empty bottle of Coke, with a broken radio antenna stuck into it. Because of his ability to close off his trades the right way, this lucky (or unlucky) trader was really making money.
On one side he just could not stand the baiting of his fellow traders in the trade room he was exposed to when losing money, so he was very decisive when having to deal with losing trades. Usually it was some statics or some other cosmic interference which caused his losses, because they would mangle the secret transmission.
On the other side however, if he somehow happened to tumble into a successful trade, he tried to keep it going as long as possible. In this case he just could not stop preaching about the messages he was getting from beyond the earth to anybody who happened to be near him on the floor. Of course he needled other traders about their useless technical, fundamental and charting approach to making money. He was brutal in his criticism of conventional trading methods and full of you know what, when discussing his own successes. In one word, he was an absolute pain in the ass, when on the right side of market fence.
This lucky trader had the ability to cut his losses and let his profits run, and that's how he made money. His trading strategy was the talk of the floor and everybody was making jokes about the crazy trader and his secret discussions with a talking bottle of Coke..."
from Le Beau/Lucas: "Technical Trader's Guide to Computer Analysis of the Futures market" |
