25 RULES of MONEY MANAGEMENT

1. 95 % of all Futures, Stock and Options traders are long term losers

2. The 5% that win will earn the money the 95% lose since futures trading is a zero sum game

3. You must master three disciplines to achieve long-term successful speculation: a. Trading methodology (long or short-term, technical versus fundamental analysis, type of trading system, etc); b. Psychological discipline (controlling emotions of fear, greed and anxiety); c. Money management (risk reword decision analysis for each trading opportunity - when, where, why and how to bet on a particular event)

All three disciplines are necessary, but not sufficient individually - only all three combined are necessary and sufficient to achieve success.

You must develop a trading personality which integrates all three disciplines to achieve long-term success in speculation. If you do not, you will fail.

4. 95% of futures traders concentrate on trading methodology and ignore disciplines two and three. If you only focus on trading methodology, you will eventually fail in speculation. The only question is when you will fail, not if.

5. Psychological problems are caused mainly by uncertainty . . . which creates fear, greed and anxiety.

6. Uncertainty can be significantly reduced if the trader has information and knowledge which creates certainty rather than uncertainty. Certainty reduces fear of the unknown, greed, anxiety, and creates confidence and success.

7. 95% of traders are totally disorganized as to analyzing their trading results . . . and have no concept of how to organize their profitable and unprofitable trades.

Practical organization of trading results is a primary prerequisite in mastering the money management discipline.

8. Brokers' statements provide absolutely no value or practical use in mastering the three disciplines.

9. To master the money management discipline, the trader requires information which is: a. timely; b. accurate and; c. practical. All three tests are necessary and sufficient. Each individual test is necessary but not sufficient.

10. Futures trading is just like running a business. If you do not approach trading in the manner of a successful business, (such as IBM, Sony or Apple Computers) you will. Probably fail in the long run.

11. All three disciplines are inter-linked. If you make progress in one of the three areas, the other two areas will automatically improve.

12. 95% of all traders play as customers in a casino and not as the casino.

13. You must play as the casino and not as a customer to achieve long-term successful speculation.

14. The customer in the casino will always lose and the casino will always win in the long run.

15. Long-term success can only be achieved by playing a game with a positive expectation - (or playing a negative expectation game which you expect to become positive - a more risky technique)

16. The best approach is to play a game where you have a positive expectation and make small bets (playing as the casino). The 5% of traders who succeed fall into this category.

The worst case is to play a negative expectation game and make large bets . . . Most of the 95% traders who fail are in this category.

17. Before you make your first trade, you must establish your risk profile approach towards trading (conservative, moderate, aggressive). You must know who you are. This risk profile will determine your approach to the risk./reward decision making process.

18. Before you make your first trade, you must establish monthly, quarterly and annual goals for each profit center. These goals should be both operating and financial goals.

19. Nearly every trader who is successful was a consistent and/or heavy loser when he/she first began trading (paying their dues), losing significant amounts of capital in the process. This is a situation which stems from the fact that traders focus on the trading methodology and ignore the other two disciplines.

Losing significant amounts of capital can be avoided if the trader is making a sincere effort to integrate the 3 disciplines into his/her personality.

20. 95% of traders do not know where they have been, where they are or where they are going in their trading. They operate like a plane in a fog trying to fly with no instruments. They are disorganized, uncertain, anxious, fearful and eventually are forced out of the speculation game. If you emulate this 95% group of individuals, you will wind up equally frustrated and you will eventually fail.

21. The more you trade (daytrading), the more sophisticated your money-management discipline has to be.

22. The less you trade (long-term positions based on fundamental analysis), the less sophisticated your money-management discipline can be.

23. You should classify any contemplated trade into one of the following five categories before putting on a position:

a. Entrance into congestion
b. A trade within a congestion
c. A breakout from a congestion area
d. A trend run
e. Trend reversal

24. The trader will have difficulty in formulating a successful and intelligent risk/reward (entry/exit) plan unless the trade is properly categorized before the trade is taken. The risk/reward parameters are different for each of the five types of trades.

25. Having timely, practical and correct information of trading results instantly available enables the trader to make rapid, unemotional and informed trading decisions.

Trading will then be less victimized by emotions and instead become more "scientific," unemotional and mechanical.