Overview
Trading Forex may seem intimidating and tedious to beginners and even to more advanced traders who have been trading for years. One of the most important factors concerned with trading, and trading successfully, is for traders to stay positive and motivated.
This list contains quotes from not only professional and successful traders but other well-known figures who offer their words of encouragement and guidance, which can be applied in trading activities.
Michael Marcus
“Every trader has strengths and weakness. Some are good holders of winners but may hold their losers a little too long. Others may cut their winners a little short but are quick to take their losses. As long as you stick to your own style, you get the good and bad in your own approach.”
This quote serves the purpose of informing traders that some trades will be good while others may be bad and that mistakes are made. The important thing to remember is that traders need to keep to their own style and not try to mimic that of others too often.
Michael Marcus is well-known for turning a mere US Dollar 700 into US Dollar 80 million. Marcus was featured in the Market Wizards book and one of his greatest mentors is Ed Seykota.
Alexander Elder
“You can be free. You can live and work anywhere in the world. You can be independent of routine and not answer to anybody.”
This quote refers to the freedom that Forex trading provides in that trading can be done from anywhere in the world and at any time. Traders are in control of their own trading, the time they dedicate to it, and what they put into it.
Dr Alexander Elder is a famous professional trader who was born in Leningrad and grew up in Estonia. He was enrolled on medical school at 16 years old, and at 23, while he had been working as the doctor on a ship, he boarded a Soviet ship in Africa.
He received political asylum in the United States and started working as a psychiatrist in New York while teaching at the University of Columbia.
Martin Schwartz
“A lot of people get so enmeshed in the markets that they lose their perspective. Working longer does not necessarily equate to working smarter. In fact, sometimes it is the other way around.”
This quote refers to the fact that traders tend to overcomplicate trading and that they should stick to simplified methods that work the best for them by trading smart.
Martin Schwartz is well-known for winning the United States Investing Championship in 1984.
Nicolas Darvas
“I believe in analysis and not forecasting.”
This emphasises the need for either fundamental or technical analysis, and even both, instead of merely trying to forecast or speculate about the market will do. Conducting analysis is a crucial factor before executing trades.
Nicolas Darvas is a dancer by training, and he taught himself how to trade and subsequently made US Dollar 2 million in the stock market. Darvas is especially known for his ‘box theory’ regarding the technical analysis.
Van K. Tharp
“A peak performance trader is totally committed to being the best and doing whatever it takes to be the best. He feels totally responsible for whatever happens and thus can learn from mistakes. These people typically have a working business plan for trading because they treat trading as a business.”
This refers to the seriousness with which traders need to regard trading, not merely as a game, but as a personal business that they want to see grow and thus their trading decisions should reflect their willingness and commitment to grow their trading to its best.
Van K. Tharp is known as one of the best trading psychologists who has been helping traders with their trading plans and systems.
He has also helped numerous traders overcome beliefs that limit them and their performance to allow them to become the best version of themselves, and subsequently, better traders.
Ed Seykota
“Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people like to lose, so they win by losing money.”
Although quite a confusing quote to some, it merely refers to some trading psychology and the mindset with which people enter the market, in addition to the approaches that people may take that is aligned with the expectations that some traders may have when entering the Forex market.
Some traders take too many risks and they trade too often without doing their homework on trading before they put large sums of money at risk. Subsequently, these traders start feeding off the bad habits that they developed, and it leads to the creation of a cycle of losses.
To be successful, traders must develop confidence in trading along with having the drive and ambition necessary to become successful.
By trading on their emotions, or not being disciplined, they are paralyzed and caught in overthinking or they doubt their own abilities greatly.
Ed Seykota helps traders on his website, Trading Tribe. Besides, he was responsible for pioneering the testing of mechanical trend following systems on punch-card computers during the 1970s.
Paul Tudor Jones
“The secret to being successful from a trading perspective is to have an indefatigable and an undying and unquenchable thirst for information and knowledge.”
Traders will not always know all that there is to know about Forex trading as conditions are ever-changing, and so they must adapt.
Traders who ensure that they stay up to date with these changing conditions, and who continually educate themselves are more likely to be successful. There should be a continuous drive for both information and the knowledge that can be obtained from it.
Paul Tudor Jones is a well-known name in the trading industry for his prediction on the Black Monday stock crash which occurred in 1987 where he tripped his capital.
Jones is the founder of the Robin Hood Foundation which is a philanthropic organization which is predominantly backed by hedge fund operators.
William O’Neil
“What seems too high and risky to the majority, generally goes higher, and what seems low and cheap generally goes lower.”
Those who are not willing to take risks and take their trading further tend to either stand still or lower their trading. Trading comes at a risk and often, although the advice is never to risk more than you can afford, it takes some risk and taking a chance to earn great profits.
Those who never push themselves further in trading will never be able to grow as traders and instead of delving into trading, such traders keep to the shallows and may even lose interest in trading as they are unable to meet their trading needs and objectives.
William O’Neil is the founder of Investor’s Business Daily and he is also famous for the CANSLIM method associated with stock investment and trading.
John Maynard Keynes
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
The markets, regardless of which one, can be inherently unreasonable and highly unpredictable, and from Keynes’ quote there are two crucial lessons which can be learnt namely, that:
- Markets may and can act perversely in the short-term, and
- Traders should not try to rationalize the behaviour of markets.
Traders should not try to justify their positions internally or try to convince themselves that they are right. Traders should rather use the current market condition as it exists to decide whether their position is still justified.
John Maynard Keynes is known for his Keynesian Economics and he is a famous British economist who has both won and lost fortunes through speculation.
In Keynesian Economics, Keynes believed that during an economic turndown, it is the responsibility of the government to borrow funds to finance the recovery of that economy.
Warren Buffet
“You do not need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ.”
This quote simply means that trading and investing does not need a high level of intelligence to be done smartly. Choices need to be smart and thus trading should be too, but it does not have to do with the trader’s level of intelligence, but how they play the game.
Warren Buffet is a household name in trading and investing in addition to being seen as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’. The buffet is one of the richest men in the world and is also known for his advice that traders and investors alike should take to heart.
Randy McKay
“When I get hurt in the market, I get the hell out. It doesn’t matter at all where the market is trading. I just get out, because I believe that once you’ve hurt in the market, your decisions are going to be far less objective than they are when you’re doing well. If you stick around when the market is severely against you, sooner or later, they are going to carry you out.”
Traders often make the mistake of staying in the market when it is clear that market conditions are against them, in the hopes that the market will change direction and favour their position.
Traders need to clearly define their entry and exit points in their trading plan and stick to it to avoid incurring substantial losses that could potentially cripple them.
This also indicates chaotic or emotional trading that traders may be susceptible to when they start losing and they try to salvage the situation by staying in an unfavourable and losing position, which can be detrimental.
Randy McKay started trading with US Dollar 3,000 in 1972 when he used the seat that his brother held in IMM. McKay is, also, also featured in The New Market Wizards and is a famous name in the trading community.
George Soros
“It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, it’s how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.”
It does not matter what the trader’s winning rate is, what is important is how much the trader makes when they are right and how much they lose when they are wrong, which is all that is important in trading, the rest is irrelevant.
George Soros is known as one of the men who ‘broke the Bank of England’ and dedicates both his time and money towards supporting progressive political causes.
Larry Hite
“Throughout my financial career, I have continually witnessed examples of other people that I have known being ruined by a failure to respect risk. If you don’t take a hard look at risk, it will take you.”
Traders are exposed to numerous risks in trading and they must ensure that they not only respect it but manage it effectively or they may end up losing everything.
Risk management is crucial in trading and traders should never underestimate the amount of risk that they are exposed to at any given time. Risk demands respect and appropriate mitigation.
Larry Hite, along with Ed Seykota, helped pioneer computerized system trading.
Bruce Kovner
“If you personalize losses, you can’t trade.”
As short as this quote may be, it contains a substantial amount of meaning towards the fact that traders should not take losses personally and they must keep emotions out of trading.
When losing, if the trader is not disciplined and too connected to their emotions, traders may act erratically and try to trade more and take risks that they cannot afford to try and make up for losses.
Traders should rather, when experiencing a losing trade, make notes of the methods and strategies that they used along with the market conditions and other factors to help themselves learn from their mistakes.
Bruce Kovner started trading soybean futures with US Dollar 3,000 that he had borrowed on a credit card. His trade eventually escalated to US Dollar 23,000 and his fortune grow to where he currently has an estimated net worth of US Dollar 5.3 billion.
Victor Sperandeo
“The key to trading success is emotional discipline. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money in trading. I know this will sound like a cliché, but the single most important reason that people lose money in the financial markets is that they don’t cut their losses short.”
This quote features two important lessons which can be learnt from trading psychology, which would appear to be a repeating theme in a lot of quotes from professional and famous traders.
Traders need to keep their emotions in line when trading as they will start losing money if they do not trade systematically and according to their trading plan, which must define entry and exit points in trades.
By holding a losing position in the hopes that the markets will move in a favourable direction, traders lose more money than they can afford.
Victor Sperandeo is one of a few traders who benefited greatly when the stock market crashed in 1987 and subsequently made 300% on his money.
Jesse Livermore
“The game taught me the game and it didn’t spare me the rod while teaching.”
The only way to really learn about trading is through trading. Traders can read all the tutorials, guidelines, books, and other resources, and they will not become skilled without really trading.
Through trial and error, traders build up skill and through experience, traders will not only ensure that their mistakes are not repeated, but it will allow traders to trust their own judgement despite what they are told by others.
Jesse Livermore is considered a pioneer in day trading and on more than one occasion, he has lost his fortune by ignoring his trading rules.
Robert Arnott
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.”
In both trading and investing, when traders do not take risks, they will not be able to profit. This does not mean that traders should risk more than they can afford but merely means that with some risk, within reason, there are great rewards.
Robert Arnott, born in 1954, is an American entrepreneur, investor, editor as well as a writer who predominantly focuses on articles concerning quantitative investing.
Tom Basso
“I think investment psychology is by far the more important element, followed by risk control, with the least important consideration being the question of where you buy and sell.”
This quote emphasises the psychology associated with trading and investment as a crucial factor as it is a determinant towards when and where a trader executes a trade.
By being disciplined in trading and controlling emotions, traders can make better trading decisions based on methodology and strategy than emotion.
Besides, by practising risk management and control, traders can effectively manage their risks and avoid executing trades that are outside of their risk tolerance.
Tom Basso, the author of two books namely Panic-Proof Investing and The Frustrated Investor, is an American hedge fund manager who was both president and founder of Trendstat Capital Management.
Peter Lynch
“In this business, if you’re good, you’re right six times out of ten. You’re never going to be right nine times out of ten.”
Speculating on the movement of the markets is risky and traders can only be right so many times. It is impossible to be right continuously as market conditions and the driving forces behind it is out of the control of traders.
Traders lose some and they win some. It is a part of Forex trading and traders need to adopt the right mindset when going into Forex trading so that they can trade in a systematic, disciplined manner and keep their emotions out of their trading.
Peter Lynch, born in 1944, is an American mutual fund manager, investor, and philanthropist who also co-authored several books and papers on investing.
He is described as a legend by the financial media due to his consistent performance record.
Nial Fuller
“It is critical for the crocodile to understand its prey and to know where to look for it and remain calm and patient until it arrives. As traders, we have to know what our trading edge looks like and where to look for it, and then control ourselves enough to not over-trade before it arrives.”
What can be taken from this quote is that traders need to understand where their entry points are when trading so that they can open a position when it is time to do so, and thus avoid overtrading before they need to enter the market.
Overtrading can be detrimental, and it can lead to substantial losses. Mistakes are often made in trading and traders must learn from their mistakes so that they can avoid them in the future.
Nial Fuller is a professional Forex trader whose specialization lays in the analysis of price action trading. He has more than a decade of experience in trading financial markets from futures to Forex.
Sun Tzu
“Every battle is won or lost before it’s ever fought.”
Every trade can be seen as a battle that requires adequate preparation in every aspect. Traders are always faced with uncertainty in the market, which is by far the most certain thing regarding financial markets.
Therefore, traders need to learn how to identify possible scenarios that they may be faced with and prepare contingencies for each scenario. The importance of a trading plan cannot be overstressed as it prepares traders for what they face and helps them mitigate risks and avoid losses.
Sun Tzu lived in the Eastern Zhou period of ancient China and was a general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher.
Although the quote is not specifically directed at trading, it can be applied to trading effectively.
As with war there is a significant amount of preparation and with trading, there is just as much that has to be done before strategically executing a trade as it is a financial war between participants where some win, and others lose.
Babe Ruth
“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.”
Every day that traders take on the Forex market is a new day and traders should never assume that the wins they may have had in previous days will carry over into their next trades.
Regardless of how previous trades have gone, whether traders have won or lost, they should not affect how traders handle their next positions. The markets change constantly, and conditions can change quickly, and traders need to plan their trade positions adequately.
George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. was a professional American baseball player who established numerous MLB batting records which included 714 career home runs, 2,213 runs batted in, and 2,062 bases on balls.
His quote about baseball can effectively be applied to trading as, although it is a different game, it involves the same mindset. Every new day brings different circ*mstances and traders need to prepare themselves adequately.
Oprah Winfrey
“Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”
Numerous traders appear to be ‘lucky’ with consistent winning trades but it depends more on how traders have become more profitable as they have adequately learned how to prepare better when they are provided with an opportunity in their trades.
Oprah Winfrey is a well-known figure as an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist.
Mark Zuckerberg
“The biggest risk is not taking a risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
While the aim is to earn profits, losing is still a part of trading as much as winning is. By trading Forex, traders are exposed to numerous risks and the best that can be done, is by making extensive use of risk management tools and for traders to be flexible in their trade execution.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, Inc. is an American media magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Charles Darwin
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
There is uncertainty involved in Forex trading with market conditions that are constantly changing, and which can change at any given time without a moment’s notice.
Profitable trading methods as well as correlations in the trading world today may not be what gets a trader a winning trade in a week or a month. Traders need to be adaptable to the trading environment and the market conditions to survive.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist who is popular for the contributions that he made to the science of evolution. His quote perfectly fits the bill in trading as it involves the evolution of traders in ever-changing financial markets.
Jack Schwager
“There is no single market secret to discover, no single correct way to trade the markets. Those seeking the one true answer to the markets haven’t even gotten as far as asking the right question, let alone getting the right answer.”
Traders often misunderstand the aspect associated with trading. Traders often think that there is a holy grail or magical formula which will guarantee them the most profitable results with minimal drawdown.
This is not the case, as many traders discover after a while. Traders need to explore trading, find their own style, a strategy that works for them and work from it.
Traders need to adapt and change their strategy as conditions trade and grow in their trading journey.
Jack Schwager is a well-known and recognized expert in futures and hedge funds. Schwager is also the author of numerous acclaimed financial books.
Jim Rogers
“I just wait until there is money lying in the corner, and all I have to do is go over there and pick it up. I do nothing in the meantime.”
The key to Forex trading success lays in many factors, some may not be in the hands of traders, but practising patience is one that traders have control over.
Without patience and waiting for the right moment to enter markets, traders will be trading subpar setups and they will lose substantial amounts of capital.
There is a significant opportunity cost associated with overtrading and traders must keep a clear mind so that they can identify favourable trade setups.
By being patient and waiting for the most favourable opportunities, traders place themselves in a much better position to not only identify but capitalize on inefficiencies that exist in the market.
Jim Rogers, born in 1942, is a well-known American investor and financial commentator. He is not only the co-founder of the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management but is also the Chairman of Beeland Interests, Inc.
Conclusion
Despite the risks involved with Forex trading and the seemingly tedious process to become a successful trader, traders need to ensure that they have the dedication and patience that it takes in addition to the ambition required to keep trading.
