Martin Shkreli reveals what separates great traders from everyone else
"Traders are risk managers, fundamentally. Alpha is critical, but you cannot be a trader without excellent risk management."
"You have to be able to get out of a losing position, which for so many people is really hard to do. To a great trader, it's very easy. But you also have to be able to resist lots of different impulses. You can't be impulsive.
"That's why not many people are great traders. If anybody could be a great trader, you could easily get to a billion dollars in your personal account, but it's very hard."
"Bad traders will either change their mind too quickly, or never at all. Eventually, enough stubbornness will lead you to bankruptcy. But if you unloosen that screw too much, that's not very good for stocks you really believe in that could go up 10 or 20 or 30X."
"Good traders know when to get off the ride and not overstay their welcome, which I recommend after a 10x, 20x, 30x. You don't need the last 2x, you got most of it."
"You're not paid to calculate, analyzing, channel checks, modeling, research. You're paid to make this line of PnL go up. That's the only part of the job that matters. It doesn't matter if you were right in the long run. All that matters is this line going up."
Carl Jung was right when he said that if a man does not face his shadow by age 35 he will not improve. He will calcify. His defense will become his personality.