Struggling with overtrading?
Do this:
Take only one trade per day for 30 days.
It sounds simple in theory, but it will expose how often you trade from boredom, frustration, or FOMO—not because you found a great setup.
If you cannot resist a mediocre trade, can you really call yourself disciplined?
Could you last 30 days?
Here's a recent interview with Richard Moglen featuring my three top protégés, all of whom work with me every day helping run Minervini Private Access.
Bob Weissman has been with me for more than 20 years and, as many of you know, won the U.S. Investing Championship last year.
Before Mark Richie and Brandon, Hedgepath came to work for me, they were paying MPA customers for 10 years. And in 2010, they came to the very first Master Trader Program.
If you're interested in hearing how they approach the markets, their process, and the lessons they've learned over the years, I think you'll enjoy this conversation.
https://t.co/wyrRg1la14
The nature of this game is just brutal. Survival rates are low. Only 16% of the USIC field is reporting profitable in June....I imagine it will be lower after July.
Anyone who has been doing this for 10+ years is an outlier. I always listen when they are generous enough to share their hard-won knowledge/wisdom.
I don't think technically I've improved that much as a trader over the years, I knew everything I needed to know within a year or two. The wisdom to know when to apply it. The patience to WAIT. The patience was, by far, the hardest part for me. It still is. I'm getting much better though!
There are times when multiple headwinds align, and history suggests this may be one of them. August–September has been the weakest two-month stretch for the S&P 500 over the past 37 years, while August–October has produced the weakest average three-month returns. This year also falls in the second year of the four-year cycle, a period that has historically been even more challenging.
The concern grows when rising bond yields and higher energy prices enter the equation. The last notable example was 2022. Similar conditions also developed in 1990, during the Gulf War, and in 1987, ahead of the October crash. In each case, bond yields moved higher, energy prices strengthened, and stocks struggled as yields regained an inverse relationship with equities.
Today, the setup is familiar. The S&P GSCI Energy Index has surged roughly 30% in just five weeks, while global bond yields have climbed to their highest levels since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, the inverse correlation between bond yields and equities is the strongest it's been in decades.
History never repeats exactly, but it often rhymes. Strong earnings, resilient economic growth, or easing geopolitical tensions could certainly allow the market to buck these seasonal tendencies. But with multiple historical headwinds lining up, going into August/September is a time for discipline, prudent risk management, and letting the evidence—not opinions—guide your decisions.
https://t.co/JXzFFTmMtn
from my experience a large % of people never get to stage 1. Never take responsibility for mistakes and never understand success comes from giving, not taking.
Books changed my life.
I may have dropped out of school, but that doesn't mean I'm uneducated. Quite the opposite. My personal library contains more than 4,000 books, and I've read every one of them.
Long before I could afford to buy books, I spent countless hours at my local library—week after week, year after year—for more than a decade. That library became my classroom, and books became my mentors.
I never finished school, but I never stopped learning. One idea, one lesson, or one page from someone with real experience can inspire and change the direction of your life.
That's why I write books today. I know firsthand the power of learning from someone who has actually walked the path and achieved real results. A great book can change the trajectory of a life, just as it changed mine.
Learn. Do. Achieve. Inspire. Pass the torch.
https://t.co/JXzFFTmMtn
The longer I trade...
The less impressed I am by someone who made 100%+ in a great year.
I'm far more interested in how they handled the difficult ones.
Bull markets make a lot of traders look exceptional.
Challenging markets expose who truly has a process.
- Can you protect your capital?
- Can you stay patient when there are no A+ opportunities?
- Can you sit in cash without feeling the need to force trades?
That's where discipline separates itself from luck.
That's where long-term traders are built.
The market remains under pressure, although our Open Positions have held up relatively well on balance. That said, volatility is beginning to pick up, and several positions have started to experience deeper pullbacks than I'd prefer to see. In response, we have started taking some profits and are tightening up stops.
Yesterday, we sold our $GOOGL position ahead of earnings while choosing to hold $CSX into its report, supported by a comfortable profit cushion. That decision has worked out well, with CSX responding favorably this morning.
Beneath the surface, signs of speculative excess are becoming more apparent, reinforcing the need for disciplined risk management. Tighten stops, protect existing profits, and raise the bar for new purchases. The combination of surging crude oil prices, escalating geopolitical tensions, and our cycle work pointing to stronger seasonal headwinds into August and September argues for preserving capital and remaining highly selective.
One area to watch closely is semiconductors. The group has become oversold and is due for a rally. Whether buyers can step in here will be an important test of market health. A failure to produce a meaningful rebound would be an added negative. At the same time, the 10-year Treasury yield continues to build a long-term base. A decisive upside breakout in yields would likely create an additional headwind for equities.
he market remains under pressure, although our Open Positions have held up relatively well on balance. Even so, volatility is beginning to expand with some of our trades pulling in a bit more than I would like to see.
We sold our $GOOGL before earnings and held our $CSX position into earning (due to having a good size profit cushion). That has turned out well this morning.
Signs of speculative excess are becoming more evident beneath the surface which calls for tight discipline. Tighten stops, protect existing gains, and raise the bar for new purchases. With crude oil surging, geopolitical tensions escalating, and our cycle work pointing to increased headwinds into August and September, preserving capital and remaining highly selective should be the priority here. Semis are oversold. this will be a good test to see if they can rally. If not, bad sign. 10-year yield is in a long base. A breakout to the upside would be negative for stocks. https://t.co/JXzFFTmMtn
A crash is significantly easier to trade than the chop we are seeing right now. In a crash, nothing sets up, so you simply step aside and sit in cash. This tape, however, is a psychological trap. It offers just enough random movement to tempt you in, only to sell breakouts on contact and squeeze shorts with violent, stop-hunting ramps. Our tradeable universe is shrinking as the market actively hunts liquidity in both directions. Trading serious size in this environment is a losing proposition. Don't take the bait.
When you're going through a tough time or feel like you're getting all the bad breaks, don't ask, "Why is this happening to me?"
Ask, "What can this do for me?"
What can I learn from this? What opportunity might this create? What door could this be opening that I just can't see yet?
And if it feels like every door is closing, then ask yourself one last question: What's the lesson?
There's always a lesson. If you learn from it, the setback wasn't a waste. It was a gift.
Stop being ungrateful when you get gifts in disguise. Say, thank you teacher.
Samsung last week. ASML on Wednesday. Taiwan Semi Yesterday. All blew away earnings. All increased estimates. All had news failure. You think this doesnt matter?
"Look at those hedge funds - you think they can wait? They don't know how to wait! I have sat for years at a time with $10 to $12 million in treasuries or municipals, just waiting, waiting...As Jesse Livermore said, 'The big money is not in the buying and selling...but in the waiting.'" ~ Charlie Munger
Stock Market Wizards Quotes (88/117)
Rather than blindly searching through the data for patterns…we typically start by formulating a hypothesis based on some sort of structural theory or qualitative understanding of the market, and then test that hypothesis to see whether it is supported by the data.
David Shaw
https://t.co/PnHdRVrNxg
get out of the markets for a while. a week maybe. watch as a neutral observer. listen to the things your friends are saying and paying attention to. how they are panicing over the smallest random moves, the dumbest headlines. you will start to see the rediculousness of 95% of what people pay attention to and realize how useless that is over time.