20 Best Mark Douglas Quotes For Traders
Nick Schmidt
Nick Schmidt is a co-founder of TraderLion and Deepvue with over 10 years of market experience. Since 2017, he has dedicated himself to providing top-quality educational material for investors and traders. Adopting a “less is more” philosophy, he focuses on weekly charts with an emphasis on price and volume.
September 8, 2019
When it comes to trading psychology, we always point new traders in the direction of Mark Douglas.
His books, most famously Trading in The Zone are staples in the industry for helping traders gain the foundation they need to develop the proper trading mindset.
If you really take these quotes to heart, study them, & apply them to your own trading, they will help you reach your trading goals as well.
While there are too many amazing lessons to present in this post, here are 20 of TraderLion‘s favorite Mark Douglas quotes of all time.
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20 Mark Douglas Quotes for Traders and Investors
If your goal is to trade like a professional and be a consistent winner, then you must start from the premise that the solutions are in your mind and not in the market.
Mark Douglas
When you achieve complete acceptance of the uncertainty of each edge and the uniqueness of each moment, your frustration with trading will end.
Mark Douglas
When you genuinely accept the risks, you will be at peace with any outcome.
Mark Douglas
Five Fundamental Truths:
Mark Douglas
1. Anything can happen.
2. You don’t need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money.
3. There is a random distribution between wins and losses for any given set of variables that define an edge.
4. An edge is nothing more than an indication of a higher probability of one thing happening over another.
5. Every moment in the market is unique.
When you really believe that trading is simply a probability game, concepts like right or wrong or win or lose no longer have the same significance.
Mark Douglas
If you can learn to create a state of mind that is not affected by the market’s behavior, the struggle will cease to exist.
Mark Douglas
The consistency you seek is in your mind, not in the markets.
Mark Douglas
Remember, the best traders think in a number of unique ways. They have acquired a mental structure that allows them to trade without fear and, at the same time, keeps them from becoming reckless and committing fear-based errors.
Mark Douglas
If you asked me to distill trading down to its simplest form, I would say that it is a pattern recognition numbers game. We use market analysis to identify patterns, define the risk, and determine when to take profits. The trade either works or it doesn’t.
Mark Douglas
Why do casinos make consistent money on an event that has a random outcome? Because they know that over a series of events, the odds are in their favor. They also know that to realize the benefits of the favorable odds, they have to participate in every event.
Mark Douglas
The hard, cold reality of trading is that every trade has an uncertain outcome.
Mark Douglas
What separates the “consistently great” athletes and performers from everyone else is their distinct lack of fear of making a mistake.
Mark Douglas
Rarely will the typical trader stay with his system beyond two or three losses in a row, and taking two or three losses in a row is a very common occurrence for most trading systems.
Mark Douglas
When I put on a trade, all I expect is that something will happen.
Mark Douglas
Jump to: The Top Stan Weinstein Quotes For Traders
No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation.
Mark Douglas
Putting on a winning trade or even a series of winning trades requires absolutely no skill. On the other hand, creating consistent results and being able to keep what we’ve created does require skill. Making money consistently is a by-product of acquiring and mastering mental skills.
Mark Douglas
Good market analysis can certainly contribute to and play a supporting role in one’s success, but it doesn’t deserve the attention and importance most traders mistakenly attach to it.
Mark Douglas
Trading rule 1: Predefine what a loss is in every potential trade.
Mark Douglas
Trading rule 2: Execute your losing trades immediately upon perception that they exist.
By predefining and cutting your losses short, you are making yourself available to learn the best possible way to let your profits grow.
The typical trader doesn’t predefine his risk, cut his losses, or systematically take profits because the typical trader doesn’t believe it’s necessary. The only reason why he would believe it isn’t necessary is that he believes he already knows what’s going to happen next, based on what he perceives is happening in any given ‘now moment.
Mark Douglas
It’s the ability to believe in the unpredictability of the game at the micro-level and simultaneously believe in the predictability of the game at the macro level that makes the casino and the professional gambler effective and successful at what they do.
Mark Douglas
Jump To: Charlie Munger Quotes
Recommended Mark Douglas Books
Click on a book below to find it on Amazon.