Richard Dennis, also known as the “Prince of the Pit”, was a very successful commodities trader. In the 1970s, Dennis borrowed $1,600 and turned it into over $200 million in about 10 years. Below we share TraderLion’s 11 favorite Richard Dennis quotes that are still applicable today.

11 Richard Dennis Quotes For Traders

It is misleading to focus on short-term results.

Richard Dennis

You have to minimize your losses and try to preserve capital for those very few instances where you can make a lot in a very short period of time. What you can’t afford to do is throw away your capital on suboptimal trades.

Richard Dennis

I learned to avoid trying to catch up or double up to recoup losses. I also learned that a certain amount of loss will affect your judgment, so you have to put some time between that loss and the next trade.

Richard Dennis

I’ve learned that markets, which are often just mad crowds, are often irrational; when emotionally overwrought, they’re almost always wrong.

Richard Dennis

In the real world, it is not too wise to have your stop where everyone else has their stop.

Richard Dennis

Trading decisions should be made as unemotionally as possible.

Richard Dennis

When things aren’t going right, don’t push, don’t press.

Richard Dennis

A good trend following system will keep you in the market until there is evidence that the trend has changed.

Richard Dennis

I always say that you could publish trading rules in the newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and discipline. Almost anybody can make up a list of rules that are 80 percent as good as what we taught people. What they couldn’t do is give them the confidence to stick to those rules even when things are going bad.

Richard Dennis

I could trade without knowing the name of the market.

Richard Dennis

There is another point that I think is as important: You should expect the unexpected in this business; expect the extreme. Don’t think in terms of boundaries that limit what the market might do. If there is any lesson I have learned in the nearly twenty years that I’ve been in this business, it is that the unexpected and the impossible happen every now and then.

Richard Dennis

Learn more: What is a stock gap?