20 Best Ed Seykota Quotes for Traders
Nick Schmidt
Nick Schmidt is a co-founder of TraderLion and Deepvue with over 10 years of market experience. Adopting a “less is more” philosophy, he focuses on weekly charts with an emphasis on price and volume.
Published: October 28, 2019
20 Ed Seykota Quotes For Traders
Ed Seykota was born in 1946 and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
He may not be as famous as a name as Jesse Livermore and Mark Douglas but he is one of the greatest traders of all time.
His name became more popular after Jack Schwager wrote about Ed in his book Market Wizards. In this book, Jack mentions how Ed Seykota turned a client’s account from $5,000 to $15,000,000 in just 12 years.
Despite the popularity of Market Wizards, it was not written by Ed Seykota himself. Seykota’s first book, The Trading Tribe, focuses on just that, how he manages his “Trading Tribe”. It was published in 2005 and dives into trader psychology as well.
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His inspiration for the book came from his interactions with other traders and investors where he discovered emotions and psychology have much more of an effect on performance than most traders believe.
If you can’t take a small loss, sooner or later you will take the mother of all losses.
Ed Seykota
Systems don’t need to be changed. The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible.
Ed Seykota
Having a quote machine is like having a slot machine at your desk – you end up feeding it all day long. I get my price data after the close each day.
Ed Seykota
In order of importance to me are: 1) the long term trend, 2) the current chart pattern, and 3) picking a good spot to buy or sell.
Ed Seykota
Markets are fundamentally volatile. No way around it. Your problem is not in the math. There is no math to get you out of having to experience uncertainty.
Ed Seykota
Dramatic and emotional trading experiences tend to be negative. Pride is a great banana peel, as are hope, fear, and greed. My biggest slip-ups occurred shortly after I got emotionally involved with positions.
Ed Seykota
If you want to know everything about the market, go to the beach. Push and pull your hands with the waves. Some are bigger waves, some are smaller. But if you try to push the wave out when it’s coming in, it’ll never happen. The market is always right.
Ed Seykota
Trading requires skill at reading the markets and at managing your own anxieties.
Ed Seykota
To avoid whipsaw losses, stop trading.
Ed Seykota
The key to long-term survival and prosperity has a lot to do with the money management techniques incorporated into the technical system.
Ed Seykota
I usually ignore advice from other traders, especially the ones who believe they are on to a “sure thing”. The old timers, who talk about “maybe there is a chance of so and so,” are often right and early.
Ed Seykota
A lot of people would rather understand the market than make money.
Ed Seykota
It can be very expensive to try to convince the markets you are right.E
Ed Seykota
Trying to trade during a losing streak is emotionally devastating. Trying to play “catch up” is lethal.
Ed Seykota
Before I enter a trade, I set stops at a point at which the chart sours.
Ed Seykota
Risk control has to do with your willingness to allow your stop to do its job.
Ed Seykota
A trading system is an agreement you make between yourself and the markets.
Ed Seykota
The elements of good trading are (1) cutting losses, (2) cutting losses, and (3) cutting losses. If you can follow these three rules, you may have a chance.
Ed Seykota
In your recipe for success, don’t forget commitment – and a deep belief in the inevitability of your success.
Ed Seykota
