What are YOUR iron rules of manual trading?

[arbitrage16]

Mine:

• Plan your trades
• Daily meditation practice
• Think in probabilities, not certainty (a recent addition)

What are yours?

[Euler]

Trade what you see, not what you feel.

Think about what others are thinking about. (Ultimately the market)

Leeading on from that, Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. This is an investment quote but I think it works pretty well in a trading market.

[Realrocknrolla]

I have to exercise before i trade manually. I feel sluggish if I don’t.

A good hard hour in the gym is a must from me.

[ShaunWhite]

If it's not working walk away. 'Normal' people work 22 days a month, no need for you to try and do 30.
We never truly switch off so time not pressing buttons is time your brain is subconsciously processing and filing your experiences.

Don't hype yourself up into work being a big deal, meditation and visualisation are fine but it's just your 9-5 rather than setting world records so get out of your pyjamas, have a couple of espressos, catch up on the news (forums articles etc to get in the mindset), start small for the first cycle and see how it's going.

All great advice from someone with exactly your problem. Fine for a while then blow-up. .

[decomez6]

-Silence
-serenity
-simplify
-timing
-rehearse,…rehearse…. rehearse again
- bait the observed and the observers
- think what the bots are thinking
-summarise
-expose
-attack !! With room for retreat.

[Euler]

I have to exercise before i trade manually. I feel sluggish if I don’t.

A good hard hour in the gym is a must from me.

I do a min of 30 minutes each day

[Realrocknrolla]

I have to exercise before i trade manually. I feel sluggish if I don’t.

A good hard hour in the gym is a must from me.

I do a min of 30 minutes each day

Good to know your looking after yourself physically and not just financially PW

[ODPaul82]

Red reached my max allowable amount? Just close it Paul and walk away
There's another market today and if not there's another one tomorrow

[arbitrage16]

Think about what others are thinking about. (Ultimately the market)

Leeading on from that, Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. This is an investment quote but I think it works pretty well in a trading market.

Believe that is a quote from your boy Buffett. I can see clear examples of that in financial markets, but when thinking about how it applies in a fast moving sports market I am less sure.

Is there an example or hypothetical you can think of that would elucidate the point please?

[decomez6]

how it applies in a fast moving sports market I am less sure.

From the opening to the start there is not much average price movement.
Unless a fat finger heads your way ( outlier).
The price plays around a fairly short range and it will move up and down that range In stages. You will have more activity from 10 mins before the the start and a crazy last 2 minutes , then comes the super sonic fast Betfair’s in play delay !
There is a time within this trading windows when sports trading resembles long/medium term investment, and other times when it resembles a day trader scalping short trading windows .sometimes you see a snowball effect when smart money hits the market and traders associate this with insider information, hence follow the money with a little shadow of a doubt.

- a ‘smart trader ‘should work out if it’s worth to follow such a huge crowd when the price movement has already adjusted appropriately to accommodate that insider information.

So i am guessing ( could be wrong) Peter /buffet. Meant to say “ think twice when the deal is too good , you might be buying into an outdated move/goods “ but most people will go for cheapest regardless of the underlying issues .
fear of missing out (FOMO) is more common than common sense.

[alexmr2]

Know your exit before your entry (more so the red side)
Keep your bank management/staking consistent
Expect to be wrong 50% of the time... so roughly expect 3 losers in a row every 8 trades etc.
Keep RR positive but realistic
Don't chase losses or try and make something out of nothing
Have some safeguards like max loss per trade/max loss per market/max loss per day
Walk away if you are emotionally charged or aren't feeling up to it for whatever reason
If you take any portion inplay to try and recover a loss, you may as well say goodbye to that money

[stueytrader]

Just out of interest, does anyone actually write out a checklist for rules/procedures for use during their trading day?

That could be either a more general one (e.g. meditate for 10 minutes before trading starts) or a more specific list (e.g. step-by-step procedures to follow during each trade).

[arbitrage16]

Just out of interest, does anyone actually write out a checklist for rules/procedures for use during their trading day?

That could be either a more general one (e.g. meditate for 10 minutes before trading starts) or a more specific list (e.g. step-by-step procedures to follow during each trade).

I have them pretty much memorised, and before each market I will write out different iterations of them - I see this as planning. I think it's as much about engaging S2 in the right way, so that S1 can do the appropriate work.