Linda Bradford Raschke has been a full-time professional trader for more than 40 years. She was the principle trader for several funds and also the Commodity Pool Operator for her own hedge fund she opened in 2002.
Her trading records were verified and she was included in Jack Schwager’s best selling book, The New Market Wizards. in 1992.
Linda Raschke and Larry Connors co-authored the book Street Smarts—High Probability Short Term Trading Strategies in 1996 that become a bestseller. She has been the president of the American Association of Professional Technical Analysts and also on the board of directors for the Market Technicians Association.
She has taught her trading principles and strategies to professional traders and bank traders internationally in more than 22 different nations.
Here are twelve of her best trading quotes that share her key principles to trading success.
“I’m also a firm believer in predicting price direction, but not magnitude. I don’t set price targets. I get out when the market action tells me it’s time to get out, rather than based on any consideration of how far the price has gone. You have to be willing to take what the market gives you.” – Linda Raschke
“Writing down your trades is the best exercise in the world.” – Linda Raschke
“I believe that only short-term price swings can be predicted with any precision. The accuracy of a prediction drops off dramatically, the more distant the forecast time. I’m a strong believer in chaos theory.” – Linda Raschke
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be a trader. In fact, some of the best traders whom I knew down on the floor were surf bums. Formal education didn’t really seem to have much to do with a person’s skill as a trader.” – Linda Raschke
“I really value the fact that I’ve learned to trade as a craft. Like any craft, such as piano playing, perfection may be elusive – I’ll never play a piece perfectly, and I’ll never buy the low and sell the high – but consistency is achievable if you practice day in and day out.” – Linda Raschke
“I truly feel that I could give away all my secrets and it wouldn’t make any difference. Most people can’t control their emotions or follow a system. Also, most traders wouldn’t follow my system, even if I gave them step-by-step instructions, because my approach wouldn’t feel right to them.” – Linda Raschke
“Understand that learning the market can take years. Immerse yourself in the world of trading and give up everything else. Get as close to other successful traders as you can. Consider working for one for free.” – Linda Raschke
“There are too many unpredictable things that can happen within two months. To me, the ideal trade lasts ten days, but I approach every trade as if I’m only going to hold it two or three days.” – Linda Raschke
“I believe my most important skill is an ability to perceive patterns in the market. I think this aptitude for pattern recognition is probably related to my heavy involvement with music.”- Linda Raschke
“The good traders are the ones who can hold their ground the majority of the month and participate in that small handful of trades that are windfalls. The real skill is in not LOSING money!” – Linda Raschke
“The third important ingredient for achieving peak performance is attitude. Attitude is how you deal with the inevitable adverse situations that occur in the markets. Attitude is also how you handle the daily grind, the constant 2 steps forward and 2 steps back.” – Linda Raschke
To summarize Linda Raschke’s 12 trading rules:
- Don’t let a small losing trade turn into a big losing trade.
- Let your winner run as far as it will go but exit on reversal signals.
- Put your trades down on paper.
- The farther away the future, the more unknownable it is.
- Formal education is not a requirement for trading success.
- Experience can lead to success but not perfection.
- Even a profitable system can’t be followed without emotional discipline.
- Do the work, focus on learning from experienced traders and the market.
- Expect a swing trade to last 2-3 days but let it run 10 days or more when it is a big winner.
- Price action creates patterns. Your job is to trade the patterns correctly.
- Losing small is a skill so your profits are bigger than your losses.
- You must have the right attitude to deal with losses and setbacks.
She retired recently from professional money management and authored and published her new book, “Trading Sardines: Lessons in the Market from a Lifelong Trader” that is only available for sale on her website lindaraschke.net. Here newest book is part memoir part trading book and a great read that is hard to put down.
