Mark Minervini is a legendary stock trader featured in Jack Schwager’s book “Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America’s Top Stock Traders“. In the book Schwager wrote: “Minervini’s performance has been nothing short of astounding. Most traders and money managers would be delighted to have Minervini’s worst year–a 128% gain–as their best.”
Starting with only a few thousand dollars, Mr. Minervini turned his personal trading account into millions, averaging 220% per year for more than five consecutive years with only one losing quarter; an incredible 33,500% total return.
Mark entered the U.S. Investing Championship in 1997 with his own $250,000 account to show the power of his own SEPA trading method. He traded against highly leveraged futures and options traders using a long-only stock portfolio to win the real-money investment derby with a 155% annual return, Amazingly, his triple digit trading performance was almost double the nearest competing money manager.
He is a best selling author with his own trading books “Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard and Think and Trade Like a Champion” which are both on BookAuthority’s “Best Stock Market Books of All Time” list) – He is also featured in the book Momentum Masters – A Roundtable Interview with Super Traders.
He also runs Minervini Private Access for his students and those interested in seeing his real time trading decisions and analysis.
Here are twelve of his best personal trading quotes.
“Long-term success in the stock market has nothing to do with hope or luck. Winning stock traders have rules and a well-thought-out plan. Conversely, losers lack rules, or if they have rules, they don’t stick to them for very long; they deviate.” –
“During a difficult trading environment your gains will be smaller and less frequent than during a healthy market. When this occurs, remember three words (with a nod to Nike): “Adjust” Do It! Always think risk in relation to reward. You must adjust your risk as a function of potential reward.” –
“Expectancy is your percentage of winning trades multiplied by your average gain, divided by your percentage of losing trades multiplied by your average loss. Maintain a positive expectancy, and you’re a winner. My results went from average to stellar when I finally made the choice that I was going to make every trade an intelligent risk/reward decision.” –
“PWT (percentage of winning trades)*AG (average gain) / PLT (percentage of losing trades)*AL (average loss) = Expectancy” –
“To compound your money, and not your mistakes, your goal is to buy on the way up—not on the way down.” –
“There really is no intelligent reason to increase your trading size if your positions are showing losses.” –
“It’s better to lose correctly than to win incorrectly.” –
“When you sell half, if the stock goes higher you say to yourself, “Thank goodness I kept half.” If the stock goes lower, you’ll say, “Thank goodness I sold half.” Psychologically, it’s a win/win either way.” –
“Not losing big is the single most important factor for winning big. As a speculator, losing is not a choice, but how much you lose is.” –
“You must not risk more than you can reasonably expect to gain; otherwise, you’re stacking the odds against you, and that’s gambling.” –
“Never stray from the basics of rule number one of always going in with a plan.” – Mark Minervini
“Whatever gifts or ability someone might have been born with, success in the market comes from a concerted effort and a willingness to allow the learning curve to unfold, no matter how long it takes.” –
