W.D. Gann’s Twenty-Four Never-Failing Rules
In order to make successful trading in the stock market, the trade must have definite rules and follow them.
Amount of capital to use: Divide your capital into 10 equal parts and never risk more than one-tenth of your capital on any trade.
Use stop-loss orders. Always protect a trade when you make it with a stop loss 3 to 5 points away.
Never overtrade. This would be violating your capital rule
Never let a profit run into a loss. After you once have a profit of 3 points or more, rise your stop loss order so that you will have no loss of capital.
Do not buck the trend. Never buy or sell if you are not sure of the trend according to your charts
When in doubt, get out, and don’t get in when in doubt.
Trade only in active stocks, Keep out of slow dead ones
Equal distribution of risk. Trade in 4 or 5 stocks, if possible. Avoid tying up all your capital in any one stock.
Never limit your orders or fix a buying or selling price. Trade at the market.
Don’t close your trades without a good reason. Follow up with a stop loss order to protect your profits.
Accumulate a surplus. After you have made a series of successful trades, put some money into the surplus account to be used only in emergencies or in times of panic.
Never buy just to get a dividend.
Never average a loss. This is one of the worst mistakes a trader can make
Never get out of the market just because you have lost patience or get into the market because you are anxious from waiting
Avoid taking small profits and big losses.
Never cancel a stop loss order after you have placed it at the time you make a trade
Avoid getting in and out of the market too often.
Be just as willing to sell short as you are to buy. Let your object be to keep with the trend and make money
Never buy just because the price of a stock is low or sell short just because the price is high
Be careful about pyramiding at the wrong time. Wait until the stock is very active and has crossed Resistance Levels before buying more and until it has broken out of the zone of distribution before selling more
Select the stocks with small volume of shares outstanding to pyramid on the buying side and the ones with the largest volume of stock outstanding to sell short
Never hedge. If you are long one stock and it starts to go down, do not sell another stock short to hedge it. Get out of the market; take your loss and wait for another opportunity.
Never change your position in the market without a good reason. When you make a trade, let it be for some good reason or according to some definite plan; then do not get out without a definite indication of a change in trend.
Avoid increasing your trading after a long period of success or a series of profitable trades.