Bruce Kovner Quotes

#1. If you don't work very hard, it is extremely unlikely that you will be a good trader.

Bruce Kovner

#2. Novice Traders trade 5 to 10 times too big. They are taking 5 to 10% risks on a trade they should be taking 1 to 2 percent risks.

Bruce Kovner

#3. Fundamentalists who say they are not going to pay any attention to the charts are like a doctor who says he's not going to take a patient's temperature.

Bruce Kovner

#4. The first rule of trading - there are probably many first rules - is don't get caught in a situation in which you can lose a great deal of money for reasons you don't understand.

Bruce Kovner

#5. In a bear market, you have to use sharp countertrend rallies to sell.

Bruce Kovner

#6. Michael [Marcus] taught me one thing that was incredibly important ... He taught me that you could make a million dollars. He showed me that if you applied yourself, great things could happen. It is very easy to miss the point that you really can do it.

Bruce Kovner

#7. In 1983, I set up Caxton Corp. It's been an interesting and happy ride since.

Bruce Kovner

#8. If you personalize losses, you can't trade.

Bruce Kovner

#9. Place your stops at a point that, if reached, will reasonably indicate that the trade is wrong, not at a point determined primarily by the maximum dollar amount you are willing to lose

Bruce Kovner

#10. I caught hold of the great bull market in soybeans in 1977. I had no idea what I was doing, incidentally.

Bruce Kovner

#11. Risk management is the most important thing to be well understood. Undertrade, undertrade, undertrade is my second piece of advice. Whatever you think your position ought to be, cut it at least in half.

Bruce Kovner