20 Rules for Effective Trade Execution:

(From Hardrightedge.com)

1. Seek favorable conditions for trade entry, or stay out of the market until they appear. Bad execution ruins a perfect set-up.

2. Watch the tape before you trade. Look for evidence to confirm your opinion. Time, crowd, and trend must support the reversal, breakout, or fade you're expecting to happen.

3. Choose to execute, or stand aside. Staying out of the market is an aggressive way to trade.

4. Filter the trade through your personal plan.

5. Stay on the sidelines and wait for the opportunity to develop.

6. Decide how long you want to be in the market before you execute. Don't daytrade an investment or invest in a swing trade.

7. Take positions with the market flow, not against it. It's more fun to surf the waves than to get eaten by the sharks.

8. Avoid the open. They see you coming, sucker.

9. Stand apart from the crowd. Its emotions often signal opportunity in the opposite direction. Profit rarely follows the herd.

10. Maintain an open mind and let the the market show its hand before you trade it.

11. Keep your hands off the keyboard until you're ready to act.

12. When confusion reigns, and the crowd lacks direction, stand aside.

13. Take overnight positions before trading intra-day markets. Longer holding periods reduce the risk of bad execution.

14. Lower your position size until you show a track record.

15. Trade a swing strategy in a range-bound market, and a momentum strategy in trending markets.

16. An excellent entry on a mediocre position will make you more money than a bad entry on a good position.

17. Step in front of the crowd on pullbacks and stand behind them on breakouts. Be prepared to move against them on reversals.

18. Find the breaking point where the crowd will lose control, give up, or show exuberance. Then execute the trade just before they do.

19. Use market orders to get in fast when you can watch the market. Use limit orders when you have a life outside the markets.

20. Focus on execution, not technology. Fast terminals can make a good trader better, but can also make a bad trader worse.