Lewis Borsellino: Part I

Fabled Merc veteran Lewis J. Borsellino shares wisdom distilled after many rewarding years in one of the fastest-paced places on earth–the S&P futures pit.

Marc Dupee: Why have you succeeded at this game when so many others have failed?

Lewis Borsellino: Well, I think the number one thing that any trader has to have to succeed is discipline. I don’t know if you’ve seen my Site, but I have ten commandments of trading. You have to be a disciplined trader through all kinds of trading–through good times and bad times. It’s the good times that I see that end up destroying people. They think that they’re invincible, they think they can’t make a wrong decision, they can’t do anything wrong, and then they end up taking more risk than they’re accustomed to. Then, all of a sudden, the market does what it usually does: It surprises people and moves the other way–and you’re carrying the guy away because he got too big for his britches. I think that this is the number one reason why I’ve succeeded. I’ve always been grounded, always been a disciplined person, when it comes to trading.

The other thing is, as I say to people, I don’t really trade for money; I trade for success–meaning I want my plan to be successful. The product is money. When Bill Gates formed Microsoft, he wanted the best product and it just happened to make him one of the richest men out there. I think that is true of any trader. If you’re successful, you have a good plan, good buys, know where to stop out, know how to control your losses… Know how to learn from your losses. Learning from your losses is probably the biggest key to success, because the losses actually tell you what you’re doing wrong, what kind of market you’re in–if you’re in a trend-following market, a reversal market, whatever.