Quote from OldTrader:
It's interesting that you get alot of agreement to your point in this thread. Paul Tudor Jones disagrees with you. In the interview in market wizards, he mentions the trading rules he lives by. He says "The most important rule of trading is to play great defense, not great offense."
Later he says talks about his "guiding philosophy is playing great defense".
So let me throw the question back to you: What do you think that you know that PTJ doesn't?
OldTrader
PTJ was right on. He was also right on when he said this:
"Suddenly a lightbulb clicks on and you start visualizing in advance the scripts the markets are following. These are the occasions when you have to max out with mega-positions and play just as hard as you can stand it."
Big contradiction? Or perhaps no real contradiction at all. Just two sides of the same coin. (With that said, PTJ probably stressed defense in his M wizards interview for one reason: most folks don't realize you must
earn the right to be agressive, by first being consistently conservative.)
For the truly skilled, there is no artificial dividing line between offense and defense. They blend into the same thing -- correct action at all times. A great trader acts as he does because, given what he knows and understands, he simply could not act otherwise.
In my opinion, when a guy like PTJ speaks of offense or defense, he is just highlighting one aspect of an inseparable whole. The full picture is almost impossible to pack into a small space, especially in words a neophyte interviewer can understand.
If the offense / defense thing had a standard formula mix, there wouldn't be any great traders, just formula followers. Why aren't there more Schumachers or Federers or Jordans?
Not everyone gets to a badass.
