ZF Capital

A Harvard professor once asked his students to do a special report on fish. His scholars went to the library, read books about fish, and then wrote their expositions The students were shocked when, after turning in their papers, the professor tore them up and threw them in the waste basket. When they asked what was wrong with the reports, the professor said, ‘If you want learn anything about fish, sit in front of a fish bowl and look at fish.’

– William O’Neil

Many inexperienced investors somehow think the market today is very different. Some maintain it is more volatile. Others believe because it is dominated by institutions, many of the old methods don’t work anymore.

Still others feel that with so much information available, everything is known and already discounted in the price of stocks. Stocks, as a result, are efficient, they feel, so attempts at stock selection are destined to fail.

However, my experience is that precious little has changed. The same old things happen in the market, cycle after cycle; it’s just that the players are different.

– William O’Neil, How to Make Money in Stocks

Great opportunities occur every year in America. Get yourself prepared and go for it. You will find that little acorns can grow into giant oaks. Anything is possible with persistence and hard work. It can be done, and your own determination to succeed is the most important element.

– William O’Neil, Market Wizards by Jack Schwager

On Wall Street, wise men, as well as fools, can be easily drawn into booby traps. In fact, in my experience a perrson’s years and quality of education have very little to do with making big money investing in the market.

The more intelligent people are, the more they tend to think they know what they are doing — and the more they will have to learn the hard way how little they really know about outsmarting the stock market. The few people I have known over the years who have been unquestionably successful making money in stocks were decisive, decision-making individuals without huge egos.

The market has a simple way of whittling all excessive pride and overblown egos down to size. After all, the whole idea is to be completely objective and recognize what the marketplace is telling you, rather than try to prove that the thing you said or did yesterday or six weeks ago was right. The fastest way to take a bath in the stock market or go broke is to try to prove that you are right and the market is wrong.

– William O’Neil, How to Make Money in Stocks

The general market should be studied closely every day, since reverses in trends can begin on any one day. I emphasize this practical method rather than that of interpreting other subsidiary indicators that are supposed to tell you exactly what the market should be doing or listening to the many stock market letter writers or technical analysts that pore over twenty indicators and tell you what they think the market should be doing. Market letters sometimes may create doubt, uncertainty and confusion in an investor’s mind. Markets tend to go up when people are skeptical and disbelieving.

Learn to interpret a daily price and volume chart of the general market averages. If you do, you can’t get too far off the track. You really won’t need much else unless you want to argue with the trend of the market.

Experience teaches you that continually arguing with the market can be very expensive, That’s how people go broke!

– William O’Neil, How the Make Money in Stocks

On Wall Street, wise men, as well as fools, can be easily drawn into booby traps. In fact, in my experience a person’s years and quality of education have very little to do with making big money investing in the market.

The more intelligent people are, the more they tend to think they know what they are doing– and the more they will have to learn the hard way how little they really know about outsmarting the stock market. The few people l have known over the years who have been unquestionably successful making money in stocks were decisive, decision-making individuals without huge egos.

The market has a simple way of whittling all excessive pride and overblown egos down to size. After all, the whole idea is to be completely objective and recognize what the marketplace is telling you, rather than try to prove that the thing you said or did yesterday or six weeks ago was right. The fastest way to take a bath in the stock market or go broke is to try to prove that you are right and the market is wrong.

– William O’Neil, How to Make Money in Stocks

The stock market is neither efficient nor random. It is not efficient because there are too many poorly conceived opinions; it is not random because strong investor emotions can create trends.

– William O’Neil