Capital CasebookMarket Wizards

Market Wizards

Explore in-depth analysis, real cases and connections across the library.

Illustration for: Market Wizards
Conceptual illustration · not a historical photograph or market data
  1. A good story still needs an exit

    Separate stock-selection criteria from the amount a mistake can cost.

  2. Keep a record before the outcome

    Use a decision journal to distinguish a repeatable process from hindsight.

  3. Disagree for a reason

    Distinguish an evidence-based contrary view from reflexive opposition.

  4. Make room to be wrong

    Separate personal identity from the outcome of a decision.

  5. Borrow insight, own the decision

    Identify why persistence must include changed behaviour.

  6. Count risks, not positions

    Recognise shared exposures and connect invalidation to sizing.

  7. Turn feelings into observable habits

    Translate psychological claims into a reviewable routine.

  8. Judge the process over a sequence

    Understand why a few losses cannot settle a strategy’s value.

  9. Waiting is an active decision

    Separate selectivity from impossible demands for certainty.

  10. A forecast needs a clock

    Use time and contrary evidence to review a forecast.

  11. A system includes its operator

    Examine the interaction between rules and the person using them.

  12. Cheap is not a catalyst

    Separate valuation, timing and the capacity to wait.

  13. Match the evidence to the horizon

    Identify when a long-term explanation is misused for a short-term decision.

  14. An edge belongs to an environment

    Distinguish transferable principles from context-specific execution skills.

  15. Protect the ability to continue

    Explain compounding losses and the limits of superficial diversification.

  16. Patience needs a financial foundation

    Connect waiting, preparation and the resources needed to act.

  17. Treat a maxim as a question

    Evaluate memorable rules without treating them as proven laws.