Turning “Tips” into a Rule-Based Trading Decision?

During the bucket shop phase, someone rushes in with a “sure tip” on Burlington—easy money, quick doubling.
Instead of treating it like a golden ticket, he treats it like a testable hypothesis. He pulls out his “dope book” (a small notebook of recorded price action) and asks one brutal question:
Does the tape/price behavior actually confirm the claim?

If the record supports it, he trades.
If it doesn’t, he ignores the tip.
That’s the shift: he doesn’t trade opinions—he trades a repeatable system grounded in observed market behavior.

Investor Lessons:

A “tip” is not an edge—it’s adrenaline disguised as information. Edge = verification rules + disciplined execution.

Build a modern “dope book”:

- Clear entry trigger

- Clear invalidation/exit

- One-sentence trade rationale

- Post-trade review (what worked/what failed)

- Confidence doesn’t get paid. Repeatability does.