“There are old traders and bold traders, but there are no old, bold traders”

“There are old traders around and there are bold traders around, but there are no old, bold traders around” has been attributed to Bob Dinda, some time in the 1980s. The Wall Street maxim means that one can be a very bold trader, but that a risky trading philosophy doesn’t have much longevity.
 
An similar aviation adage is “There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.”
 
   
Google Books
The Wit and Wisdom of Wall Street
By Bill Adler  
Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin
1985
Pg. ?:
“There are old traders around and bold traders around, but there are no old, bold traders around.”
Bob Dinda, Merrill Lynch
 
Google Books
Option Market Making:
Trading and risk analysis for the financial and commodity option markets

By Allen Jan Baird
New York, NY: Wiley
1992
Pg. 64:
As a Wall Street maxim notes, “There are bold traders and old traders but no bold, old traders.”
 
Google Books
Market Wizards:
Interviews with Top Traders

By Jack D. Schwager
New York, NY: HarperBusiness
1993, ©1989
Pg. 159:
The key to long-term survival and prosperity has a lot to do with the money management techniques incorporated into the technical system. There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.
   
Google Books
Magnet Investing:
Build a portfolio and pick winning stocks using your home computer

By Jordan L Kimmel and T Owen Carroll
Chester, NJ: Next Decade
2000
Pg. 29:
“There are old traders around and there are bold traders around but there are no old, bold traders around.”
Bob Dinda, Dean Witter
 
Google Books
500 of the Most Witty, Acerbic and Erudite Things Ever Said About Money
Edited by Philip Jenks
Harriman House
2002
Disciplined risk management
“There are old traders around and bold traders around, but there are no old, bold traders around.”
Bob Dinda
 
Google Books
Sector Trading:
A Year in Exchange Traded Funds

By Jonathan Bernstein
New York, NY: Voss Rohde
2006
Pg. 97:
There is an expression on Wall Street: “There are old traders, and there are bold traders, but there are no old bold traders.”
 
Moneylife
Chidambaram, the Hedge Fund Manager
February 23, 2010 02:22 PM
Debashis Basu
(...)
Chidambaram’s suggestion to Bhatt was bold. But boldness in financial business is not necessarily prudent. After all, as the old Wall Street saying goes: “There are bold traders. There are old traders. But there are no bold, old traders.”  But who can tell that to a Home Minister?
 
Trading Pit History
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
There are old traders and bold traders….
A ‘saying’ that I often heard was that “there are old traders and there are bold traders but there are no old, bold traders.” It took years to fully understand it and in general it’s true except for very rare exceptions.