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QG SherwoodPrivate Trading Group

04Operating Principles

Six principles. One standard.

These are the standards and behaviors that govern how decisions are made. They are applied to every decision and reviewed on a fixed cadence. They are deliberately few, deliberately clear, and they apply equally to every member.

  1. 01

    Strategy

    Every position begins with a thesis, a time horizon and a defined reason to be wrong.

    Strategy is the discipline of deciding what not to do. The group works from structured theses rather than reactions, with each idea framed by its horizon, its assumptions and the conditions under which it is abandoned.

    In practice

    • Written thesis before commitment
    • Explicit time horizon and invalidation conditions
    • Scenario mapping instead of single-point forecasts
  2. 02

    Discipline

    Rules decided in calm conditions govern behavior in volatile ones.

    Discipline means the plan made in advance outranks the emotion of the moment. Entry, sizing and exit criteria are defined before exposure, and deviations are reviewed rather than rationalized.

    In practice

    • Pre-defined entry, sizing and exit criteria
    • No unplanned deviations without a documented reason
    • Consistency before intensity
  3. 03

    Governance

    A small group with clear roles, shared standards and mutual accountability.

    The group operates under a clear internal framework: who decides, who reviews, and how disagreements are resolved. Governance protects the process from any single individual, including the founders.

    In practice

    • Defined decision rights and review roles
    • Structured cadence of reviews
    • Standards that apply equally to every member
  4. 04

    Execution

    Precision in the details: timing, sizing and follow-through.

    Good decisions fail through careless execution. The group treats execution as a craft in itself, with attention to preparation, timing and the quality of follow-through after a decision is made.

    In practice

    • Preparation checklists before action
    • Execution quality reviewed separately from outcome
    • Follow-through documented to closure
  5. 05

    Risk Control

    Risk is defined before commitment, never discovered after it.

    Capital preservation comes before opportunity. Exposure limits, concentration limits and loss thresholds are set in advance and respected without exception, because survival is the precondition for every long-term result.

    In practice

    • Exposure and concentration limits set in advance
    • Loss thresholds respected without exception
    • Risk reviewed across all open exposure, not only per position
  6. 06

    Continuous Improvement

    Every cycle closes with a review. Every review changes something.

    The group treats its own process as the primary asset and learning as a permanent obligation. Outcomes are studied for what was controllable, lessons are written down and shared, and the framework is revised deliberately rather than by drift.

    In practice

    • Post-cycle reviews separating process from outcome
    • Written lessons and framework revisions
    • Deliberate, versioned changes to the method

Access · By Invitation Only

By invitation only.

Membership is extended personally by the founding partners to people they know and trust. There is no public application, no registration and nothing for sale. What is asked of every member is the same: commitment to the method, respect for risk and the discipline to keep improving.

Membership is not

  • 01A public club or fundThere is no public offering of any kind.
  • 02A signals or copy-trading serviceNo recommendations are published or sold.
  • 03A course or mentoring productDevelopment inside the group is not for sale.
  • 04A promiseParticipation is discretionary. No outcome is promised.