It may be like that for you, ask the big shots who actually make a great return if for them trading is just something to talk about. If you treat it as a higher form of gambling, you are certain to lose it all sooner or later.
Neke does not find this entertaining, as he said it is "psychologically devastating". Jesse Livermore also did not find his massive drawdown to be entertaining.
a trader run one man shop. A restaurant owner can never ever run a restaurant all by just himself. Are we clear on that?
If neke does continue to lose and withdraws his last 5k and quits, he won't be able to trade AND he won't be able to withdraw 5k anymore from his trading account to fund his lifestyle. However, if neke stops withdrawing 5k starting from January, he will improve his chances of continuing trading for a while longer - maybe this will give him enough time to get his act together and make a comeback. Continuing to withdraw 5k monthly is the silliest thing in my opinion, the drag just reduce the probability of success dramatically.
I could not figure out why this guy is in a losing stream. I read Jessise livemore's story. he boomed and busted several times, finally he drowned and failed miserably. Jessise livemore thought "you can beat indiviudal trades, but you can not beat the trading game". that is a terrible statement. No one should put those lines in their mind. I think jessise's failure was attributed to his this statement. he violated his trading rules: let loss run, against his rules to prove his this statement is true. very stupid self-prophesy. everyone knows the fact: we can not make every trade profitable. that is fact. but that does mean we can not laugh toward the end. trading is easy. very natural. not fight the current. sell on the red bars, buy on the green bars. yes, sometimes market turns so quickly, we buy top and sell bottom, not big deal, cut loss short and run. if the enemy is stronger than you, run. do not fight, common sense. if the enemy is weaker than you, fight and conquer it, piece of cake. success is in your mind. when you put something in your mind, the results is those things you put into your mind. why this guy is losing, his mind is too negative. his mental status is in the defense, while not look for opportunities. good luck. stay positive, look at 1M, not look at 5k. you will be successful. do not listen to any negative suggestions. trading is very easy, very nartural. you do not need a big account to succeed you do not need an edge to succeed you do not need a proven system to succeed you do not need day trading to succeed you do not need overnight trading to succeed contrary to many thought, most time, as you know: trading is just coin-flipping thing. do you need a theory, no there is nothing you need, you just bet. the magic happens, either you win big or lose. my wife bought BAC/C/AIG, those big losers last year because of her friends in church told her those are barigins, she out beated me in my IRA this year. at the time of purchace those dirty cheap shares, I warned her: do not buy on the trending down. but after a year, everything is in her favor, her account almost doubled. tradijng is really simple. stupid people make simple things complicated. smart people make complicated rthing simple I think you will turn around. you just need the courage to tell yourself: I really want to climb, not go over trading cliff.
Dude, really... They are both involved using your time and energy, making money. The specifics were irrelevant to the analogy. If at the end you end up with nothing, it doesn't matter if you were a trader for 5 years or a restaurant owner... Case closed... Question for neke: How many hours do you spend trading and researching per week?
"The specifics were irrelevant to the analogy." the devil is in the details. your remark deserves to be in the hall of ...... _________ "That is a rather ignorant way to look at it. After all, he was in it as a business, not as a hobby. It is like saying about a restaurant owner who just declared bankruptcy after 5 years: "He had nothing before he opened up this place, and he has nothing now. So nothing was lost." he ate for 5 years and well and then again perhaps not.
I take it there will be no new journal for 2013? At this point it's gone from being a trading disaster to a life disaster. Hope his wife takes the reduced living standards in good stride.
I spend a good deal of time working on my backtesting and automation and following the market, so you may call it a hobby, but it is work as well. No, there is no fun having the drawdown I have had. I flipped open a page back in late 2009 where the balance on the account was 580K, and I was outlining a plan where I could quit my regular employment if I succeeded in getting 15K/week for the following 12 weeks. Well, not only did it not pan out, but looking back I am wondering whether I have destroyed the opportunity of a lifetime to retire early and not worry financially: yes there is a lot of pain and would'a should'a. Will start a new journal and keep posting in 2013 if/when the balance comes above 100K. With 5K scheduled to be pulled out at EOD today, that could be quite a while.