this kind of shut down hasn't happened since 1987. or 1929. there is something sinister at these brokers and exchanges if they did not refund or cancel the trades..because of a alledgely 'computer glitch' or cancell all the erroneious trades. goldman and all the broker/dealers made money on that day. the guys who got stopped out won't get their trades cancelled...broker/dealers don't have margin calls when they trade their own accounts. and if you read the fine print in opening your accounts..the broker/dealer or clearing firms are not liable for compute malfunctions etc. or computer glitches. cancelling the erroneous trades is in their descretion. and you now why these broker/dealers have insurance FDIC and SIPF..too much fraud an criminal activity in wall street.
there is an old saying among floor traders, you have to go broke 3 times before you get it,I doubt this is much consolation NQ,just thought i'ld toss it out there, you've got trading in your blood, you will be back ,stronger and someday bigger
NQ when you look at folks who have had _huge_ winning years, they can usually attribute the majority of their success to a few wins where they took a big position and won. Same for big hedge fund managers in a larger timeframe, they have 1-2 big ideas every couple of years. I suggest doing what you can to get other things in life in order. If they aren't, I think it's hard or almost impossible to make trading work. Think in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and start at the bottom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs
Interesting that graphic shows the need for sex comes before the need for safety. Thanks for posting the link caementarius, very interesting. NQ, sorry to hear of your rough day on 5/6. If you go to Don Miller's blog (a well-known, very successful trader), and watch some of his recent videos, you'll see he suffered a siginificant outsized drawdown that day as well, and continued to struggle the next day or so. When he asked his broker if the kind of drawdown he was experiencing was normal, the broker told him that most traders can expect a drawdown of anywhere from 10-50% (don't remember exactly, something like that) at some point in their careers. Probably not much comfort to you right now, but hopefully something you can use as a reminder that even the best take big hits from time to time. Best to you.
NQscalper not only lost his bankroll, but even more terribly the ENTER key on his keyboard. Condolences.
If you're life wasn't over before you quit trading, then it certainly isn't over after you quit. Your current situation must be painful, but trading is not all it's cracked up to be, even if done successfully. I'm sure your relationship with your sister(s) is a lot more valuable than any money you/they lost, and I hope they should see it that way, too, even if it takes some time. All the best to you, wherever you end up next -- and it may be a lot better than you expect.
I don't believe it was a computer glitch. Whatever happened was intentional IMO. I don't think that the purveyors of that intentional action of pulling liquidity imagined (they may not have cared) a cascade of that magnitude would occur (if they did imagine that---wow). I think it was/is terrible for retail investors that took large losses because of what happened----however, markets are risky. Participating in the market involves risk. No one would've expected that the risk involved prices dropping as dramatically and as rapidly as they did...but at the end of the day if you don't want to be at risk don't trade or invest or participate in the market. I don't trade futures, but I find it unfair that if I'm short/long a product that reaches it's limit-up/down price that I can't cover my position. I think there's something inherently wrong with that...but that is part of the game. If I trade a futures instrument and I'm stuck on the wrong side of a limit-move then that's just part of the implicit risk of those markets and I have to accept it and move on. We trade risk for reward. Learn a lesson from it. Set alerts, don't use active stops in this electronic environment or....I don't know. Try to take something positive from it to supplement your trading and move on. The trades aren't going to be broken. Businesstaxes I'm not speaking to you in particular but to anyone that's still caught up in what happened 2 weeks ago.
Well, it may not have been in the best of taste, but someone who types a block of crap like that probably has other issues. imo Days like that are a reminder that you're not playing stickball in the old neighborhood with the boyz. You want to make money doing nothing productive, then don't bitch when they come with a 9' pole and your name's on it. That's why they call it GAMBLING sucker.