I was wondering if anyone wanted to share remembrances of their best or worst trades, and what they learned from them. I think perhaps these aberrations to our normal trading activities can show us, occasionally, what we did right or wrong. And if we can share these instances, maybe we can share our lessons both good and bad. And hopefully LEARN something from them. Now I realize that for the most part people will first think of their most successful or unsuccessful trades as their best or worst in terms of results. These are not necessarily the trades I mean to inquire about. Generally, these trades are more a result of luck...good or bad. Takeovers, breaking news, whatever....these are just things that happen that we have no control over, and tend to even out over the course of a trading career. So I am talking about trades that were made with planning (or lack of it), and how these trades came to be. What made them successful, or disasters? What was learned from them, and what knowledge was retained and implemented in ones' trading technique due to them. And of course, I would also like to hear about trades that were not necessarily your own. witnessing a trade and learning from it is just as applicable. Any contributors out there?
Yesterday near the close I kept buying SUNW at 5.05 at it kept moving a few cents then dropping again. This number is a powerful support for SUNW .... I believe it was a close a couple days ago. Anyways, 5.28 is another for SUNW.... Made a whack of cash.
Was long CPIH at about $42 and out at $62 with 200 shares. I was in the trade about a 1/2 hour. The stock was trading for about $2 a week earlier. The stock was a China play when the China stocks were exploding. I only traded 200 shares due to the huge volatility, but the risk in hindsight was excessive even with 200 shares. It was crazy to watch stock exploding and only ecns trading and stock going up about a $1 a minute. I think the total run of the stock over a week or 2 was from under a dollar to $80. Seems like that whole time period back then was a dream. On a side note ,after the market going up from 82-98 then going parabolic ,I think its going to be a long time b4 its possible to invest in the major indices.Day and swing trading your IRA is where it's at.
What was learned: Trade was entered based on pure momentum with little regard for risk. Was actually a bad experience because easy money was made the wrong way. Its been said money made the wrong way is just a loan from the mkt.
worst trade : feds cut interest rates. (intraday gap of futures => massive loss). best trade : feds cut interest rates (intraday gap of futures => massive gains). LOL Nothing you can do against (or to get) these. tntneo
I was long 2000 shares of BRCD (Because Prime Sector OTX was way up, I believe it was 3% and BRCD was down 2%. No news on BRCD so I guessed it would go up as well.) What happened is that I lost almost $5,- a share (Holding it overnight) before I sold it and bought Call Options in stead.) I learned to NEVER hold a position overnight and NEVER take a trade because other stocks are rising. This was a few years agoo. (I kept my promisee for the second but I have kept some overnight positions since.....
In the bubble days when Barnes and Noble came with their IPO of barnesandnoble.com I was that <i><b>one guy</B></I> who scooped up the shares on the opening day @ $25 a share. I sold at about $18 and today it trades at $0.82 cents. That was by far the worst trade of my life. I actually stopped trading for a few months after that happened.
Like a complete jackass, I picked up 300sh of RETK monday afternoon without checking to see if anything was coming up. I figured 300sh, no big deal. How much can it hurt me. The market closed and I went on my merry way, and after dinner I checked my account to see if any after hours orders got hit, and lo and behold, RETK was down about $10 in after hours trading. Of course, RETK had a scheduled pre-earnings release monday at 4:30. I burned 3k because I was lazy and stupid. I'll never do that again.
My best and worst investment decision was the same transaction. I bought MEDX several years ago at an average cost around $3 a share ( this is way before it took off and before all the splits of recent years ). Anyway, it ran to $9 in a few months for a nice position trade. I thought I hit the jackpot because I really had put way too much money in it compared to my account and it paid off. And, I had been prudent to take a triple when it was handed to me. I was a genius. Well, the stock proceeded to surpass $200/shr. Yes, I bought for $3 and could have sold for $200. I sold for $9 instead. Not a genius. If not for that one mistake I would not be working a day job right now.
i play in extended hours that is in play, is my dumbest...I dont have the software to compete, but still swing it out with the boys