seriously, i would be interested to know what happens later in the day after a huge up/down day.......do you guys go out and party after throw money around after a big winning day.....and do you go home and drink alone after a huge down day? I thinkk the emotional reactino to these days would be crazy to hear about too.....
I started trading in '93, but not professionally until '96. I had on about 1/2 mil short big S&P in my personal account (For those who don't know, $1/2 mil initial margin requirement in S&P futures equals roughly $8 mil in unleveraged SPY), plus about $1/4 mil short mini S&P in one prop account(OPM), and short about $7 mil in equities in the other prop account. I think I actually took the loss pretty well. Didn't drink, and may or may not have sought comfort in drugs (can't remember). The two factors which made the loss less harsh were: I did finish the day $1 mil off my low. I covered without reversing in the futures, but covered and got long (paying up) a shitload of bank stocks in the equities prop account, which I was able to sell much higher. More importantly, December 2000 was my best month ever. My December profits, minus the Jan 3rd losses still left me with a green number. What I DIDN'T take too well, was that Jan 3rd, 2001 also marked the END of the golden age of trading. Ever since 2000 ended, the dumb money and ridiculously easy-to-predict volatility has been sorely absent. (Albeit, with a few exceptions here and there.) In every one of the 4 1/2 post-golden age years, my numbers have been just a small fraction of what they used to be.
My best week: $900k in COMS options before the PALM spinoff. Worst day: ADI for a bit more Wife's best week: $2.3mil Wife's worst week: $3.3mil loss Brother in law's best week $20mil Bro in law's worst: $40mil loss
Two sets of figures, one I was part of a hedge fund, one was trading individually. Hedge fund, best day, Up about $6.2M, the day that QCOM and YHOO went nuts in 1999. In one day, QCOM holding went from around 5% of the fund to 8% of the fund, insane. I remember that day well, I made 60% of my bonus for the year that day. Worst day, down about $2.5M, was doing simple merger arb (forgot which), and the government leaked out they were against the deal. Personally, best day, up about $150k, trading futures, every trade the system made was right, insane, I wasn't even trading size, was experimenting with a new system. Worst day, in memory anyways, down about $90k, actually not that bad, was down bout 160k then the system naturally recovered, it wasn't even a number / event day. Rufus
Whorstest days you dont want to talk with anybody and you need to stay alone, i mean, the guilt feel is huge and you have no consolation, the only thing that give you a "warm feeling" inside is the fact that "tomorrow is a new day".... Frustration is huge and you want the earth eat you, best stuff to do is go to sleep 12 hours at least..... Good days you try to call friends, girlfriend, parents (if you have a good relation), i mean family and go out....... you're excited and stay on the office until late and you want the next day arrives quickly... that's in my experience,....
Jaysus H Christ. 30 mill gains, 40 mill losses. I just wanna get my account into that size lol let alone the P/L.