Or worse, you lose $1.5 million. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=731021&highlight=infamy#post731021
Now that I think about it, there is one big advantage to having some emotion when you trade. When you are emotional and fully associated to a situation, you will remember it. You will remember the events leading up to it, you will remember how you reacted to it last time, and you will likely react to it sooner and more aggressively the next time it happens. Another trader I know, does not get real emotional about his trades at all, he still does well, but when we talk about those bad trades 1 or 2 years later, he often doesn't remember them, And the great trades, it's almost like they never happened, whereas I can recall all the details with amazing clarity.
Thanks wareco was thinking about that wild ERA wich is not so far away fom us. ( Did not known it happen to our friend garden but... i trade futures and i would not risk taking a dump without a stop ). Sticking with the subject i have a bad habit of talking to my ladder ( trying to push ou pull the market in my direction ... a bit of insanity doesn`t kill anyone ).
Rearden, in regards to stop loss orders...if you had a stop in place on that infamous day when you lost 2 million in minutes maybe you would've ended the day up one million instead of down one. I agree with the other two points.
My favorite use to be cursing under my breath and laying blame on those "evil" floor traders. However, with e based trading can't do that anymore Now I forced to lay blame where it really is - myself. Although, it can sometimes be fun to blame the computer LOL
I always find it interesting that people get "mad" at losing trades. I curse when I don't do enough size on my winners. When 5K should have been 15K I am ten times angrier than -5K. We are all wrong at times and lose money, but good risk control keeps that small. But to be right and not make as much as you "should", that is something worthy of a "&*^%@$@$^$&!!!!!!!!!!!" On losers, I think, "I can't believe that I was that wrong and the market only took that much from me" 5 second pause, Back to the screens and ready for any opportunity that presents itself. Funny thing, though, I seem to be more profitable when I'm pissed off, as I have less tolerance for trades that are going nowhere or the wrong direction and am more agressive sizewise on the winners. Unfortunately I am not that pleasant to be around on those days.
one of the things I like about trading is that it teaches you to be calm, no? some people just sit there and blame the flippers, and it just goes offside, offside, more offside and they just keep on cussing. I think the worst thing you can do is have a target person that you always blame (flippers, floor traders, big banks, OTC market, etc). It doesn't help your trading and you've got a chip on your shoulder. Sometimes it can be funny. Once I heard I guy shout "SCHATZ! I'M GONNA KILL YOU SOMEDAY!". He really sounded like he meant it. I can see him plotting in his basement right now.
Regarding my comment on stop orders, convincing anyone I'm right... is directly contrary to my best interests. "Don't tap the aquarium"- Anyone with some experience in online poker knows exactly what that means. _____________ Clipped from a Negreanu article: "It made me sick to my stomach when I'd hear, "You play A-J offsuit under the gun? Oh, my God, you call two bets with K-J offsuit? Good luck, buddy." Little did these regulars realize that they were forcing the bad players to play better for fear of embarrassment. That's exactly the opposite of what they should have been doing. Instead, they should have been promoting three-betting with 8-3 offsuit! The truth is, though, a lot of them just wanted to prove so badly that they knew how to play good poker. My favorites were the other young "hotshots" who had just read a book or something. Someone would raise under the gun, and they would flash A-Q to everyone at our table, and the other table, for that matter. Then they'd go on and on, saying, "You can't call a raise with that hand, no way - not when it comes from under the gun!" <b>Congratulations, moron, you've just tightened up the entire table; nice going.</b> What the hotshot did was start a one-upmanship contest. Now, the other regulars had to show him up. So, the next thing you knew, someone was showing two jacks and throwing them in the muck because it was three bets to him. "Oh, I can't call three bets with jacks. He must have at least queens, and probably aces." <b>Congratulations, genius, now the live ones won't call three bets with jacks</b>, especially if you'll chew them out if they happen to win when they have to turn them over." http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/dan...ll&id=1118092071&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&