http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/11/fuel-economy-hanging-out-with-nymex.html a pretty good read, lost 120,000.00 his first week of trading
just goes to show even the best guys making 10-15 million a year get their head handed to them sometimes can you imagine being down 2 mil in day
take a look at this article about Bolling and some other floor traders.. http://www.schorkreport.com/pdf/bloomberg-traders.pdf
I thought this was an interesting comment from Bolling: "It's an addictive game, and no one leaves when they're on top. You're unemployable after this" Appears the stakes in trading are quite high. Succeed, and the world is your oyster. Fail, and you're working at McDonalds (scene from American Beauty comes to mind here)