i first heard that term when i was in rehab.. <<<reading antifragile (taleb) i don't exactly quote him .. but he mentions how much easier it is to teach a street smart business /dealer quant methods and trade successfully as it is some higher level academic.. SLE commented about how difficult it was moving from the academia to real world trading.. hence the reason i don't believe in paper trading.. if you can't feel the pain of losing your only doing yourself harm by not actually experiencing the mistake.. backtesting/optimizing or shall i say fitting .. is exactly what i would think a academic would grasp for to get things smooth and linear.. stat arb i definitly believe in.. but as they say.. the map is not the territory.
If you think your situation is bad now, just wait until you dig yourself out of the hole, save up money and start trading again, pay a "true mentor" thousands to show you the way this time, and then lose everything all over again.
I appreciate the opportunity to vent despite foresaking E.T. Truth is losing that money hurt loved ones more than it hurt me and that's what hurts the most. Ended up in the E.R. tonight, at least I have my health...barely. Now is my opportunity to set aside selfish pursuits and be a better husband, son, and brother. Nothing in life lasts forever, all we can do is love.
The fact that you even had the balls to try trading is more than 99.9% of the general public can even claim, so you deserve respect for that. And the fact you started a thread like this getting real about your failure gets you even more points in my book. You obviously did what you did because you thought you could be successful at it. Most people think they can be successful at lots of things, but they never actually get off their asses to try. So they just keep dreaming and doing nothing while their lives waste away. Although trading didn't pan out to be successful for you, you will find something else that will be a better fit for you because you already have the core ingredients, desire and drive. And now that you've been forged with some real failure, you're in a much better position to succeed than you've ever been in your life. It may not feel that way right now, but you'll look back on all this in a few years and understand what I mean. I wish you the best of luck.
Wow, this is heavy stuff. This is why I strongly believe in paper trading, especially for highly leveraged stuff like futures. I recently decided to quit daytrading futures. It was hard to walk away and was something I struggled with for a while, but was the right decision to make and I don't regret it. I do have regrets as to how I could have better used the time I spent trying to perfect a strategy... I wish I could have been doing something else instead... but that's how anyone who fails at any other venture must also feel. At least I still have my savings. If I had been trading live I'd be broke. It's really hard to quit something that you've invested so much time and effort into, but ultimately it is up to each of us to decide whether to walk away or keep playing. IMO daytrading is quite possibly the hardest way to make money in life. If you can take the tenacity and never-give-up attitude that you applied to trading and apply it to some other endeavour... you will be almost assured of success. Most regular jobs are way easier than trading. Plus they give you guaranteed weekly income, sick days, paid vacation, 401k match, health insurance... it's actually not a bad deal.
Came across this thread searching for "Antifragile". Man, if I had a dollar for every time I lost my life savings.... When I finally excepted the fact that I can not predict the future (& I may also have a few screws lose) is when trading & life got a lot easier.
I was searching the internet for big talk little petty cowards and I stumbled across every a-hole that posts negative comments online. Look, this was a simple warning to other people like myself that dont have the 'know how' to succeed as an entrepreneur (cause thats what this game is about not finding the holy grail). Nothing more. Go back to your hole, a.
Here I'll take a crack.. you are a caveman. dim wit go get drunk again. the world will be a better place without you. wow, that was so easy AND i feel like a big man!