I just read what TraDaToR said: --- Damn...I just did something utterly stupid here. I used ZC Mar instead of May in my combo selection when checking the position and thought my target had been reached. When I realized it i had already sold LEQ5...So I just exited @ -5410$ margin... Still a good trade but I think the move isn't finished. --- And I thought that I was also doing these kind of blunder. My classic errors : Bid instead of Ask and I got executed as a market ordre on a illiquid market Wrong amount of FX hedging Wrong volumes etc. What do you do to limit fat finger losses ? Thanks
I did the bid instead of ask thing day before yesterday. Another favorite is entering a price by typing and being off by a dollar so that it gets immediately filled at the market.
yep. limit buy above market doh. easily done. i knew a guy you used to be a dealer on the floor at liffe. They used to used to reference the last digit as the price and he used the wrong digit and got executed for a hefty loss. Boss said don't worry about it just don't do it again. I am sure some ex floor traders have similar stories where public ridicule was meated out.
I think people who ridicule these mistakes probably don't actually trade much. In aviation, they speak of pilots who have never landed wheels-up -- yet. I often hang out bids a dollar higher or offers a dollar lower than the most recent trade. I don't get filled very often, but it's fun when it happens.
-Never use the "recenter after x seconds" option on ladders -Never actually type an order. Use a ladder instead. -If you use a spreadsheet to send orders, make sure it won't send orders based on yesterday quotes when it opens ...
Years back, I placed a trade, market went wild, 100pt up sat there watching happy as happy, letting it run nicely, went to the account to close it, not there, hey, ohhh I'd shorted instead of long ( only time I'd ever made that error ), trade exited due to margin call ( no SL, didn't have time, shame would of spotted the error )