learn&learn, Don't worry, the last few days have been tough days. Even JP Morgan freaked out on Friday. 1st off. You CAN do this! Here are 3 reasons why you will be successful... 1. I just did the math. 40K before taxes is not alot of money to replace from trading. It works out to be about $2500/month after taxes. Peanuts really. You can easily replace that stream of revenue with your trading. 2. You have saved half of 1 years salary to trade. If you have a margin account you can double your buying power. 3. YOU LOVE THE MARKETS! Here is what you need to do. 1. Take deep breath. And remember, you are not your portfolio. 2. If you have not done it, create a TRADING PLAN 3. Create a BUSINESS PLAN. You are doing FINE!
BEEN THERE! Based on my experiece you probably feel like shit right now but you just have to get back on that bike. I've fallen off the damn things more times than I can count. I've come back every time! So can you. If you have confidence in yourself, and it sounds like you do, just get back on the bike but be sure you pedal slowly. It's an uphill ride for a while. Just take it slow.
Learn and earn, I think I know well how you feel. I sold my company so I could trade full time. I started in April as a full time trader. I love every minute of it !! (well almost) One day doesnt matter and in fact one month doesnt matter as long as you don't blow out your account. You have received a lot of good advice from some top dogs already and that in itself makes you lucky. This is a big math game and he who does the math best wins. Do you have an edge and if so how much? If you cant figure out what your edge is and why YOUR smarter than the person on the otherside of the trade than you WILL blow out. Blowing out doesnt have to happen but it also doesnt mean your done forever either. Most traders that have been around long enough have blown out more than once. The biggest thing is to work your plan and plan your work. Cant say that enough. If your just bouncing around hoping to trade anything you see your in for a real tough time. Come in to the ET chat as there are a lot of good traders trading everything under the sun. You can share your trade ideas BEFORE you put them on or after and get some feedback. Some will be good and some will be not as good but you will be around a bunch of people that win on a daily basis and that has value. Best to you, me and every other brand new full time trader Bob
You shouldn't be losing more than $100-150 max per day at this point while you're learning. I've seen 25k accounts get blown by hotshots who thought they could size up before earning it by proving their consistency, and I've seen people with 5k accounts never go negative and go on to make good money. The people who made it with 5k or less all did so by having very small losing days. It's the only way. For what it's worth, I've been doing this a year and a half my good days are $1500 and my average winning days about $700... I never trade when I'm down more than $400 gross on the day. That number should be much smaller for you.
You are undercapitalized. You should not be risking more than $400 per day max loss with a 20k account, now with 18k you should only risk $360. Before you place another trader you need to read this book and know it like the back of your hand. http://www.traderslibrary.com/moreinfo.asp?item=2121&SID=KIGJTFAHQSFD3DF959417266315235AD&lc=gurus
What are you trading Index Futures ? Stocks ? If stocks how are you getting around (Pattern Day Trader Rule) http://www.youtube.com/user/TradePilotPro Check out my videos they may help Be Careful, Joe Baker