How many people have lost during trading?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by philipatt, Mar 6, 2008.

  1. Nice.. i am glad you recovered back your losses.. Hope things are going fine..
    I lost a little.. i am considering it as a tution fee for myself. And i am planning to read some books for 2 weeks, practice some things.. and come back with little rest and plan.
    I am right now making points of where i did error in my trading...

    One thing GREED and FEAR one will be just beside ur right shoulder.. and other one will be just beside ur left shoulder.. asap you make a trade.. they both will start tapping on it.. hehe :)

    But have to overcome.. and that is DISCIPLINE and PLAN.. :)
     
    #11     Mar 7, 2008
  2. I lost around $120K the first two years of trading, including both my money and company's money. Got fired 2 times. After 2 and a half years of losing in the markets started turning it around and since made 4 times that. I really thought I would never make it as a trader and my parents told me to give up and get another "safe" job. But I persevered and now I'm confident with my trading. Still not an A+ trader but that's my goal. Aiming to some day make 200K+ a day :)
     
    #12     Mar 7, 2008
  3. Kap

    Kap

    IMO.. u must lose in order to learn.. as much about yourself as anything else ..think of it as your tuititon fee.

    I have blown up twice in the early years... some expensive lessons for sure .. but in retrospect all part of the learning curve.

    8 years down the road now and its a living.
     
    #13     Mar 7, 2008
  4. feb2865

    feb2865

    I respectfully disagree in terms of losing concept.

    This is where many traders got it wrong.

    You will ALWAYS lose. The business of trading is based on probabilities. If you can't play with the odds, then trading is not for you. You place your trade in a high probability setup. That's the end of the story. After that it's really up to the market to decide.

    I came form the floor. Back in the day, when I started as a pit clerk assistance, coffee maker etc. I had a mentor who taught me a valuable lesson that I still follow - " You’re not a trader...trading is just one part of your job description. You're main job is to preserve your capital efficiently". When you get this concept deep in your heart, it will make you a master in risk assessment. Now trading becomes simple.

    Many of you have the whole bankroll wiped-out and I assure you, it's all about setups and losing.

    See, how many traders are constantly "tweaking" their setups, because they lost couple of trades. They're in this ever-changing process of optimizing, tweaking and adjusting, at the end, the market takes away their money. It's all in the head. Optimizing is bullshit, you're just looking for an excuse for not to lose. This is where the whole "Holy Grail Syndrome" comes into play.

    Every time I hear someone saying "back to the drawing board" I smell trouble. It's not the drawing, it's you avoiding losing. My friends, in trading...losing simply can't be avoided.

    I am using the same setup (although I have flittered with many other past- price- action- will- screw- you- eventually indicators) as for almost 30 years - Support and Resistance. I bark with the dogs, swim with the sharks.
     
    #14     Mar 7, 2008
  5. Kap

    Kap

    yah well it took me 2 blow ups to learn that, maybe I'm a slow learner ?

    Happy birthday btw
     
    #15     Mar 7, 2008
  6. I'm new to this too and have lost alot. It has to be factor that this particular market is hard to trade even for the experienced ...right? And saying past price action will screw you I don't understand since what else do you have to go on technically other than past price action. All indicators calculate from past price action. As for set ups, where and how do you start investigating the different methods? Do you take fundamentals into account? I just need direction cause right now I'm just in vertigo.
     
    #16     Mar 9, 2008
  7. losing is basically a way of keeping traders in line and letting them know who is in charge. always respect the market and never take it for granted.
     
    #17     Mar 9, 2008
  8. Hey warriror.
    I do agree with you follow the market.
    But what techniques to apply.

    I mean it has been cases many times, when indicators are shown OVER BOUGHT, and still the price goes up and up and up.. So this means the indicators are useless..
    And Vice-Versa, when indicators show Over-Sold, it goes down and down.. Its not always, rare sometimes, i mean due to Economic Slow Down in US....

    So in this case, what a trader should do. Professional please shed some light.

    I mean, you say if i am 2% in loss of my equity, no matter it reverses, i cut my position.. Or you find support/resistance, and dont care on indicators for the moment..

    Or how do we do it... :confused:
     
    #18     Mar 9, 2008
  9. mokwit

    mokwit

    "It is fortunate for Wall Street as an institution that a small minority of people can trade successfully and that many others think they can. The accepted view holds that stock trading is like anything else; i.e., with intelligence and application, or with good professional guidance, profits can be realized. Our own opinion is skeptical, perhaps jaundiced. We think that, regardless of preparation and method, success in trading is either accidental and impermanent or else due to a highly uncommon talent."


    B. Graham 1951
     
    #19     Mar 10, 2008

  10. Oh, I strongly disagree. You do NOT always have to lose! Although it is extremely difficult to do (and I do mean EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY difficult), it IS POSSIBLE for a trader to NOT LOSE!

    In fact, I personally know of two different traders (that's right, two unrelated people) who have never had a losing trade, even after many years of trading! That's right, N..E..V..E..R... never! They've never had to go through the experience of having lost money on a trade! And I am not making this up--this is no kidding true!

    So, (you are no doubt wondering) how are they able to accomplish this? How can this be true?

    Because these traders are TRUE contrarians. They refuse to do what 99% of other traders do! (And considering that most traders lose money, can you blame them?)

    They are a special type of trader who uses a technique of trading that most others traders have never even thought about using. Do you want to know what these two guys (and the few other traders like them) are called?

    They are...

    Perpetual paper traders! [Happy early April Fool's day]

    P.S. Do you want to learn their secrets? For just $1,995.00, you can receive a limited edition copy of my new book, "Secrets of The Successful Perpetual Paper Trader." And if you sign up within the next 30 days, I'll also include a FREE 4-week trial subscription to my weekly"Perpetual Paper Trading Hotline!" That's a $295.00 value if you act right now!! Don't delay, sign up today!
     
    #20     Mar 10, 2008