How much $$$ did you lose before you began making $$$ trading?

How much $$$ did you lose before you began making $$$ trading?...forgive me if this thread was started somewhere else...I looked for it but could not find it...this seems to be the "thought" when learing to trade...meaning..."you will lose money before you become profitable in your trading"...so, was this true for you...if yes...how much $$$ did you lose before you started making money in your trading?...or did you not lose money when you started trading?...this thread could help beginning traders have a more realistic view on the possibilites/potential as the start out trading etc...thanks in advance...

 

tremendous post EHorn...got to, pause and think about this...great stuff...thanks!

 

There was definitely a "learning curve" for me. Market School tuition was about 5K during a two and a half yr period. 20% of that loss was the result of a real nasty execution mistake with a stk trade- i will NEVER forget that event - never. In June 2006 i began to trade the YM and stopped stk trading except for a few
swing trades. During the last nine months ive averaged about
+1200/mo net, piker trading. That includes losses in two of those months.
Cheers ...
rj

 

burned through about 20K before I became even some what good at it. I believe it really is just a learning curve thing. Most traders run out of cash before they know what the hell they are doing.

Takes at least a year. Probably more like three, to get skilled at this. There are exceptions of course. Some people just "get it" quick, and some are trained by Goldy!

 

I was trained by Chuck Norris, LOL.

Serious note, it took me a while but I was lucky; my learning curve was at the expense of an investment bank.

 

Most of my expense was that of a firm.

 

Don't think I ever lost more than $7 or $8k, at a penny per share... all commissions, my first month was gross negative like $400, net negative $2000, second month gross positive $500, net negative $2000... from then on out it was all just inflated comisions that I lost, and so my biggest drawdowns came out of that... if I were at the rate I'm paying now I'd say maybe $2500 was the most I lost before being green.

Edit: since being green, I've had multiple $5-10k drawdowns which have taught me the lessons of discipline.

 

I started trading in 1997. In terms of losing what I've made though the dot com mania and Nasdaq 5000, I would estimate it to be in excess of $100k. I lost over $40k of my own capital before getting it.

 

5 months and 10k to make consistent profits scalping European index futures in the evening after work.