Ist try: $30K with 4 times leverage (IB). Used all the leverage... 1st day - day trading live on Oct 29 2008 (vix @ 80). Lost 5350 In 2 hrs. I freaked out like I do not know who I am. $2500 lost in options (IRA A/c) 2 yrs later, bought some FAZ calls (options trial) $3000 recently lost in mixed trading Futures and Stocks with trying to learn how to turn it Around. I think I got it now. ###Position### is KEY. Do not loose one unless you are proven wrong. Jesse Livermore. I seriously have shifted from Day trading to long term investing weekly/Daily/30min strategy and found it Relaxing and rewarding. Only problem is that I lack capital. once i saw an article about 34-35 step in becoming a trader. I think It is important to know WHO you ARE. Day trader or just a Trader. Day trading is still a fantasy. I will not give up and tame the beast which it is. gud lluck to ya all..
I know most of you have read the book. Jesse Livermore - the stock operator. How many of YOu went Long when GOOG went thru $500 or AAPL went thrugh $300. I DID NOT It is freaking text book. bigger the round number bigger the push through. Reading books, experiences of real men is the best thing you can do...however execute like they did !! only if you can.
Entirely too damn much But then that is a direct result of me being entirely too damn hard headed Respect the market â market will respect you (funny how that works) Happy Weekend RN
12K I was young, stupid and impatient. But it was a cheap education in the long run. The only way to learn is to get experience and make mistakes and learning from them along the way. Eventually trading becomes pretty much a routine job and profits become consistent. Trading is like anything else in life. It requires lots of learning and experience before you become real good at it.
I've always been too ashamed to admit to friends and family, but my 'trading' starting with blowing $14K by buying heating oil options from a boiler room outfit. Not exactly sure, but probably paid another $40K in real tuition. I shall never forget those assholes and their $175/option commissions, but in the end it was my fault for believing those mother truckers and not educating myself. 24 years old, too young and too stupid. I've never really been full time, so maybe I don't count.
This thread is very misleading because there are probably quite a few wannabe traders who _never_ figured it out... and they won't post on this thread. g
Roughly $100k. Started with small amounts, losing $500 here, $1k there. I was relying on basic indicators I learned from reading a couple of books. Worst thing was I'd take a big win every now and then. With my first $20k account I was down to my last $1k and I bagged a $14k win (purely ass in hindsight). This would sucker me in again. This went on for about 8 years till I finally realised I was a mug and I walked away a broken man. After 2 years I re-read the Jesse Livermore best seller again (for the 3rd time) and re-entered the game with an open mind. Instead of looking to make an income I was looking to capitalize on big market swings, the ones that take weeks or months or years to run out of puff. I picked up two very basic patterns using a large time frame (they don't always work but I know them so well now I can pick when they're false), and learned patience and a very loose stop loss technique. The capital started to flow in. Sometimes I won't enter a position for a whole month till the right set up comes along, and then when it does it may take a week or two till the move really kicks in. Once the dumb money starts pouring in, sometimes several months later it makes it all worth while.
I dropped a little over 3k in trading losses at first before becoming profitable, but I was trading very small early on, literally 1 lots at 10 euros a tick, and 3-4 tick stops, would be kinda hard to blow up like that lol.
All, absolutely all short term traders are gamblers. They never figure it out and they never recover their losses. Short term trading is only promoted by greedy brokers to get more trading commissions. Funny how quick broker shills reply to make believe you will only lose a small amount.