Wow. Karma. Or, perhaps he never traded in the first place..... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2691284#post2691284
Been there done that. Back in the mid 2000's, I lost $26,500 in a few hours. At that time, that was half of my trading account. I quit for a couple years and then came back. However, when I came back, I had done tons of backtesting and had actually found a profitable methodology with a positive expectancy. I also made sure I had two people (including my wife) that were on top of what I was doing and if I found that my methodology didn't work (with real money), I would be forced to quit. In other words, I had an accountability structure in place and a methodology that I actually believed in....... Jason
This realization was the full circle closure of my journey as a beginning trader, and it was a game-changing moment. You have to find a statistical edge to succeed. Once you find that edge, losses mean nothing because they're small and the frequent winners erase them quickly. There is no better state of mind than taking a small loss and realizing it will be easy to erase, instead of feeling like you have a hole to dig out of. Averaging down is only an edge in conjunction with a pre-planned acceptable stop loss.
My read: BPTrader has many bipolar mood swings, not unlike the S&P movement on Friday (2/12/2010). Often times you will find him a cocky newcomer telling other newcomers what to do. But just as often you find him totally deflated like now. His journal (which he abandoned because he didn't like the moderators): http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177089 Often from his journal you will find these "huh, what's that?" stuff. Nothing concrete. My guess is he will probably be back onc his mood swing is back to "upbeat, cheerful". Though where he will find trading capital is a different question. Unless, of course, this is all fake money.
Just buy some gold each month and bury it in your yard. This method has outperformed 90% of all investors for a decade now.
wow that's a lot. but you know, sometimes people do make mistakes, you just have to accept it and move on. but it doesn't mean that you have to stop what you enjoy doing. take a break probably, and come back.
something missing in this discussion..in all sincere sorryness for the op for his terrible loss...this missing part is...think about all the success stories...Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before invented light bulb, Michael Jordan cut from high school basketball team etc etc...how many times do successful business people fail and fail before they succeed...like JCPenney...bottomline, "you got to get back up!!!!"...don't quit!
well i think there are a lot of elements to enforce discipline. for one, you have too much in your account to lose. depending what you trade, if u don't NEED that much cash to trade u should keep your account size as small as possible so you would not go double down on your losses. true, most traders fail. but look at how most successful traders and hedge funds have gone broke, washed dishes on minimum wage only to use the money to trade again. quit or not its only a matter of passion. for many friends and i, its either make it or die trying. if you don't have that kinda resolve, i would say this is what shakes most "traders" out of the business. i agree with ur post, cold it may be, but as u said its zero sum. it is war. in war losses are part of the "process". i never believe it should be losses that drive people to quit. i believe is the self realization that one is incapable of making it, self efficacy that SHOULD be the driving force for someone to throw the towel
That is ok if you only have a 10 year memory...now how about 30 years...how is your performance? Cherry picking a specific , but convenient , period is completely useless NiN