The biggest lesson is when you get a strong reversal signal, take the loss and move into the trade in the opposite direction. You will cover your loss, make a profit and then be ready for the next short. It's a much better situation to be in than holding on to a losing trade and waiting for it to come back down. This is such a common scenario that it's worth spending time on it so it becomes 2nd nature.
So, what saved me was I didn't listen to the experts, kept averaging down after Feb. Maybe you don't have to pay my credit card and second mortgage payments yet.
The downside to seeing someone with a fame saying 70% short is the potential emulation from a less experienced person who decides to repeat without thinking. The upside is a pulse check on the perceived sentiment from esteemed individuals. Looks like overcoming emotions and greed is the first line of defense followed by a cut your loss.
@themickey, When someone said they made millions, you are all suspicious they are up to no good, trying to sell us something. You want to protect the gullible like me. When someone said they are loser, you don't have to worry that I would buy from some losers and join their rank, so why demand proof?
I don't require proof, but the level of sympathy for this loss is OTT imo. Max E. had a thread going where he was calling short as the price began to run, the thread is in Politics section, is two pages long and has 6 other regular ET posters chiming in. No big deal, Max E. got the call wrong, happens to everyone hundreds of times, my batting average is not that flash either. But my beef is, why start a new thread in Trading section, shout from the roof tops a loss and spell out the amount of loss. To me this is reverse narcissism, "Look at me, I'm a loser, can you give me some attention here". [Edited by Magna:] It wasn't started in the main Trading forum, but instead in a non-trading location where he wasn't shouting from the "roof tops". I moved it here as this is useful for traders to see, and this is where it belongs.
Weekly SP cash chart below for your review as we close RIGHT at the 50% retracement!!! Click on the chart for LARGER IMAGE https://www.cannontrading.com/tools...kly-chart-trading-levels-for-april-13th-17th/
When we bet big it is normally down to greed and impatience. We want to make a big killing fast. Double that account quickly. The last time i traded like that was in 2013. But it can happen to any trader at any time. Try and stick to 2% of the account per trade. 5% if you get greedy. I went to 10% and took 2 two of those in a row, lost about 120K USD in two days. 20% of my account back then.