Funny when i have a bad day it always turns into 2 bad day in a row. Lost today because I tried something new with a pairs trade between XOM/CVX I had actually made a profit at first...I was long XOM short CVX...I sold my XOM and I tried to buy back CVX and it jumped on me 15 cents...stock stayed in the same 10 cent range all day and when i decide to buy it, it jumps 15 cents??? Wouldnt have been so bad but was trading 3500 shares since it was a pairs trade. I ended up getting back in on XOM so I would be hedged....big mistake. Ended up losing my profit on XOM. Anyway... 4 losers/1 winner today GS +395 LEH -25 SLB -33 XOM -210 CVX -615 Gross loss today -488 Commissions -284 (28,400 shares traded) SEC fees -34 Net Loss -806
Ok...I havent posted for a while...I lost 9k last week and today I lost about another 4k. So that means I blew up. I was long on 2 stocks 1 stock moved around 3 dollars against me and the other moved 2.50 against me. Trading 700 shares I took a huge hit today. So I've told my broker to send me my little 6k or so of equity i have left. 19k gone in 2 months. Thats about half my net worth so it hurts pretty bad...not to mention now im going to have to find a "real" job which is worse than losing that money. I assume im the first person brave enough to post that they blew up on here the day they blew up, so I should get a gold star for that. So i know the reason i blew up is because i held my losers way too long....I guess like so many others that fail, I wanted to be right instead of make money.
A blow up is only devestating if you learn nothing from it. Everyone in Market Wizards blew up accounts larger than that. Why not spend a few months studying and learning and backtesting and then come again with a smaller account and smaller positions.
Try not to be too hard on your self buddy. It happens! At least you gave it a shot, and at least you are brave enough to share it with us! Just learn from your mistake. Good luck bud! -Kastro
Look...all is not lost. You still have over half of your net worth left. Learn the important lessons, and get yourself to move on. Getting a job need not be a permanant thing, get back on track, clear your head, and work on your edge in your off time. Then you can ease back into trading on a part time basis. All the best, Mike
I learned the hard way as well (luckily without blowing up but that was mainly luck) that I'm just not cut out for discretionary trading. Instead I've moved to system (automated) trading and done fairly well. Consider looking into that instead...the easiest way to start is with Tradestation.... SSB
Hey peil How come you blew up so much U scary newbies like us eheheheheh Well i loved reading your journal it was preety good Hope good luck to you next time
Nice to see someone who has the balls to tell the truth. The amazing part of this is - you can take 90 days off, review every one of your trades, refine your plan (assuming you had one, written out) and then come back and start trading 100 lots and refine your technique. Sure, you may have to work a day gig for a year or two, but as someone else in here said, the world's greatest have blown up. And made it all the way back. I'm not sure if you did this, but next time you should come in here before placing your first trade and make a long, detailed post of exactly what your strategy is going to be. You may get a flame or two (no worse than what you got after your admission today) but the cred you get from telling the truth today should stand you in good stead - you will have a bunch of guys to bounce your ideas off and they will tell you if your strategy seems sound or not. You have to do the trading in the end, but if I blew up, I wouldn't mind a bunch of good traders reviewing my strategy the second time around. Writing out your strategy will help you refine it, too.