Which is why a trader should be cautious about the amount of leverage. It's almost axiomatic..."if you play on big leverage often enough, the market will eventually destroy you".... like Niederhoffer, LTCM, and others.
Of course paradoxilly the more talented one is at picking direction-the more they abuse prudent money management. After all what's the sense of being right, right, right and not getting rich. In the pit I once had 35 winning days in a row. By day 30 I was distraught. âJust imagine if I'd been trading bigger!!! Instead I'm up shit!!â I don't need to tell you how many Bonds I had on and how much I lost on Day 36. I went through the profits of those 35 winning days and then some. So often I read on ET, âI'm a winner I don't need mentoring.â IMO the better you're trading perhaps the more you need someone prodding you about position sizing.
My sincere condolences NYX. Since the medical professionals who are supposed to be providing depression sufferers with the tools they need to overcome their illness are still fixated on serotonin/dopamine/norepinephrine, their prescribed treatments practically ignore the key role of Endorphins. The following is a message that still needs to be spread: ____________ Tormented by DEPRESSION, and the medicine isn't helping? If you or anyone you care about is tormented by clinical depression and none of the medications seem to help, you need to read this: Full text at www.ProhibitionKills.com
Very sorry to hear that nyxtrader. My condolences to you and all his friends and family. May he rest in peace.
It's not only about "being wrong"... it's about being wrong SO BIG that it severely impacts you and those depending upon you. I know of a man who, in the '01-'03, tech decline, "bet it all" on a leveraged position in the Nasdaq. And he lost it ALL... personal wealth, job, wife, house, car, standing in the church... All because he didn't have enough sense to use a stop... sad, really.