I've been hesitating to make this post since the subject of suicide alone is so damn controversial. But I think it merits discussion since the suicidal tendencies are readily apparent in trading. Suicide is an willful act of ending one's own life. According to Wikipedia, there are various reasons associated with the risk of suicide including but not limited to depression or mood disorder, substance abuse, and socioeconomic factors. While external circumstances, such as a traumatic event, may trigger suicide it is more likely to occur during periods of socioeconomic, family and individual crisis. Such crises induced by acute level of stress is not altogether an alien concept in the world of trading. Every day, we make our tortuous round from heaven to hell and back. Some folks make a killing while others inevitably lose everything and then some. But why do certain traders engage in particularly destructive behavior that ultimately blows out their account and end their trading career? For example, I've seen traders taking on excess leverage while they were in deep hole and yet they avoid using any leverage when they were in black. What catapults them over the brink knowing well that any misstep would cost them dearly? By no means is this a scholarly debate but I do encourage any professional opinions.
Gambling tendancies + bad logic using emotions. Lot of people aren't logical about their decisions We can look at the scores of homeowners from 2006-2007 all in the red. People use their emotions as decision makers Instead of using logic as decision makers.
I think this post would be best addressed by ET's resident addict, cold. He's created several thousand aliases but any one of them might offer insight into the psychology of self-destruction that is telling among the wrong side of trading as an activity. Cold, could you weigh into why you're drawn to suicidal behavior represented by participation in the markets?
Thank you for invitation fractal. In return I will now shred your psychology to pieces. In public I will dismantle your psyche and give you a chance to rebuild. Although most traders fail. Small minority rakes in the killing for 20-30 or more years. I know this because I met few older ones. SO What happens to those who fail. Naturally they feel bad, maybe even depressed. And some of them commit suicide. So Fractal what did you learn today kido. You learned that just because you don't posses the intellect to "make it" in trading. Doesn't mean someone like me can't either. Why in today's America is it an insult to say that something is beyond one's comprehension. I am not insulting you guys when I say that most of you lack the brain power to understand perplexing concepts. That is a fact, not an insult.
Hey man, don't do it. As someone who had a close family member kill themselves, it only hurts the people who love you the most. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Lost your roll? Don't worry, get a straight job and make back a stake. Margin call coming after your house? Just BK out of it, and live to fight another day. Don't take the coward's way out. Man up and remember that sometimes you just have to tell the world FUCK YOU I'M GOING TO MAKE IT and will yourself through whatever hardship you face. God doesn't give you more than you can handle, even though you might think so now.
While I do enjoy heavy music, I personally dont care to listen to Suicidal Tendencies whilst trading.
Serious answer To succeed in day trading you must essentially become obsessed with it. As with diving headfirst into anything, be it trading, substances, gambling, whatever, it is easy to lose sight of who you were prior to your swan dive into the unknown, you were looking for excitement and you found it, thats all you care about for the time being. This inevitiably leads to stress and anxiety. Being in this headspace tends to amplifiy all aspects of your personality, especially the bad ones. In the beginning, nothing will go the way you planned, Im sure all of us will agree that trading isnt exactly what we thought it was in the beginning. I can see this leading some to extreme frustration, having your ego smashed, sliced up, and served back to you on a silver platter. It can be tricky looking at yourself in the mirror when your ego has been completely stripped away. If you have a bad attitude it can seem almost impossible to find any clarity in this state. Headstrong analytical types who thrive on logic and problem solving will likely take a step back, look at how the current situation came to be, and take corrective action But I can see stubborn people who just knew they found what they thought was a golden ticket sinking deeper and deeper in self-destructive behaivor, ultimately looking for a way out.
It may help then to trade with other traders...but then one bad day and....Ok..scratch that! Get a therapist who "talks to" traders and vent there?