Send the rest of your account to me in the form of a check, and I will tell you the secrets of trading. No kidding.
Heh...it'll be available in the market. Come get it...along with the million other traders out there... I'll be ready to lose again...just need to take a bit of time off To a better tomorrow!
shabushabu, don't make the mistake of adding more money into your account in an attempt clear up your draw-down. This won't help - just take it one day at a time and watch your position size. Good trading.
In a lot of cases, when you encounter a drawdown like that, you feel the market "stole" your money or something along that line. This in turns, leads to needing to get back all the money as soon as possible. Like someone said, don't fund this account, if you're truly ready to trade full time, you should be able to build that account back up. the gist is, if you can't make money with 20k, what makes you think you can make money if your account is 60k. keep your job, there's plenty of stuff to learn still. I'd keep working that job for a couple more years and see if you're consistently profitable in trading. good luck!
Don't quit your day job. You are not ready to trade full time yet. You may never be ready. I am sure you already realize that you cannot even think about trading full time until you get your trading under control. Why are you over trading on margin? In a hurry? Why are you not cutting losers? Do you like losing, or were you praying for a turnaround? Prayer does not help in the markets. Revenge trading? Who are you trying to get revenge on? Yourself? Why are you trading against the trend? thats an advanced technique and you are still a beginner. Go for the easy money that lies with the trend.
Actually, I was doing all the above. After a successful, I found myself getting into over trading which led to where we are now. So in essence, it comes down to money management and probably a flaw in my pschye - not able to handle big losses. I hope I've learned some things through this and I'm starting to think alot of things through.... - whether my current job is right for me, i think i need to find something more meaningful - money isn't everything - although i've lost more than a brand new car or deposit for a condo (vancouver is expensive), my life hasn't really changed much other than getting so emotionally tied to money. if i can get away from this, which I think i'm starting to get a grasp of, i believe i can be very successful in trading - i didn't realize how much i took for granted the presence of my family / gf / friends....without them, trading would be nothing... still, if i can be successful at trading, i believe i will have more time to do things that are more meaningful (ex. spend time with family/friends, volunteer, etc) a bit of a rant thanks for all the comments
Let me tell you what I did to enter this field. I took a night job driving a bread route for a bakery so that I could study, trade and fine tune a day-trading strategy. Once I was totally convinced that I had a successful strategy... (a few years of fine tuning) I took the Series 7 test to become a full time trader with access to more leverage. Essentially what I'm saying is don't leave one source of income until you know you have created a steady stream of income trading. Be willing to take odd jobs if neccessary. Sacrifice and hard work is the name of the game for those of us who come from families of modest means or limited capital.