Wow... What a crazy day. I was green nearly 3500 dollars on my account... And I chased 3 stocks and held one of the stock thru earning.. . Guess what? My account from +3500 to - 900 dollars. I liquidate the bad earning stock right after hour. Regret... Regret... Regret... Should have..... Would have.... Should have sold before closing bells.....what a crazy day. All my moves were wrong... As soon as I entered a trade, it dropped and I got stopped out. When I shorted a stock, it went up.... Feeling sad and emotional now..... Very discouraged.
I agree, It's generally bad to bet on earnings or one-time events...it's an all-or-nothing type of deal ; With...normal...trading...you can glide or slide in and out of the trades relatively gradually...thereby giving you potentially more control and advantage. Depending on how you view the current climate, -- you don't have to deal with whammies or surprises. I know it may sound cliche...but you have to structure or think about your trades...like an Army General: Pros/cons, maximizing/minimizing risk/reward, etc etc variables to win in the overall long run, greater picture of things. Reality Check. song from the movie Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, 2010
Done the same thing to many times. Betting on Earnings NOT WORTH IT. The beatings you take when your wrong do a lot more emotional damage than the winnings when you are right. If you must absolutely play earnings, buy a couple short duration options with a small bet like there lottery tickets because that's what they are if your wrong, they go to zero asap. But sometimes you win big. Best to be flat and make a strategic entries after you analyze the earnings and the price drama. Shake it off, and vow never to repeat, and you will be on your way to better days.
I am sorry that happened. My advice is to turn off your computer for a bit and go out and take a walk. Clear your head and try to relax.
If you learn from this one mistake and won't repeat it then you will be a hero in my book but more importantly in your own book. Everyone makes mistakes, admitting such (which you did) and learning from such is key. Best wishes
You just learned a lesson you will never forget. Don't repeat it again. Move on. It is over with. Focus on what you have to do next.
Trading is all about making mistakes and then never making those mistakes again. Like others have said, never ever hold on to a position through earnings; the emotional devastation of a loss is much greater than the euphoria of winning. If you must trade through earnings buy a small call or put, but trading earnings is gambling not trading. Last piece of advice: DO NOT DAY TRADE. Always hold on for few days/weeks. Take a small position, hope for a trend. Cut loser, let winners run. Move on to the next trade.
I used to trade stocks the day earnings were released, but only taking very small positions, I knew the move would be pretty big so I wouldn't risk alot....used to do that with AAPL, Google, Amazon... Stocks I knew would move at least 5-10% in after-hours... Aside from that looking back, the worst was holding a stock long term and seeing earnings results while you owned it and didn't trade it...one stock I can remember back in the day that fell off a cliff was McKesson.... Owned that and saw it drop hard once after bad earnings results....ended selling at a loss, however looking at the stock today and all its done is gone straight up!!!
First of all, you only lost $900. That is peanuts. I understand you may be trading a small account maybe even $10k only. Losing 10% in a day sucks, but it's certainly not ruinous. If you're gonna play earnings, you need to do a lot of backtesting so you can understand how stocks and their options behave during that time. Good luck. One day I lost $300k. Almost gave up. That was a sad day (not because I lost money but because I almost gave up)