I tried trading fulltime without getting the proper "education" and establishing a great support system with a mentor. Since, I made the change all smile
The dumbest thing for me is letting a losing trade go out of control. I have done this one more than one trade so, need to have more discipline. Instead, of exiting and minimizing losses----I let it run against me causing huge losses. That was super dumb. On the plus side, I do keep a trading journal and it kind of jumps at you----the horrible mistakes that you do not want to repeat and want to minimize atleast!!!
The dumbest thing I did was longing MRK when MRK loses the first Vioxx trial. I got my shares way below the market and I thought I got a bargin. I have to take a point hit in less than 30 seconds.
although my trading career is still in its infancy in many respects, i probably have more stories for this than i would like to recall. the one that stands out the most was one of my first shorting attempts. i shorted a stock after it had broken out on good news and had gone up over 150% in only a few days. the stock had not stopped making new highs so that gives you an idea of just how blind i was. i also had no notion of risk/money management, and because of my position size i found myself down a few thousand within an hour (my account was only 24K). as big of a mistake as this was, this actually isnt the one that fits the bill.... the stock traded down the next down, all the way down to a break even point. did i get out? ofcourse not, i was filled with greed and thought that my short was good at that point. long story short, i slowly watched it get away from me and eventually head all the way back to its previous high from the day before. i eventually ended up with another near break even exit and this time i took it. this anecdote is filled with mistakes ranging from all the elements in trading. i seemed to make them all in one trade. the glory days...
Aaron wrote a few pages back. "Back in 2001, as a newly minted CTA, I made my first trade in the Schindler Trading Program. It was an exciting day for me and I wanted very badly to make my first couple of investors some money and to start what I hoped would be a profitable track record. My systematic strategy had me go long the e-mini Nasdaq futures. It was the afternoon of September 10th." Not my dumbest but ranks up there. I was on line the morning of the 11th. All of a sudden I noticed many many stocks going short. Due to my inexperience at shorting, I hesitated not knowing what was going on. I should have done something, comes to mind, when I think back about it. By the time I figured it out, they closed all the markets. I don't remember the exact time but somewhere before EST of 9:30. I usually go online around 7:30 to 8:00 EST. to try and catch a few of the extreme moves due to the news and the emotions over reactions. Don't feel like the Lone Ranger, mine was much more of a mistake than yours, as you couldn't possibly know that was going to happen. Don
gunslinger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all they needed. The custom agents took us to a room where they proceeded to x-ray everything, sneakers, shampoo etc...Then they started to read our journals, word for word, we each kept during the trip. In my friend's he wrote "I can't believe he's bringing the stuff across the border, he's crazy". When they read that, they freaked. They were yelling, "What the fuck is this!","Where's the stuff!". Needless to say we were strip searched (bent over and everything). Though I knew we had nothing, my heart was still beating a mile a minute. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am sure you are aware, it was not too long before that kid had his butt batted around with a cane. They did hang a couple of Americans who were found with small amount of grass. Everyone including the President tried to intervene for them. All to no avail, they hung both of them. And it's not like here in the U.S.where it takes almost 20 years for a sentence gets carried out. Shortly after they were found guilty they were hung. don
Try to walk across a train tressle not knowing the train schedule or what time it was. When I first heard the whistle I didn't know from which direction it came. Since I was about halfway across, I stopped and looked both ways. As soon as I ascertained where it was coming from, I turned and started running in the opposite direction. Didn't make it to the end because I fell off. It's true, when you think you're going to die your life flashes before you. I landed about a hundred feet below in a huge pile of leaves and compost...a very soft landing! Walked away smelling like sh*t, but haven't tried that again in 42 years, and never will.
Held for $1.00 even when it was trading .98 it saw .05 30 days later where I owed it from 5 months before. I won't tell you the number of shares I had at the time. :eek: