Not the dumbest.... In 2004, was successfully trading EUR/USD up and down (long and short) a 3 to 4 cent range (1.2100s to 1.2500s, if I remember correctly) for about 3 months. Was doing well. I moved. When I got settled again, clicked on my PC, I noticed EUR/USD was passing 1.2550.... I decided to STOP buying and ONLY short. <-- I know, dumb. Continued shorting... all the way into the 1.3600s. Even increasing my trade sizes as the rate ascended. Came within a whisker of blowing my account out. Tsunami hit 14 Asian nations, EUR/USD fell nearly 2000-pts into the 1.1600s. Did I make any money? Nah, I bailed at the fiirst sign of daylight way back up near 1.3000, even though my average price was once into the 1.3300s pointing down. -B Worked 'round the clock in the trade for 8-months. Surprisingly, I didn't lose any money, though all the money I made during that time (about 1/2 my account worth) went up in smoke while I fought the upward trend. I do things differently after that trade. Much differently. Good thread. The DrawDown
Bought EVLV (Evolve), some tech company in the beg. in '02 around $4.00/shr. (my dad's advice, btw.) I had $10,000 (AMTD acct under dad's name)in my portfolio (yeah, a piker) and I was about 17. Stock dropped immediately. And thus my tragedy. I averaged down. :eek: a lot. since I had no concept of pos. size, money management, how to trade, or anything, I simply kept averaging down, wondering how it was possible for a company to keep going lower. Wish I would've kept a journal back then... Well, fast forward about a year, the company went bust. I was out about 50%+ of my original portfolio. My worst mistake ever and my best lesson, period. Glad I didn't go bust. Broke even about a year after and haven't had a losing yr. yet. P.S. EVLV.Q is Evolve's new ticker I still have those shares, too, worth $50 bucks, now!
Listening to advice on EliteTrader, instead of realising that ET stands stands for "Entertainment Today" vital statistics