My daily standard deviation is like 20%, hourly 10%, so it's nothing out of the ordinary... I'm taking about my account balance, though, not my net worth.
emini traders don't do drawdowns in markets like this. That only happens when VIX levels are <10. Tapes are tough, but still plenty of opportunity exists.
Right, but stocks have been absolutely BRUTAL lately. It's like there's way too much smart money going after the same short-term plays I'm in. This creates frequent 'trap' situations, where the trade <i>looks</i> like a perfect setup, only to turn into a brutal ass-raping sans vaseline a few minutes later. I'm sure all the equities guys here know exactly what I'm talking about.
<img src=http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1673834></img> Here is mine from my auto system, 30%, although its from the last 14 trading days, so includes the last week of September, but the worst of it occured in November. Im agressive and expect drawdowns like this every six months or so. My discretionary trading is about flat for November so far.