sometimes I like to think I am letting a winner run or "giving it room to breathe" while it retraces on me for a nice loss. Makes me feel as good if I hit myself in my junk with a claw hammer.
#1) MSTR in 2000. Bought at $50. It went to $53 that day and turned and never looked back. Did a reverse split a few years later 1:10. I sold around below $5 just to book the loss for tax purposes. 95% loss on $5k. MSTR has now recovered quite nicely since then. #2) Holding RMBS with a pretty tight stop back in the same era...news they've been selected by SAMSUNG as the memory provider for their laptop. Stock leaps up about $30-40. Celebration ensues until I see that I was stopped out near the low of the day. I didn't feel too bad since I already knew what not placing a stop can do to you (see #1).
I have several. Actually come to think of, eight total life shattering trades in a period of a decade. I should start my own thread..... One that jumps out at me happened back around Halloween 2005. Based on thorough technical scan indicators and the anticipation of upcoming news on their infinite lawsuit saga in early 2006, I started loading RMBS in 1000 share blocks. After a couple weeks I put together a large position at a cost average somewhere around $13.11ish. I was using margin as well, so I even splurdged for some near term $12.50 puts. Well after a couple more weeks and serious restlessness as the stock did jack squat, I dumped the puts and the stock postion for a small loss. Not even 3 whole trading days later, RMBS gaps to mid teens and two months later is trading around $45 per share. I never recovered. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think the worst one was back in 2007 when Eloan's merger was suspect and the IV on the put options was insane. The stock was trading at $9.50 per share, but the 1 3/4 month out $2.50 puts were bidding .80. I sold 750 of these contracts worth 75,000 shares of underlying stock at a break even of $1.70 because myself and an attorney did our due diligence. There was no legal way that this merger could not happen. So guess what happens? I shorted these puts on a Friday and that weekend, BREAKING NEWS >>> ELOAN MERGER OFF! SAID TO BE IN BREACH OF CONTRACT!!!!!>>>>> So now I am shitting my pants. I can not sleep the entire weekend. I was in shock. So Monday I covered the puts as the stock crashed to just below the $5 mark for a decent size loss. But here comes even more good news. Two days later, Eloan is given a lower cash amount offer from its acquirer. It was a ploy all along. The acquiring company was just trying to pay less for Eloan. Instead of $15, they paid like $11.50 for them. The merger ends up going through without a hitch. I would have pocketed 100% of that premium, just like my due diligence said I would. Timing is everything.
Just a few. Too many too list. Bot Spot Eur/Usd @ .88 in early 2002. Took out 3. Bot AKS 5 calls in Dec 03. Took out 4. Got short TASR in Dec 04. Took out 10. Bot ES 1500 puts in Dec 07. Took out 15. Bot ES futs at 680. Took out 30. I have excellent skill in picking turning points. Inflection points call to me, sounds nuts, but entirely true. But I cannot hold a winner for shit. It is heartbreaking at times. A friend suggested I take a partner...i`d rather suffer.
Back when C (Citibank) was about to touch its bottom of 0.99, we (my team) were discussing a proposal of buying atleast 200k shares of C and forget it for atleast 5 years. We were targeting 1000% profit over the 5 years however after some research I decided against it. At that day C was at 1.01. The rest all of you guys know Couldve been the easiest million dollars ever in less than 6 months
I had many such moments, sometimes on a daily basis after the close when I daytraded actively, but with time you learn to just let it go and forget about it. Shoulda Woulda Coulda regrets cause a lot of revenge trading. Don't remember most of them at this point. But if I had to pick one, I would say not buying gold & silver bullion back in early 2005 when I first really considered doing it. It seemed like the price was too high, lol. I also remember that around the same time, I was building a position in NXG at $1.25/share in my prop account for a longer term hold. I ended up being shaken out by 1 cent right before the move.
Just to give a new twist to the meaning of "Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda!", you can bet that I'll be swearing and moaning in six months from now for not having shorted the stock market today. There can be no help for the clueless.
Back when Lehman Brothers was about $1, we (my team) were discussing a proposal of buying at least 200k shares and forget it for at least 5 years. We were targeting 1000% profit over the 5 years and after some research I decided to put my life savings in it. The rest all of you guys know
I love this thread ! Great idea OP ! My contribution: Back in early March 2009, I had been watching BAC around the upper $6's. I had just started trading a month or 2 before so I had no clue what I was doing. I had made $12k in one day and thought I was on top of the world. So I bought in with a large position into BAC as I figured they were in the $60's a year or two ago and I would just hold for a while. Anyway, had I any sense of TA back then, I would have seen that I was buying right on the end of the downslide. So BAC slides down to $5 and I would wake up every morning and be stunned at how low it went again and again. By the time it got down to the $4's I said if it touches below $4 I'm selling, as I was getting worried about the continuous loss of money mixed with the gov takeover chatter. The main reason I sold was because I was reading the news every day listening to the FUD from the newspaper companies saying there was going to be a government takeover and I was reading tons of forums letting them pollute my thoughts. Anyway, as you all know, they went below $4, I ended up losing almost $30k and then a week later it hit its low at 2.52 and eventually went all the way up to like $19. Had I held till Oct/Nov 2009 I could have made like half a million ! Oh well, the funny part is , I'm so glad I didnt make the $500K, as I would have never started reading up on TA and really studying the markets and I'd still be flying by the seat of my pants to this day probably.