Blown up and Devastated

Quote from giannos:

Today I lost 2k, but the rest of the week has also acumulted many large losses and the revenge got into me to trade more size and try to recover.....
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When one loses money, one must CUT size to survive. You are not in the flow so you need to continue trading but with small size until you get back into it. A lot of people do what you do and end up with the same result.

Also, you lost $2k today. Can you make $4k on an average day? If not, then you have no business losing $2k. Even if you make $2k per day on average, every time you hit it you waste THREE days of trading. Now... if you average $300 per day and lose $2k, then you have lost 3 weeks worth of revenue. Think about that..... :)
 
Thanx Futures, will defenately read the book....I guess I am just really pissed becasue I have had a BIG problem closing out my winners way to soon... and not bailing out of losers fast enough...It seems like when I see Green on my blotter I want to close it and then I leave a stupid amount of $$ on the table...When I see RED, I feel like I can "work"out of it...
 
Quote from FuturesTrader71:.....If you don't know the price where your position is wrong, then you shouldn't be in the position. Also, if you are betting more than you can stand to lose when that stop price gets hit, then you shouldn't be in the position. RISK is the brakes on this fast car we call the "market". It is always nice to jump into a faster car (more size) to drive around the track a few times, but if you don't know where the brake is and when to hit it then you might end up in a pile-up.
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Good post FT. All newbies should print this one out!
 
Sorry to hear about that giannos. This will be a bit repetitive but hope it helps you.

1] It sounds like you weren't really following any sort of plan or strategy but buying or selling "just because".

2] It sounds like you were trading emotionally (again, not based on any plan).

3] It sounds like you didn't have any real mm or risk mgmt in place. Did you know where your stop was for each trade before you went in?

4] You need distance. Cut back size MASSIVELY. I mean trade so small its hilarious. Then pretend that you're trading for the Red Cross, your grandma or someone else you really really care about.

rs7 made a post re this and man is it ever right on:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6666

If you're new to this (you mentioned 1 yr) then take this as a positive learning experience and be confident that it can make you stronger if you learn from it and analyse it.
 
Quote from giannos:

Well today I offically became a statistic....I have joined the 95% of traders who fail ....My story begins like this.

I was a product of Swift trade a while back and moved on to bigger and better things....Rebating just wasnt for me...I joined a prop firm and have been trading with them for the past 4 months....Yesterday AMAT ripped me apart and today it was MSFT.....I was long MSFT and geting wacked, slowly my losses added up...I was scaling my position as I did want to eventually have some size....But it was on the downtrend....At this point I was long
.....
:(
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when i get this sort of emotional conflict going on (hope, wishing, thinking i know what the market will or should do), i think its best to offset the position or at least pull the stop in and call it a day.

if im not managing myself correctly, how can i hope to manage my trades?

this is very hard to do and i would be lying if i said i had it mastered, but im working on it!!

setting a daily downside limit can also help - but you must have the discipline to stick to it.

try to eat your loss one bite at a time. swallowing an elephant aint gunna happen in one sitting dude.

every day is a new da, and a choice to remain profitable.
 
Quote from giannos:

Futures:

What should my risk / reward ratio be?
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It depends on your time horizon, style, product, etc. But to survive this game, it needs to be at least $2 for every $1 risked.

This is a slippery slope because you can have a whole bunch of losing trades and then one trade that gives you 10:1 return. This is an area that you should know well.

The main difficulty, I think, about trading is knowing the few variables that you can control. Like many people have mentioned here in the past, I can give you every little step needed to make $1MM this year but you will likely lose money trying it as hard as you can. This is probably because you don't know what works, so a lot of research is necessary. This is why you can't make money on things you read on the web or from books until you actually test it out. Once you know that it works (when, how, why, etc), then you will have the conviction to stick with it when the R:R or percent win is low.

Does that make sense?
 
Quote from giannos:

Thanx Futures, will defenately read the book....I guess I am just really pissed becasue I have had a BIG problem closing out my winners way to soon... and not bailing out of losers fast enough...It seems like when I see Green on my blotter I want to close it and then I leave a stupid amount of $$ on the table...When I see RED, I feel like I can "work"out of it...
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You are trading out of fear.... only experience and research can fix that.... this is very typical in trading so don't beat yourself up too much.
 
No need to be devasted. Blowing up is part of the game. It's a clear indication that you were doing something wrong. If trading is your passion you'll find one way or another to succeed.

I lost my shirt and underwear trading. I'm still kicking around and more determined than ever in all aspects of life.

Be strong.

ozzy

P.S watch the Rick James episode of the Chappelle show. You'll feel better.
 
UNDERTRADE...

Trade Defensively....

Trade to not make money, but rather to not lose money.

Capital Preservation must be your single most goal while trading.

Your account equity is your life blood. And you are in a ring with vampires sucking away at your blood, you must protect your life blood at all costs.


NEVER ADD to a LOSER
(but winners do know when to add to a loser, and you can only reach that level by knowing when not to add to a loser)
 
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