Brass balls + Patience = Profits

ironchef · Jan 8, 2020

trader99 said:
This is not what I would have called good trading. He should have cut losses. Waited. Waited. Waited. Until it looks like it bottomed and started going up then go big in. That usually works out better than the hail mary let's see what happens. once in a blue moon, it comes back. It could have expired worthless.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

athlonmank8 · Jan 8, 2020

nooby_mcnoob said:
Dumb. He could have made money on the way down and the way up.

Such stubbornness = death eventually.

Easier said than done for a lot of people though

trader99 · Jan 8, 2020

ironchef said:
Hindsight is always 20/20.

I get what you are saying. I've been in many similar situations while not the same magnitude of gains. I was long or short something. It went against me to horrendous level and I just held and held and held. Eventually it came back my way and I made some profits.

With hindsight, I think it would have been better for me to take a small hit and REVERSED my thinking and went long(if I had gone short) or went short(had I was long). I would have net net made more money.

The exercise the OP did only taught him that if you held something long enough eventually it will make a lot of money for you. Which in this particular case worked out.

In many other instances, it might not. Yours truly had experienced it myself.

I'm still working on changing that psychology so I would take the hit earlier rather than just wait for it to come back.

comagnum · Jan 8, 2020

Making large gains when you bet the whole farm is gambling. The vast majority that operate like this end up giving it all back & than some.

SunTrader · Jan 8, 2020

SteveM said:
Very few traders could sit through the pain of watching open position profits grow bigger and bigger without booking the profits.

I'd say a person able to to sit on their hands during such times has the potential to be a great trader.

Back "in the day" late 90's I rode 500 shares of Tellabs down from $68ish to mid $30ish (Ma Bell spinoff bid for a smaller rival but eventually was bought by Lucent which itself is no longer around) till it came back to entry point a few months later and got a couple more for the hell of it before bailing around $71ish.

I had the patience (was supposed to be a daytrade lol) and bull market behind me but I have never come close to ever letting that happen again.

Learned to measure my patience in waiting minutes or hours at most - otherwise cut and run. Also, for me, to stick with futures only.

murray t turtle · Jan 8, 2020

ironchef said:
Hindsight is always 20/20.

%% Mostly;
but I would not want to buy a 191% debt ridden co with a $40, 000,000 SEC fine, even in hindsight , because TSLA up trending was such a low probability. So if we are going to pretend low probability debt ridden $40 million SEC fined company /single stock is a good buy; lets pretend with something better than TSLA-. NOT long or short TSLA.LOL-LOL

,

ironchef · Jan 8, 2020

trader99 said:
I get what you are saying. I've been in many similar situations while not the same magnitude of gains. I was long or short something. It went against me to horrendous level and I just held and held and held. Eventually it came back my way and I made some profits.

With hindsight, I think it would have been better for me to take a small hit and REVERSED my thinking and went long(if I had gone short) or went short(had I was long). I would have net net made more money.

The exercise the OP did only taught him that if you held something long enough eventually it will make a lot of money for you. Which in this particular case worked out.

In many other instances, it might not. Yours truly had experienced it myself.

I'm still working on changing that psychology so I would take the hit earlier rather than just wait for it to come back.

It is OK, we are all in the same boat suffer together, learning together.

Best wishes for the new year.

ironchef · Jan 8, 2020

murray t turtle said:
%% Mostly;
but I would not want to buy a 191% debt ridden co with a $40, 000,000 SEC fine, even in hindsight , because TSLA up trending was such a low probability. So if we are going to pretend low probability debt ridden $40 million SEC fined company /single stock is a good buy; lets pretend with something better than TSLA-. NOT long or short TSLA.LOL-LOL,

I don't own TSLA or trade TSLA. With my luck, I am afraid it will be another AMZN, which I also missed out.

ET180 · Jan 8, 2020

Pekelo said:
Dude buys Tesla LEAPs 18 months out in 2018 for 30K (average strike is $300). In 2019 summer Tesla tanks to its lowest, the value of the position falls to 3K. Dude keeps holding, (not selling at 350, 400, 450) eventually cashing out yesterday for a profit of 130K, or 330% return.

Edit: Apparently dude doesn't do math correctly. (well, he is on Wallstreetbets, so not a big surprise) He actually only made ~70K, so about 130%.

https://www.reddit.com/r/path%3D%252Fr%252Fwallstreetbets%252Fcomments%252Felg1pw%252F

The guy did not exercise 600 leap options as he claimed. He exercised 6 equivalent to 600 shares. Doesn't even know what he bought. 600 leap options at 300 strike would be worth around $12M today.

schizo · Jan 9, 2020

Brass Balls + Knuckle Head = Early Demise