Did your trading "success" ruin other people's career?

S

sunggong

Alright, this is a strange topic, but I've witnessed two people that try to do the same thing that I'm doing and blew up their accounts.

For some reason, because I'm doing it, they think it can't be that bad. :D

I warned both of them but ultimately, they couldn't throw out "get rich quick mentality" and got killed after several months.

So nowadays, when my friends ask me how my trading is going, I just smile and tell them I'm happy to be alive.

Those two people that blew up are now back in the corporate rat race, and one of them even blamed me for not helping him enough.... Go figure....
 
Years ago I tried to help a good friend get started trading. That is the only time I have ever shown actual trading statements to anybody. Proof that it could be done was my biggest "tip", but it wasn't enough. My friend just didn't have the right psychology. It was a shame because we could have helped each other.

A while back I registered as a CTA. That let to a call from a young man who wanted to talk trading. So I met with him, and even loaned him some books and reference materials which he never returned.

It is was mostly those two experiences that made me a lot less likely to talk about what I do or share my experience. We're all social animals, and I cannot refrain entirely from talking about trading, but I don't want to be responsible in any way for somebody else blowing up.

The more successful we are at trading, the more people envy or resent our freedom and success. It's probably best to find friends we have something in common with and who support what we do.
 
Quote from sunggong:

Alright, this is a strange topic, but I've witnessed two people that try to do the same thing that I'm doing and blew up their accounts.

For some reason, because I'm doing it, they think it can't be that bad. :D

I warned both of them but ultimately, they couldn't throw out "get rich quick mentality" and got killed after several months.

So nowadays, when my friends ask me how my trading is going, I just smile and tell them I'm happy to be alive.

Those two people that blew up are now back in the corporate rat race, and one of them even blamed me for not helping him enough.... Go figure....
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did you give your friends the exact same system you use, generating the exact same signals?
 
Quote from MandelbrotSet:

LOL, you should have asked around before trying to "help" someone.

They would have warned you that it's a big mistake to down that road.
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I tried to discourage them to daytrade, but they were the ones that kept wanting to give it a shot.

I did tell them about how nice it is to be done by 1pm everyday and still make more money than what I was making as a management consultant, and that got them interested.

What a mistake it was to even tell them this....

So now, I don't even say anything. I change the topic when they ask me about daytrading.

It's not easy watching people blow up, especially when they are your friends.
 
Quote from DataCruncher:

did you give your friends the exact same system you use, generating the exact same signals?
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No, I don't give out my system. They watched me trade a couple of times (which sucked by the way because I couldn't concentrate), but it's very hard to know what I'm doing by just watching. Sometimes, I don't even know what I am doing. :D
 
Quote from sunggong:

No, I don't give out my system. They watched me trade a couple of times (which sucked by the way because I couldn't concentrate), but it's very hard to know what I'm doing by just watching. Sometimes, I don't even know what I am doing. :D
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:D we all have those days! (even after we become "succesfull traders")
***
I once set a portfolio of mutual funds up for a friend-of-a-friend (my friend is a guy, this was for one of his women friends).

I didn't hear the end of it when it took a small dip in value (this was back in '03) and then started to catch the wave as the bull-run began.

Now, I had setup numerous portfolios for friends, and never once did I get a complaint from them, but this nutjob just chewed my ear off ... believe me, it wasn't worth losing the trust of the friendship (we sill connect on a superficial level, but it's just that, superficial) she never once even called to thank me when the dough started rolling in. :mad:

In regards to trading, you'd really have to teach them from the bottom-up, and include the science and logic of your trading as well as the psychological reinforcement so that they believe in the system and will perform it in a disciplined fashion ... wow, no relationship is worth all that :eek:, (well, maybe your life partner, but that's the only one I can think of).
 
So sunggong, you didn't give your strategy, you didn't really help your friends and all you really did was have them peak at you trading and say a few lines with as much insight as Cramer on one of his shows.

And they were your "friends". And now you open a thread on ET when no one even knows who you are to gloat how they lost their money. Douchebag
 
Quote from Renegen:

So sunggong, you didn't give your strategy, you didn't really help your friends and all you really did was have them peak at you trading and say a few lines with as much insight as Cramer on one of his shows.

And they were your "friends". And now you open a thread on ET when no one even knows who you are to gloat how they lost their money. Douchebag
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What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have a fever?
 
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