Have you ever blown up your trading account?

[ammo]

Quote from saliva:

Actually, I haven't cast my vote yet. But I will tell you this. I too once blew up my account at the beginning of my career, so you know which button I'll be pressing. Certainly not the last one.

No, I'm not taking anything personally. I just don't buy into the notion that 99.9% of the traders fail. Even if a large chunk of them blow up, I would like to think a lot of them will eventually claw themselves out of their grave. Since I belong to this particular group, I also share the same opinion as many of you that going belly up does more good than harm in the long run. It definitely gave me a new perspective not just on trading but on the meaning of life in general.

the 95% stat comes from the cboe where a first time seat leaser or owner would blow out within the span of the 1st year ,there isn't a famous highwater mark follow up story on how many of those traders went on to succeed after re capitalizing

 

[saliva]

Quote from ammo:

the 95% stat comes from the cboe where a first time seat leaser or owner would blow out within the span of the 1st year ,there isn't a famous highwater mark follow up story on how many of those traders went on to succeed after re capitalizing

I don't know if the options traders are any more sophisticated than their stock or futures counterparts even though its complex nature is without a parallel. Also the options market has a much lower entry barrier considering that it doesn't require much upfront fees as with stocks or futures. I'm not saying this has anything to do with the failure rate, but it's been proven that the lower the barrier the higher the competition, and hence the higher the rate of failure. Haven't we all heard and latched onto the myth of a 90% failure rate for the restaurant industry?

 

[TraderZones]

Quote from ammo:

,there isn't a famous highwater mark follow up story on how many of those traders went on to succeed after re capitalizing

I am sure it was more than balanced by the number of people who blew up AFTER their first year...

 

[The Big D]

Quote from saliva:

Big D, those are all valid points with one exception: you neglect to mention that you must have a good working system in the first place. After all, the computer only does what it's told. As such, to assume that a mechanical trader is a better trader than a discretionary trader is an overkill. I'm of the opinion that you cannot become a successful mechanical trader without first being a great discretionary trader.

I certainly feel it's possible to be good at systems and bad at discretionary trading. I think I'm in that category - a good system trader, but only a modest discretionary trader. It's not that I don't spot some good discretionary stuff. It's just that the rate at which I spot it is too low - I couldn't get much return off it without huge positions and risk. Whereas my system stuff I feel is much better from a risk/reward point of view.

 

[ASusilovic]

If you blow up your first 5 million USD, you should have learned a thing or two...

 

[maxpi]

It's not whether you win or lose, it's whether you lose

 

[No.Heat]

Sure did then I learned the most important thing in trading.

Unless you can find relatively "No heat" entries you got no business trading.

No Heat

 

[Buzzed]

Quote from ammo:

inrespect to stosh's post, how many times does a tightrope walker fall to the net before making it across for the first time?

How many traders have a net to catch their fall?

I think I understand the ultimate lesson this thread is attempting to teach.

NEVER risk it all.

 

[ammo]

if you open an acct with 5k, and u are learning to walk,baby steps, you still fall, the net would be 1 lot mistakes won't wipe out your acct or net,u should actually keep a sim acct after going live and trade both, a lot of experienced traders will use a sim acct to trade products they are still unfamiliar with, i havn't found the time but i want to learn how to trade currencies and i will start out on sim,it's a great tool

 

[failed_trad3r]

Quote from saliva:

As you might already know, most of the traders go broke within their first year--more like six months in most cases. From that point of view, I believe it warrants to know how many are able to stand on their own two feet as it were.

By all means, experience counts. Quite a lot actually. But that alone isn't enough. Just as one does not necessarily grow any wiser over the years (for evidence you should look no further than those on this forum ), you shouldn't assume you will become a better trader over time either.

true. I am much smarter than some 40-50 year olds on these boards! For a 20-year old I am a genius. Some people don't even realize that there's more to life than daytrading. I believe I will be much smarter when im 30.