How much $$$ did you lose before you began making $$$ trading?

Quote from mem:

5 months and 10k to make consistent profits scalping European index futures in the evening after work.
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I trade Z and CAC40. Starting trading breakouts and some indicators. Had no real success. The strategies I employed are probably profitable but not with my current psychological makeup (cutting winners short). Breakthrough came when I started trading on price only; buy/sell retracement in a (micro) trend. I now enjoy 100% profitable weeks and 80% of the individual days. There is a slight trend towards increasing returns per contract and week as well. Main weakness is cutting winners to early but I am confident this will come eventually. Used to overtrade a bit and trade scared after big losers or winners (afraid to loose more or afraid to loose what I just gained), but neither is a problem anymore.

Will add FDAX and Stoxx50 on my screen shortly. Long term I hope to position trade futures as well but for now I focus on my bread and butter, scalping Z and CAC40. (Def scalping - 2-10 points)
 
ive been trading for 8 months now...i lost 150 my first month..made 30 my second and lost 100 my 3rd... ive been green since...I work for a prop firm so there risk management had something to do with the amount of my losses...however I dont think that you need to lose too much while learning...for me the I think the biggest loss came from opportunity cost the time I spent breaking even and not making money...I think of this time like im going to grad school.. however we pay per share commisions so for the first few months while i was trading one lots, my commisions stayed in check...if your trading with a retail account with a minimum comm. then this maybe a little harder...
 
that is what trading for a living is .

the profits have to cover your monthly business expenses.

it's means you aren't making enough profit. you have to pay yourself




Quote from NoProblem:

All of the above for me. I was trading NQ, ES and YM futures, stocks and stock options.

The #1 biggest culprit for me was over trading - feeling the absolute need to always be in a position - huge killer for just about everyone imo.

The other thing about trading for a living that was my eventual killer, was I could never let profits build in my acount.

At the end of the week or day - or whatever, I would wire any profits into my checking account for bills.....eventually, the wire transfers out of my account won, and poof!, no more account.



Steve
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Started with YM, ES, ER, more or less at the same time. I lost about 10k before I decided to concentrate on 1 of them (the ES) and did that on paper for 3 months --everyday for 4 or 5 hours.

I finally "got it" and with some good algorithms I finally have "my edge". There was a time though that I thought how crazy I was to be losing money, but I love the markets and kept at it.

Finally after those years it's almost secongd nature, but still have to tweak the algos from time to time. It never stays exactly the same.
 
Quote from gohstrader:

Started with YM, ES, ER, more or less at the same time. I lost about 10k before I decided to concentrate on 1 of them (the ES) and did that on paper for 3 months --everyday for 4 or 5 hours.

I finally "got it" and with some good algorithms I finally have "my edge". There was a time though that I thought how crazy I was to be losing money, but I love the markets and kept at it.

Finally after those years it's almost secongd nature, but still have to tweak the algos from time to time. It never stays exactly the same.
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thanks man...how did you ever rebound from that 10k loss?
 
I quit my job in '99 after working a $5k acct to 50k over a few months, then doubled it in one day to $100k to become a "daytrader".

I lost $83k of that in 6 months by over trading and chasing hot names. It was brutal - but gave me a wake up call.

Over the next 6 months I turned that $20k into $600k by anticipating moves rather than chasing them, and using 2x margin or options. Caught some great moves but invariably left huge amounts on the table. If I had 10 k of options turn into $50k i would just take it.

The edge back then was simple - figure out what sector the money was rotating into and look for low priced stocks that hadn't moved. Sometimes it would take awhile but invariably the daytraders would find them.

Recent for instance - quick scan of coal stocks once ANR and PCX got jiggy turned up ICO at $7. It almost doubled in just over two months. Double your money a couple times and you are rich.
 
Quote from increasenow:

thanks man...how did you ever rebound from that 10k loss?
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I started with 30K so I took it easy and as I said did it on paper with 1-3 cars max. Once I went to cash I bit the bullet and followed my plan and it worked lol.
 
$15-20k spread out over several small accounts and a few years. Only recently have things clicked and I am making very small amounts nearly every day trading 100 shares prop.

It was worth it!
 
I lost ~12k and could not believe how quickly it was gone so I stepped back and studied and developed a plan for 1 1/2 to 2 years. I did not need to work during this time and I credit this with my success, I was able to focus fully on learning to trade for a living.
 
Quote from timscott:

I quit my job in '99 after working a $5k acct to 50k over a few months, then doubled it in one day to $100k to become a "daytrader".

I lost $83k of that in 6 months by over trading and chasing hot names. It was brutal - but gave me a wake up call.

Over the next 6 months I turned that $20k into $600k by anticipating moves rather than chasing them, and using 2x margin or options. Caught some great moves but invariably left huge amounts on the table. If I had 10 k of options turn into $50k i would just take it.

The edge back then was simple - figure out what sector the money was rotating into and look for low priced stocks that hadn't moved. Sometimes it would take awhile but invariably the daytraders would find them.

Recent for instance - quick scan of coal stocks once ANR and PCX got jiggy turned up ICO at $7. It almost doubled in just over two months. Double your money a couple times and you are rich.
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thanks Tim...this is a great post...very encouragiing...do you trade futures?
 
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