I almost lost my Shirt , trading today

K

ksonsinc

Well i have to say Fri 20 2006 was a tuff day
i have never been down more then $300 on my pl since i started trading past 2 week
Today i was down (- 2000 )
I was playing with lot of 1000 shares which i usually dont play with
ever trade went against me and i held till 4.00 a clock to sell every thing at the worst level
Well we all thought there would be a little buying coming in but it did not it just went to the lowest level it could
I had been up $500 for the week but i guess i am now down (-1500 for the week due to my stupid mistake and stubborness
I am lucky that i did not average down as the system did not let me other wise i would have been way way down as the market never looked back :(
have you been in such a situtation and how do u come over it
Like the fear the loss the depression
please advice or give me your oponion
 
some days buying a dips as a daytrader is like blowing off your own balls with a shotgun. Must know how to interpret news and events. We were long overdue for a puke day and I suspect buying into dips small next week maybe the right play. 1000 shares is not wise unless you have major money to back ya.
 
Hello:

I favor a darwinian approach to trading. If the money you lost was a big chunk of your account (who knows), then you should consider suicide. I would suggest the following;

1. Jumping off a tall structure, either a bridge or building.
2. Poison (there are many alternatives/try google)
3. Gunshot (again I suggest google for specific instructions)
4. Death by car accident (drive at high speed into a bridge embankment, or off a cliff. Alternatives include head-on collision with farm implements or trains.
5. Explosives (Again with google's help you can obtain sufficient knowledge to put an effective "shaped charge" together. Alternatives include purchase of old military ordinance.
6. Death by policeman (here you simply take a facsimile weapon and hold up a bank or liquor store. Fleeing with the money, you simply stop and point your facsimile weapon at a policeman. Game over.)

So here are a number of resources for you to choose from. Frankly I don't favor the idea of trying to overcome a significant drawdown like yours. In my view you are probably genetically deficient and unfit for trading. I believe I speak for the majority of professionals when I say that you should pick one of the alternatives and proceed to remove yourself from the gene pool ASAP.

If it is any consolation, I would be glad to institute an award to be given annually to the retail trader who manages to rack up the worst possible loss, on a day when the rest of us are making it hand over fist. We might call it the "Ksonsinc Memorial Trading Failure Award." It might be a statue of a trader sitting on a stool pointing a gun at his head.

Best Regards,
Steve
 
Rather than worry about you killing yourself. Let me say at this point.

ITS A JOKE

I hope the point is made. Nothing and I mean nothing, is of earthshaking importance other than the love of your family and your health.

Get up off the floor and come back on monday.

Steve
 
Ksonsinc,

it looks like you traded on your opinion. I do not know what your strategy is. But if you didn't trade on your opinion, but used your normal strategy. Then there's definately something wrong, because these are the days everyone is waiting for. And these are the days where you can make the most money. Think about it!

I think buying dips is a losing edge, it's like some other guy on ET said: Putting a "Rape Me" sign on your ass!

You need to use hard stops and you need to stick to them. You have to analyse your trades, and see if there's anything that tells you, you should have gone out of the trade, except the price. So when this happens a second time, you know what to do.

But never give up though! And definately come back Monday. And if you get trigger shy then read Mark Douglas' Trading in the Zone! Boring book, but really usefull.

-Dave.
 
Hey what do you say there flapjack,
The problem you had is you were trading on a false premis. You believed the market would turn around, why did you believe that?
In order for you to make money the way you trade, you need to know the Markets direction. If you would have known how the Market was going to close you would have been short, and you would have had your best day ever. Now, there are two ways to know the Markets direction.
1) you can figure it out yourself ( can be very costly, I tried and almost was wiped out)
2) you can hire a Market Timer with a proven track record ( the service I use has an 83% accuracy record, I know this because they post the results of every Intraday Market call they make.)

You appearently are a day trader, which means that without knowing how the Market will close you will be lucky to make money 50% of the time. Assuming that you can guess right half the time.On Friday, I knew at 12:15 (dow was down 135) that the Market would continue to sell off. I was already in a put position so I held on, even though I was already way up. I could have sold my puts for .75 cents at 12:15, but with the knowledge of continued down trend ( I was 83% sure) I stayed in and sold out when the dow was down 174 for 1.20 per contract.
It sounds like the other thing you need, which really is by far the most important aspect of Trading is a solid money management plan. A plan which emphesises getting out of a position after a certain amount of loss. I am an options trader and my limit is 10-15 %. Here's an example.
I open a position by buying qqq puts for 2.00 per contract. You buy options on a bid/ask, in this example the bid was 1.90, and the ask was 2.00 . This means that following my money management plan I will only allow my puts value to go down to 1.75 and I get out. If you as a daytrader of stocks you such a rule your stoploss would be more like 2-3 %, probably less than that. These are manageable losses. You have to factor in that you will lose, once you accept that notion you can make your main thought "how little" will I let myself lose. This is what seperates successful Traders who live to trade again, from Traders who get wiped out once, and never trade again. Then on the otherside of the coin you need to know how much your going make before you get out. Trading options, my goal is for at least a 15% gain, and since I'm winning 3 trades for everyone I lose I make money. Anyway, that's how this old trader does it, nice and simple.

...Rennick out
 
Quote from William Rennick:

Hey what do you say there flapjack,
The problem you had is you were trading on a false premis. You believed the market would turn around, why did you believe that?
In order for you to make money the way you trade, you need to know the Markets direction. If you would have known how the Market was going to close you would have been short, and you would have had your best day ever. Now, there are two ways to know the Markets direction.
1) you can figure it out yourself ( can be very costly, I tried and almost was wiped out)
2) you can hire a Market Timer with a proven track record ( the service I use has an 83% accuracy record, I know this because they post the results of every Intraday Market call they make.)

You appearently are a day trader, which means that without knowing how the Market will close you will be lucky to make money 50% of the time. Assuming that you can guess right half the time.On Friday, I knew at 12:15 (dow was down 135) that the Market would continue to sell off. I was already in a put position so I held on, even though I was already way up. I could have sold my puts for .75 cents at 12:15, but with the knowledge of continued down trend ( I was 83% sure) I stayed in and sold out when the dow was down 174 for 1.20 per contract.
It sounds like the other thing you need, which really is by far the most important aspect of Trading is a solid money management plan. A plan which emphesises getting out of a position after a certain amount of loss. I am an options trader and my limit is 10-15 %. Here's an example.
I open a position by buying qqq puts for 2.00 per contract. You buy options on a bid/ask, in this example the bid was 1.90, and the ask was 2.00 . This means that following my money management plan I will only allow my puts value to go down to 1.75 and I get out. If you as a daytrader of stocks you such a rule your stoploss would be more like 2-3 %, probably less than that. These are manageable losses. You have to factor in that you will lose, once you accept that notion you can make your main thought "how little" will I let myself lose. This is what seperates successful Traders who live to trade again, feom Traders who get wiped out once, and never trade again. Then on the otherside of the coin you need to know how much your going make before you get out. Trading options, my goal is for at least a 15% gain, and since I'm winning 3 trades for everyone I lose I make money. Anyway, that's how this old trader does it, nice and simple.

...Rennick out
More...
I assume the first part of your post was meant for me??

I trade what I see, not on my opinion. And Yes I'm a daytrader. I don't care whether the market goes up or down. As long as it moves in either way I'm happy.
I traded over 15 different stocks yesterday. Both Long and Short. I purely trade breakouts. It's more scalping, with leaving a core position to trail. I also read the Level II screen for entries and exits. There's a lot of information in there. I use mental stops. Never put them in the market. Usually Level II tells me to go out before I'm even close to my stop. I know what my target is and I'll get out before if level II tells me it's the end of the move.
I don't need a markettimer to tell me what direction the market is going. If a markettimer can do the job, I'm sure I can do it better. Of course if you trade on this markettimer's calls, and you make money out of it, you got yourself a winning edge, and you gotta keep using it then. It's all about consistency. I don't have to tell you that, I'm sure. Everyone has its own trading style.

I didn't know in advance this sell-off was gonna happen. I suspected it though. But I also didn't suspect it today. I thought it was gonna happen in the beginning of the week. If I traded my opinion, I would have lost a lot of money. Been there, done that!
So I just trade what I see. And I think that's how all professionals do it.
Do you think marketmakers arrive at the office and think their stock is going up today and then buy a bunch. NO! They just look at the order flow and trade their strategy!
Do you get my point?

-Dave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top