I Blew Up - What Now?

Nice thread (too bad it's highjacked). Me myself almost got blown up this month. 50% down from my starting equity. It blows the punch out of me (I'm on my early 20s).

Now I'm back to the drawing board (learning that is) and trying to preserve my capital in anyway. I still trade though in small volume (100-200 shares probably) just to force some discipline out of me. So far not good, I still deviate from my trading plan...

Should work harder and success for all of us ;-)
 
Quote from heynow:

Well its all over for me. I put in two years starting in 2005 full time. 'Tuition' money has run out. I'm kind of glad, feel a sense of relief almost - no more living in denial. I realize that in life and in trading you have to have a plan to limit risk and never ever violate it because all it takes is one instance of violation to blow you up or if you continue 'cheat' and violate it in small ways then you end up with a "death from a thousand cuts."
Just when I finally settle on an approach I felt comfortable with, I run out of money. No big losses, just churn - just couldn't overcome the cost of commission and fees.

My options are:
1.) Go into credit card debt to finance a 'one last shot' attempt. I doubt this would work as scared money never wins. However, I do make great runs when I tighten up risk and become good at discipline. Its just that when the money comes in I lose the discipline and respect for risk.
2.) Try to find a firm that backs traders. I do have 2 years experience. I've made all the mistakes an inconsistent trader can make. All I have to do is work at not repeating mistakes - all I need to do is focus exclusively on keeping risk low and maintaining discipline. This will be tough. I'm in the NYC area and there are not many firms out there that back traders anymore that I'm aware of.
3.) Find a job. This is the way I want to go. I think taking a long break and swing trading would be best. However, it will be extremely hard for me to find a job if I'm honest about my day trading and my failure at it.


I create this thread mainly as a warning to inconsistent traders who think that 'eventually' they will get it. If you violated your plan even once today, your in trouble. Because your money will run out before 'eventually' arrives.
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Heynow,if i may suggest,trade less but do trade. Try trading credit spreads. Boring as hell but profitable. Low commissions due to low trading volume. I do think that a credit card is a viable option to trade the credit spread as risk is quite minimal.

http://www.wiseoptions.com/

This site can help you to understand credit spreads and to get started. The returns shown are minimal compared to reality of a monitored credit spread trade.

Good Luck to you.
Do not give up,but do look into this option to allow you to build back up over time.

Cheers
Lloyd111
 
Quote from Ripley(believe it or not):
In conclusion: I am the best trader I know, and most likely in these boards. So what if I am inexperienced, and hadn't made any significant money quite yet.. I can assure you that I will have one of the most productive trading careers by anyone's set of standards.
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Ripley(believe it or not),
Start your daily trade journal here at ET today!! So, we can admire your success.
 
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