I Have Done It Again

And D. T. who owns casinos.

-------------

I would not call the OP a gambler. Professional gamblers are the most disciplined people, that behavior is plunging.

I have had my share of ups and downs over the years and took me a long time to break down my trading methodology and examine and figure out what was happening.

Aside psychological factors which I did not look into I found out that I became unstable if I traded certain size. I am sure this is a variation of the Peter Principle at work. We give ourselves permission (basically promoting ourselves to a higher level) to a point where it does not make sense from the standpoint of our finances and level of experience.
The hard part is that we are doing this unknowingly and there is no one to hold us in check.
One can have everything written down and swear to follow the rules and still in a particular moment of weakness put on a larger position or ignore safety rules.
 
Quote from Compulsive:

:confused:

Long story, short story

As I look back at my trading career, there is a pattern that is compulsive. I started trading in 1992, when back then I would wait for my weekly charts to come on Mondays and the Investors Daily every morning and manually updated the futures by hand. I started with a $5,000 account and back then I was paing $45 RT. In 6 months the account had gone up to $85,000. Would buy or sell 1-2 contracts and held it until I got stopped out or until it reach my target, sometimes as long as 3 months. I finally had found my vehicle towards retirement. Then my broker, introduce me to "Day Trading"

Why wait to make $1500 or $3000 or $5000 or what ever it was and it took weeks and even months to make while one could trade 10-20 contracts and take smaller profits of $100-200 per contract. It made sense. And so with that idea, got set up will real time (back then with E Signal, was paying $600 a month for real time and $100 a month for charts...things have change since then), in less than 3 days, the account had drop to $35,000. :eek:

I was emotional F%$#k!

Out of desperation trying to get my money back and make profits, within 2 months the account stood at $2,500.

2 years later in 1994, I tried again with $5,000, no day trading ...follow my rules, account grew to $15,000 in 3 months and then it was a disaster In 1999 I tried again with another $10,000, again long term trading, the account grew to $39,500 in 5 months and then like the same pattern...lost 3/4 of it. Tried again in 2003 with a $10,000 account, long term trading and lasted 1 year, like a roller coaster it eventually came to an end.

Then In November 2006, I plung $25,000 and this time, I went back to day trading, commish was $3.75 rt, was going to trade the eminis Russell, had a plan, read the Discipline Trader, By Mark Douglas...mentally prepared myself. Had a set of rules too follow, no exucses allowed.

I started day trading after all the winter holidays, and so in Jan 05 2007, took the $25k and it stood at $235,000 by Feb 20 2007. But it was not easy, it was very stressfull. There were time that I would be up in one day $65,000 and the next day down $85,000. Crazy train it was and I could feel the pressure that this could not last very long. And so from March 01 to April 27, 2007 it was like having hemorrhoids everyday, eventually the bottom fell out and then the account stood at $4,950.00.

I really felt very suicidal, very sick, vomiting and a family to support. I checked in to see a psychologist. and to the recommendation of the therapsit, I am attenting GA meeting, Gamblers Anonymous. I have met 2 other traders in my meeting, there is one dude that we have become friends, but this man took a $50k account to $2.5 million in less then 10 months and lost it all!
:eek: :eek: :eek:

So I ask, if 97% of traders do not make it, then surely this trading is some type of gambling and there is a fine line, this invisible line between a professional gambler and a compulsive gambler. Shit, if the author of The Disciple Trader lost everything and had to file for banckruptcy, he was gambling.

As I look back, when I follow my plans, there is money to be made, but after awhile, I do not stick with my rules and eventually it gets crazy

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/20questions.html

I fit the above profile to a "T"

The GA meetings tell me that I will no longer be able to trade again. I have placed my family in a financial stressful position that our savings is gone. Spouse ready to bolt with the children, she can't take this no more. I am certainly don't want any pity from anybody, but I keep asking, what causes me to do this?
More...

Very compelling post, its one I hope a lot of people read. I'm sorry for your situation.

In my experiance one group of people who have a hell of a time with the market is those who use it for "excitement". They are bored with the day job, and the market seems very exciting with all the ups and downs and the fortunes to be made (and unfortunatly lost too). The very best traders have other activities in their life that provide this type of stimulation if they need it at all, or they just simply are not the type who needs it.

Hope that helps.
 
Quote from ggoyal:

it definitely sounds like you were gambling. to take 25K to 235K is phenomenal, thats a 840% return. and then to lose it all definitely means gambling. You probably risked too much one or two trades.
why the fuck would you not be carefull when you are up that much? With those kind of returns, you could have other people begging you to trade with their money. market has been going up since then, you probably got out too fast.

can you tell me which stock or stocks did this to you. and how much money you had in each?
More...

Why wouldnt he be careful when he was up that muh? the same could have been probably said when he hit 75K, 100K, 150K etc etc. He was taking too much risk all along and it was only a matter of time before his number was called.
 
I don't have time for souped up sob stories like these especially when they come off as fake. Make a mistake once maybe people can have sympathy for you. Make same mistake twice: shrug. Make same mistake thrice: you are either completely incompetent, a self-destructive attention seeking whore, or a really really bored twat. I diagnose the third with a bit of the second thrown in. Why don't you take your skills and write a novel?

This thread reminds me of an earlier one about the guy who went through the whole process of starting out in trading detailing all his little trials and tribulations, and then suddenly disappeared just as he was supposedly starting.

What was that thread again? Probably the same author.
 
Quote from Zzoom:

'NLP for Traders and Investors' by Terry Carol :cool:
More...

Another Elite user has brought to my attention that this book (by Terry CARROLL!) is not available now except for one internet shop where it is EXTREMELY over priced.

** Please ignore this recommendation **

My sincere apologies to anybody who has been trying to get hold of a copy.

Zzoom.
 
You're CLEARLY taking too much risk and you have no clue what the risk of ruin concept means. That's vital to trading, and your aptitude in this is on par with a retarded person. Get more conservative or get out of the business.

Quote from Compulsive:

:confused:

Long story, short story

As I look back at my trading career, there is a pattern that is compulsive. I started trading in 1992, when back then I would wait for my weekly charts to come on Mondays and the Investors Daily every morning and manually updated the futures by hand. I started with a $5,000 account and back then I was paing $45 RT. In 6 months the account had gone up to $85,000. Would buy or sell 1-2 contracts and held it until I got stopped out or until it reach my target, sometimes as long as 3 months. I finally had found my vehicle towards retirement. Then my broker, introduce me to "Day Trading"

Why wait to make $1500 or $3000 or $5000 or what ever it was and it took weeks and even months to make while one could trade 10-20 contracts and take smaller profits of $100-200 per contract. It made sense. And so with that idea, got set up will real time (back then with E Signal, was paying $600 a month for real time and $100 a month for charts...things have change since then), in less than 3 days, the account had drop to $35,000. :eek:

I was emotional F%$#k!

Out of desperation trying to get my money back and make profits, within 2 months the account stood at $2,500.

2 years later in 1994, I tried again with $5,000, no day trading ...follow my rules, account grew to $15,000 in 3 months and then it was a disaster In 1999 I tried again with another $10,000, again long term trading, the account grew to $39,500 in 5 months and then like the same pattern...lost 3/4 of it. Tried again in 2003 with a $10,000 account, long term trading and lasted 1 year, like a roller coaster it eventually came to an end.

Then In November 2006, I plung $25,000 and this time, I went back to day trading, commish was $3.75 rt, was going to trade the eminis Russell, had a plan, read the Discipline Trader, By Mark Douglas...mentally prepared myself. Had a set of rules too follow, no exucses allowed.

I started day trading after all the winter holidays, and so in Jan 05 2007, took the $25k and it stood at $235,000 by Feb 20 2007. But it was not easy, it was very stressfull. There were time that I would be up in one day $65,000 and the next day down $85,000. Crazy train it was and I could feel the pressure that this could not last very long. And so from March 01 to April 27, 2007 it was like having hemorrhoids everyday, eventually the bottom fell out and then the account stood at $4,950.00.

I really felt very suicidal, very sick, vomiting and a family to support. I checked in to see a psychologist. and to the recommendation of the therapsit, I am attenting GA meeting, Gamblers Anonymous. I have met 2 other traders in my meeting, there is one dude that we have become friends, but this man took a $50k account to $2.5 million in less then 10 months and lost it all!
:eek: :eek: :eek:

So I ask, if 97% of traders do not make it, then surely this trading is some type of gambling and there is a fine line, this invisible line between a professional gambler and a compulsive gambler. Shit, if the author of The Disciple Trader lost everything and had to file for banckruptcy, he was gambling.

As I look back, when I follow my plans, there is money to be made, but after awhile, I do not stick with my rules and eventually it gets crazy

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/20questions.html

I fit the above profile to a "T"

The GA meetings tell me that I will no longer be able to trade again. I have placed my family in a financial stressful position that our savings is gone. Spouse ready to bolt with the children, she can't take this no more. I am certainly don't want any pity from anybody, but I keep asking, what causes me to do this?
More...
 
What separates the degenerate gambler from the successful trader? The trader sits on his hands and picks his shots. The gambler only knows the action.
 
One thing I've learned from taking huge losses on irrational trades is that position size is extremely important for not destroying your account. Even if you don't make profits at the very least, small positions will keep you in the game longer so you can find a winning strategy. I can relate to the need to want to constantly trade but i would suggest that you paper trade for a long time before you ever consider trading real money. This will help your subconcious because you can develop a system that works and that you have confidence in and also it will in a way "take the edge off" when you want to be in the market. I think once you can show yourself that you can be disciplined with small positions and you consistently make profits...then you can try some real trading with a very small amount of money. When you make profits, remove half from your account and put it in a savings account.
 
Quote from atticus:

What separates the degenerate gambler from the successful trader? The trader sits on his hands and picks his shots. The gambler only knows the action.
More...

This is exactly correct.
 
You guys are falling for this story. I can tell this is phony by reading the first few paragraphs. Come on guys, don't respond to these threads. He went from 5k to 85k back to 2.5k back to 235k and ended with $4950, hollywood ending.
 
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