I just saw a demo of Metastock and have to say it's amazing (at least to me). There's a system tester in that software that will allow you to test every technical indicator. And I think it would be worth it to try that so you can objectively see what kind of trading you would like to do. After all, Jack Schwager said in a book he found that systems trading is a lot less emotional than discretionary trading.
I Quit
- Thread starter GolfTrader
- Start date
you left a lot out of this explanation,its human to read between the lines so here goes, your a nice guy,educated,well heeled and cautious but smart,.... big gap here...,now wealthy and supporting a family thats used to the good life(ivy league),now you get caught wrong for a big one or several reasons,(6 month mental lapse,lack of discipline,trading the money not the setups,a million bad reasons, none of which made you money)and the financial strain has put you at your wits end,guess what? Thats trading,it happens to everyone,it was just your turn,there is a belief among floor traders that you have to go broke at least 3 times before you get it ,you were and are good at this,get a backer who will give you a monthly draw to live on and give him a large (30 -40) percent of your income,if your telling the truth you have trading p/l sheets ,thats your resume,your a shoe in,now your income is secure and you can concentrate on trading and get back in the game,get back on the horse or you'll have to learn to love walking... you.re really down right now..depression is a drug that.s really addictive and dehabilitating ..stop taking it..if i was there right now i.ld ask you to bend over so i could kick you in the ass or get your head out of it..
I FEEl Golfs issues.
i am only 40 but feel that trading is tough emotinally. I traded professinally at a dealer in Toronto years ago but felt i lost my edge to be sucessfull.
I now trade from an auto-traded computer program and have come to realize that this may not be as profitable as discretinary trading but is the path to consistentcy and not having to break donw mentally when i lose.
mechanical trading means acepting loses, letting the program do the work and enjoying life.
i am only 40 but feel that trading is tough emotinally. I traded professinally at a dealer in Toronto years ago but felt i lost my edge to be sucessfull.
I now trade from an auto-traded computer program and have come to realize that this may not be as profitable as discretinary trading but is the path to consistentcy and not having to break donw mentally when i lose.
mechanical trading means acepting loses, letting the program do the work and enjoying life.
Golf
I absolutely agree with you - trading can become an addiction and if not controlled in time will ruin your life. I and my ex-w traded from 1998 made great deal of money about 300G in the internet boom then lost it down to 50K because of greed. Quit for 2 year then developed system quite simple but effective of the risk vs. trading capital. Get back into the game in the spring 2003 with about 150K and at the end of 2003 had a gain of over 500G. All of it while keeping our full time jobs. We were doing swing with carefully measured positions size and reasonable stops, holding positions 1 to 4 weeks and with the targeted profit. Then my ex-w decided that it is too slow and too boring. Started diving into a shorter and shorter plays and trying to day trade from work. At the end of 2004 she was hooked, not on disciplined trading but on the "passion" of trading. We were down to 250K at the end of 2004. She quits her job to become a full time trader and within next 6 - 7 month lost it all down to nearly 0. Nothing could stop her NOTHING. I divorced her to save at least equity in the house and my personal stuff like pension and 401K and not to go into bankruptcy. She moved to a different city and trying to day trade for some prop company (she has 7 and 63). I'm going to get back into a disciplined trading after the New Year.
I absolutely agree with you - trading can become an addiction and if not controlled in time will ruin your life. I and my ex-w traded from 1998 made great deal of money about 300G in the internet boom then lost it down to 50K because of greed. Quit for 2 year then developed system quite simple but effective of the risk vs. trading capital. Get back into the game in the spring 2003 with about 150K and at the end of 2003 had a gain of over 500G. All of it while keeping our full time jobs. We were doing swing with carefully measured positions size and reasonable stops, holding positions 1 to 4 weeks and with the targeted profit. Then my ex-w decided that it is too slow and too boring. Started diving into a shorter and shorter plays and trying to day trade from work. At the end of 2004 she was hooked, not on disciplined trading but on the "passion" of trading. We were down to 250K at the end of 2004. She quits her job to become a full time trader and within next 6 - 7 month lost it all down to nearly 0. Nothing could stop her NOTHING. I divorced her to save at least equity in the house and my personal stuff like pension and 401K and not to go into bankruptcy. She moved to a different city and trying to day trade for some prop company (she has 7 and 63). I'm going to get back into a disciplined trading after the New Year.
First of all, to the original poster. There is nothing wrong with quitting or even stopping for a while. To take a completely different analogy, I know a fellow that used to be a very good restaurant investor, he would buy failed restaurants, turn them around, and sell for excellent profit. Then he got "hang up" on a particular deal, that dragged him down. From that point on, no idea what happened to him, but he just seemed lost, every deal he touched went nowhere.
He took maybe 6-9 months away, decided to stop, and look into something completely different (this is back in '03) ... he decided on real estate, with a very small portfolio of 300k or so ... and he built into a portfolio that worth maybe north of 10M even with the recent RE market corrections. Of cos he got a bit lucky with the recent RE boom, but he also moved on.
Trading is by far not the only way to make good returns. Even with a 60k stake, you can put in your time (and possibly your wife's time) and generate a decent return. Whether it is buying a burger joint (don't laugh, a relative of mine nets around 200k a yr running a burger place in LA), a boat dealer ship (which I indirectly knew someone that runs one that imports US powerboats to Italy) ... etc ... the world is full of opportunities.
My advice, take at least 2 months off ... since the house is paid for, and your kids have been taken care of, you won't have much day to day expenses. Heck, maybe take small vacation somewhere, get together in a reunion, whatever. The important thing is to get things into perspective, a step back if you will. and while you have time, look at every silly little deal that I am sure ppl have thrown you way ... just in the past month, I have been contact about ... "mining in latin america", "meta-search engine", "building school dorms", etc, etc ... maybe not to invest per se, but get used to the idea of looking outside of trading for a bit.
He took maybe 6-9 months away, decided to stop, and look into something completely different (this is back in '03) ... he decided on real estate, with a very small portfolio of 300k or so ... and he built into a portfolio that worth maybe north of 10M even with the recent RE market corrections. Of cos he got a bit lucky with the recent RE boom, but he also moved on.
Trading is by far not the only way to make good returns. Even with a 60k stake, you can put in your time (and possibly your wife's time) and generate a decent return. Whether it is buying a burger joint (don't laugh, a relative of mine nets around 200k a yr running a burger place in LA), a boat dealer ship (which I indirectly knew someone that runs one that imports US powerboats to Italy) ... etc ... the world is full of opportunities.
My advice, take at least 2 months off ... since the house is paid for, and your kids have been taken care of, you won't have much day to day expenses. Heck, maybe take small vacation somewhere, get together in a reunion, whatever. The important thing is to get things into perspective, a step back if you will. and while you have time, look at every silly little deal that I am sure ppl have thrown you way ... just in the past month, I have been contact about ... "mining in latin america", "meta-search engine", "building school dorms", etc, etc ... maybe not to invest per se, but get used to the idea of looking outside of trading for a bit.
That's a tough story, for not the least of all reasons that normally the shoe is on the other foot 99.9% of the time ... and it's very unusual for a trader to go back to playing the russian roulette game that daytrading is for many after they have figured-out a solid position trading methodology.
Sorry for your loss, and thanks for sharing your experience.
I
I guess that's the same thing that brings gambler addicts to the table again and again against all the reasons - the excitement of being there. Doing the right thing become far distant second to the rush of adrenalin.
In my case I saw it all - chasing the stock, averaging down, not cutting losses, putting larger and larger trades as the equity was going down, cutting time frames and extending stops loss point and hopping that the next trade will be the one that will pull her out of the ditch. At the end discipline, self control, risk control and sound money management were all forgotten for the feeling of elation of watching minutiae changes on the 5, 10 and 15 minutes charts and hunting for a few pennies. The system that was producing but was not as exiting or fast moving was completely discarded.
In my case I saw it all - chasing the stock, averaging down, not cutting losses, putting larger and larger trades as the equity was going down, cutting time frames and extending stops loss point and hopping that the next trade will be the one that will pull her out of the ditch. At the end discipline, self control, risk control and sound money management were all forgotten for the feeling of elation of watching minutiae changes on the 5, 10 and 15 minutes charts and hunting for a few pennies. The system that was producing but was not as exiting or fast moving was completely discarded.