i have lost alot as well back in the day and there is always a common thread to these big hits: poor risk management. why let a loss get out of hand. my new motto is this: if a trade does'nt do what i thought it was supposed to,i bail. no questions asked. commissions are so cheap that i can always jump right back in if it starts to do what i originally thought.i did that yesterday with AAPL. I kept getting shaken out in the 134's and then jumped back in on the break of 135 and let it ride. we always hear guys say"i had to leave the house for an hour and came back and my position was down 5k ect...". well,thats trading and the market will kill you every time you take your eye off the ball. i leave the house every now and then but always put in a stop.another things guys do is refuse to take a loss,average down and hold overnight. 99% of the time this is a recipe for disaster and i have done this one too many times myself but i learned from these amateur mistakes. this is when you hear experienced traders say things like "i should have known better,i knew it was the wrong move". well guess what,it is the wrong move. this game is all about discipline and there comes a time when you have to ask yourself if you are disciplined enough to be in this game. i mean,how many learning experiences does a trader have to have before he loses his home? i have a list of things a trader should never do and i hang it on a wall in front of my computer,pretty simple rules,nothing arcane.that said,i used to be under the impression that given the right discipline and stratagey,anyone can trade. thats simply not true and i have just come to realize this. trading has a very intuitive aspect to it and i know some of you guys are saying to yourselves,"no shit,trading is all about intuition"! true but certain people are able to look at things and see things that others simply cannot.some of this is being street wise you could say. remember,holding a losing position and trying to convince yourself that evetually it will have to work is a very fast way to the poor house.