Is my career over?

I also started trading with $30K account back in 1990's. Had similar experience making money initially. Wound up losing all of it because of my inexperience, frustration, lack of game plan. If I were you, continue to study and play the markets being more conservative, controlling losses. It will take time. If you get a job with future prop firm, great. If not, don't worry about it. Best part of trading for me is working for myself.
 
Quote from TruthSeeker247:

I decided that bonds would be easier to trade because you can know how they will move when economic numbers come out. Strong economy ==> bond decline.....weak economy==bonds rise.

That was my thinking when I decided on a product to trade. Since the US recently reissued 30-years I expected there to be volatility in this security. Being the most liquid security out there, I thought the bids and asks would always be tight.

Those were my reasons. Being more of a momentum trader, I think I may need to trade something else.
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You have to go where the n00bs are. Most futures n00bs are trading YM. Thats where I am. One day, they took $8,000 dollars out of my pocket.

Plus, I heard its easier to keep track of it since the Dow is based on only 30 stocks while S&P and Russell has 1000's of stocks.
 
Quote from CTTrader:

You now have an $8,000 account. You should risk no more than 1% of that on any individual trade. That is $80, which means you must trade small. But it also means you can make 100 mistakes in a row before blowing your account again. That should give you time to learn to trade. Then, when you know what you are doing, if you are a real risk taker you can increase it to 2%; or 3% if you want to live on the edge.

Ed Sekoyta is quoted as saying that anyone who risks more than 3% is a gunslinger.

Van Tharp's work is excellent on position sizing and risk management. Get his Position Sizing DVD and Trading Game before you place another trade. It is eye opening for someone who does not understand game theory and the difference between trading and gambling.
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You are right, Ed did say this... but if you talk to him personally you will find out that he made the big money when he was risking 7% on entry with super tight stops. (in massive commodity bull markets)

My personal theory is... It's better to be bolder when your account is smaller and more cautious when you have more to lose. If I was starting with $8K I would probably be risking somewhere between 3-4% of equity. If you are very new and don't have any background at all then stick to 1%.

Truthseeker, if you manage your risk properly and learn to cut losses fast, you will improve quickly.

Also, I'm not sure on your timeframe but you seem to be very short-term/day trading. I think you lose an edge when you trade short term. It's hard to scale your size up when your right because your trades are so short in time. One of the big edges in trading is being bigger in size when your right, this is hard to accomplish when day trading.
 
TruthSeeker247,

You have two qualities many traders don't have. You are not scared to take risk despite taking big losses and you are persistent in trying to reach your goals, you are not a quitter.
Listen to good advice you are getting on this forum, try to preserve your capital and don't give up. One day you will become a fine trader.

Good luck in your trading :)
 
Quote from trend_guy:

Also, I'm not sure on your timeframe but you seem to be very short-term/day trading. I think you lose an edge when you trade short term. It's hard to scale your size up when your right because your trades are so short in time. One of the big edges in trading is being bigger in size when your right, this is hard to accomplish when day trading.
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You sound like a swing trader who uses position sizing in his money management to hit the home runs when they setup.

Question:

What type of LEVERAGE do you use (margin per contract, in this case).

I ask so that:

a) I can learn
b) He can get a good example of the type of margin he should be using (I don't trade that market, but something conservative like say $4,000 per contract should give him no stress ...)

Best Regards,

Jimmy
 
Actually, I very rarely trade right when the numbers come out. the number coming out usually creates a momentum day. I tend to trade like half an hour or more after the numbers come out

Quote from dandxg:

TS,

Trading economic #'s is the wrong focus IMO. I trade candlesticks patterns, with S and R and watch the econ number to see how price reacts to my set ups. But I don['t trade around reports, too much volatility, unpredicatable. By no means do I know it, so take it for what it is worth.

Search around and you will see most people whom try to trade the news lose. It sounds to me that is what you are doing.

S and R is good to trade off of along with another confirming indicator whether it be candles, bars, oscillators. I have found 3 indicators/setups works well, more is too much, less is too few.

Another thought, read some books by pro traders, Buzzy Schwartz, etc. I think you will find most of them could not match your "expected" results so early on, so why do you?
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You are right. I should look at my situation as "starting new" I checked out the document you pointed me to. I do not feel as if I am an addictive trader. I answered no to nearly all of the questions. Thanks for the post.

Quote from Dogballoon:

Just a note. A few people are dogpiling on you for their own reasons. It is completely irrelevant.

Try not to feel the need to prove to yourself or anyone else that you can make it back. I know it's nearly impossible to disassociate your self-esteem from your P&L, but if your self worth gets tied up with your performance you will have unbearable negative energy weighing you down when you take those inevitable losses.

There is no "back" any longer, and that's a good thing. You are starting completely new, with a fresh chance to think about what you're going to change and to apply a new methodology.

Those three bits of advice from Trend_guy were perfect. Most traders would agree with what's been said because it rings true to all of us, since we've been there. The emotions are no different whatsoever. What you're struggling with is no different from every single trader who's bought or sold a contract.

Run through this quick example: http://www.brettsteenbarger.com/Destructive Patterns in Trading.doc

(click ok three times till you get in)

The whole shebang is here:
http://www.brettsteenbarger.com/articles.htm
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