Lost my account

Trading is brutal, and it seems like everyone rejoices on ET when anyone loses big. Keep that in mind. "Get right back out there kid" is not the best advice. It is funny though.

I'd advise some serious self analysis. What did you do wrong? Can you identify it? Have you gone and looked through all your trades this year, and noticed a pattern you can commit to not repeating? Why did you let your losses run? Why did you keep trading even though you were losing consistently?

"Successful" traders do more than just blow out accounts. They figure out what they are doing with brutal clarity, and stop fucking up. Simpy put, they stop losing. They don't win every time either, but they figure out how to stop the bleeding.

Portfolio management and religious risk control become clear and applicable, not just theory. And by and large (probably most importantly) they learn that a steady, slow rise in their account lacks all of the adrenaline rush that made them want to trade in the first place. They learn to love the slow and steady, but it's more work and less thrill than it first appeared to be.

Just a few things to think of. Until you do what I suggested in the second paragraph, I wouldn't suggest jumping back in. When you do, then go for it, but stop yourself when you have a 20% draw down and do the exercise again. Don't wait till you get to 90%.
 
Quote from dethkultur:

I'd advise some serious self analysis. What did you do wrong? Can you identify it? Have you gone and looked through all your trades this year, and noticed a pattern you can commit to not repeating? Why did you let your losses run? Why did you keep trading even though you were losing consistently?
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This is some important advice here. Why the hell did you continue losing money when a few thousand loss should have made clear already in what situation you are in. There is/was no sound strategy behind this slaughter otherwise you would be MAKING money.

I never managed to blow up an account before turning profitable because I'm smart enough to quickly recognize if something does not work. Then stop, analyze, and experiment on a very small scale. ETF's or CFD's, whatever is at a trader's disposal. For god's sake, trade small. There is absolutely no reason to waste some 10k again! I don't understand individuals who continue holding onto a dream that someday they will make it but have to throw some 100k out the window first. Is that sensible?
 
Download Ninjatrader, use the sim account until you're showing paper profits, then test the waters with real trades. I lost $23k before I realized how blindingly stupid it was to trade with real money before you know what you're doing. Even a 1% daily loss limit means you blow your account in six months, which is most likely not enough time to learn.
 
Quote from Palatine:

This is some important advice here. Why the hell did you continue losing money when a few thousand loss should have made clear already in what situation you are in. There is/was no sound strategy behind this slaughter otherwise you would be MAKING money.

I never managed to blow up an account before turning profitable because I'm smart enough to quickly recognize if something does not work. Then stop, analyze, and experiment on a very small scale. ETF's or CFD's, whatever is at a trader's disposal. For god's sake, trade small. There is absolutely no reason to waste some 10k again! I don't understand individuals who continue holding onto a dream that someday they will make it but have to throw some 100k out the window first. Is that sensible?
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Couldn't have said it better myself, there's no reason to blow up your account in daytrading, if you're losing money every day it's time to stop and use "training money." Likewise it's crazy to risk a double digit percentage of your account on a single swing/position trade that could blow you out in one gap down.
 
I appreciate the responses. I did make errors while trading having the luxury of hindsight its easy to say i could have done this and that. However i feel these are mistakes that i wont repeat. unfortunatly for me i lost my account learning to trade. Not every trader is immune from lost accounts. Yes some never blow out while some do. i believe that blowing out an account does not mean that in the long run you will not succeed as a trader.
 
Yeah don't let it get you down. I lost about 40k total over about a 4 year period before I started making money, stopped losing once I got humble and went to 100 shares. Trade small enough that you can make a ton of trades and stay in the game. You only learn by getting in there and doing it, and reviewing your performance day by day.

Trade 100 shares, and force yourself to trade at least 5k shares a day. It might seem hard at first, but once you learn to do that and make money, things will start to click.

Best of luck to you!
 
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