My demise

Maverick1 said:
What were you trading? stocks intraday or swing trades?
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Sorry I missed this. I traded equities only. Almost entirely nyse in the beginning to mid. NASDAQ in last third.
I trader nyse because you could read the tape then.
 
Giddiyup said:
That's exactly what happened. I also made incrementally more every year starting from 1999 . 25 k lost was without a single major hit. It was like Chinese torture. It really was the consistent psychological pressure over the course of an entire year without any real success. Ironically I've had big losses as much as 10 k during my 10 year run and sometimes in a single stock (gmh was one in my 2nd week of trading. Flipped a 2 million buy moc at 340 to a 2 mil sell at 350. I had 2000 shares and lost 5 points.
110 wall street.
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Was money management already a thing in those days? I get the impression from this post, and others, that you were throwing very large sums at individual bets. Without seeing the bigger picture?
 
HobbyTrading said:
Was money management already a thing in those days? I get the impression from this post, and others, that you were throwing very large sums at individual bets. Without seeing the bigger picture?
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Hmm... No I never used a ton of cap. I was always a consistent trader. Yes I maxed out my margin on the short ban day I mentioned. Rarely
at other times. Quite disciplined actually. That's why the last year I traded was extremely tough and hopeless. It was day in day out failure and a failure to adapt coming off emotional high of the previous year.
 
Giddiyup said:
I quit trading 8 years ago. I think after 8 years I finally pinpointed the reason I did not succeed.
I lost approximately 25k in 2010 and quit sometime in the beginning of 2011.
I had no 1 major blow. It was a long series of losses. My downfall? I rnow firmly believe it was the relatively huge success I had in 2009 where I made around 275k.
I consider myself a piker who traded and made a little money every year from 1999 when I began to 2009. Most of those years in a range of 50k to 125k.
I made a conscious decision to push myself in 2008 and 2009 and it worked because the market was there. I was emotionally drunk after the success of that last good year and never recovered as I bled away in my final year.
At the time I blamed my demise on hft. The real issue was that i did not adapt to the market.
I think my self imposed banishment has been long enough. I will spend the next 6 months studying the markets and determine if infact I can make it. This will be the first time I will have taken the market in a serious methodical manner.
Comments welcome.
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You did not prudently manage risk. This is why every losing trader fails.
 
Giddiyup said:
I quit trading 8 years ago. I think after 8 years I finally pinpointed the reason I did not succeed.
I lost approximately 25k in 2010 and quit sometime in the beginning of 2011.
I had no 1 major blow. It was a long series of losses. My downfall? I rnow firmly believe it was the relatively huge success I had in 2009 where I made around 275k.
I consider myself a piker who traded and made a little money every year from 1999 when I began to 2009. Most of those years in a range of 50k to 125k.
I made a conscious decision to push myself in 2008 and 2009 and it worked because the market was there. I was emotionally drunk after the success of that last good year and never recovered as I bled away in my final year.
At the time I blamed my demise on hft. The real issue was that i did not adapt to the market.
I think my self imposed banishment has been long enough. I will spend the next 6 months studying the markets and determine if infact I can make it. This will be the first time I will have taken the market in a serious methodical manner.
Comments welcome.
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You "banished" yourself after losing only 25K in one year when you've made $275K over 10 years, more than 10X the loss before even during one of the most devastating financial crisis in 2008 when everybody was losing money? LOL You really shouldn't have stopped. You should've sat down and really investigated hard to find out the true reason for the losses right there and then and continued on trading. Eight years is a long time. The market has grown tremendously during these last 8 years, you would've well made up all the losses and then some.
 
Giddiyup said:
That advice about beliefs has been valid and will be valid as long as trading exists. Don't have beliefs. Beliefs are your enemy as a trader.
I think that's valid advice for any trader.
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I have a heap of beliefs. Without them I couldn't trade. It's my beliefs which gives me balls, keeps me in positions when others are getting shaken out
Giddiyup said:
Do you believe in luck? I've never met a lucky trader.
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Definitely believe in luck. I'm lucky when the markets rise because that's the only time mostly I make money. It's not skill which makes the mkt rise but just luck, but one day it will run out, then I'll be sidelined and gardening instead.
Refer to my last post in the 'GOLD' thread
 
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Giddiyup said:
Explain exactly. I mean , my idea of managing risk was reducing exposure, cutting losses. I missed something.
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You did not "reduce exposure". You threw in the towel and ran away. Hide under a rock for ten years. That is not "managing risk". I fear that you have other issues that keep you from analytically handling your trading.
 
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