SB:
I am Chinese but I speak Mandarin. Do you understand my poem?
I am really sorry to hear that you ruined what was arguably the best possible start for a new trader. I can't believe your firm removed all risk management parameters for that MOC play, nothing in the market is 100%, absolutely nothing, and they should have gave you what you normally have, maybe a little more as far as share limit is concerned, but most definitely not super sizes as if you don't know how to handle size, pressure will break you.
I am sure you learned all you needed to about MOC's, I did only one MOC in my career and it was like 200 shares early in my career (lol) and I sold before the last print. I am curious whether the senior traders got smoked that day, I know people who play MOC's everyday and quite successful at it. The problem is you have to realize 100K floor order for a stock like AOL is . . . nothing . . . and 100K in a thin stock would be a totally different story. That doesn't mean you calculate the percentage on the fly and buy the highest percentage's, you see by the time you see the MOC thing the order is already flowing and it quite possible for a stock to complete its order a few minutes before the bell and do nothing on that precious final print or worse . . . go down . . . It really takes a lot of skill to trade this consistently.
In all fairness, think of it this way, even give the devastating loss, you still carry about the same P&L as say, most new traders at my firm 3-4 months or so into the game. You started in literally the worst possible month to trade (and I made a total of $900 in August, and while I have never considered myself a size trader, I have always considered myself a consistent trader), and it is absolutely amazing that you went positive so fast in so tough a market. Even more, I am absolutely amazed by your resilience, I can not imagine the pain of finally break even, about to collect that most important check in our career, only to be completely slaughtered by something like that. I can't tell you how many times it happened to traders at my firm, to dig out of their grave, game by game, dollar by dollar, only to take a shovel in the head and end up where they were before. A lot of those people don't dig their way back out again. I even know someone who broke even three times in his career and only to get knocked back down to 10K deficit each time and on his last try he quit for good. Now, as a new trader, your mental strength to battle the incredible odds, to stick to your dream, plain amazes me, and given how quickly you turned positive, I think you have HUGE potential if and when you dig out of your current hole. Keep plugging at it, that's all I can say.
Ivy League:
I meant each way, and on average I do 12K or so . . .
I also think you are being too hard on him, it is very easy for a new trader to take serious size based on senior trader advices, the problem is they can not absorb the hit like senior traders can, and a 10K deficit will take forever for them to make back.