Prop Blowups, how common are they?

[Deringer]

When you're at a prop firm, don't Risk managers exist to prevent traders from being wreckless..... From the stories gather here, it doesn't really seem so that their duties are taken seriously.

 

[Cutten]

Quote from Pabst:

I agree wholeheartedly with your first point. However to self righteously shit on people who were caught in the 1/2001 rate cut as "lazy" is ridiculous. If Greenspan dies to-morrow at noon and bonds break 4 handles before the news is even on the tape would I criticize someone for lacking the foresight to trade small knowing there's an aged Fed Chairman in office. Or how about bond locals who in one case lost 4 million on the Treasury's announcement to eliminate 30 year issuance? Yes trading one contract per 5-10k would eliminate the blow out potential. But don't misconstrue additional risk thresholds as systematic of being lazy or historically ignorant. The trader on this thread who lost seven figures on the 2001 rate cut is possibly the wealthiest guy here. Even though that was a big drawdown for him he's no idiot. I agree that index/fixed income traders should either UNDERTRADE or have stops IMMEDIATELY above/below there positions. A far away "safety" stop is useless in the type of cascading stop avalanche that an assassination or something of the like can bring.

It's not ignorant or lazy to be aware of a risk but to run it anyway - but that was not what my prior post was addressing. It is the traders who are not even aware of the risk in the first place that are being lazy and ignorant - and those are the traders I was talking about. Similar events to the ones you have described have occured many times in the past, and had similarly large, or larger, price reactions. And information on those events and subsequent market reactions are in the public domain, or available at little cost, so there is no excuse not to be aware of them.

Reread my post and you will see that I did not even mention any of the things you accuse me of - I never said that everyone caught by the Fed rate cut was lazy, I never said that trading T-bonds with <$5k per contract meant you were lazy or ignorant, and I never even mentioned Rearden Metal, let alone called him an idiot. I also never said I wasn't lazy at times either - I think we've all at some time regretted not doing a bit more work and therefore being caught out by something that we realise we should have anticipated. So I don't agree with the "self-righteous" tag.

 

[nitro]

What it comes down is this in my mind:

The only person that I _know_ is telling the truth here is Rearden Metal. The rest of the monster traders are probably also telling the truth.

In my mind, you guys had more balls than brains and there was a time in the markets that was perfectly made for your personalities. I am not sure that was not your main "skill."

Now the question is, can you make money in TODAY's markets? I am waaaaaay more interested in that.

nitro

 

[Steelhead]

anyone thats been through it and survived is a better man for it

 

[MichaelJ]

brings to mind the old expression "tis better to have loved & lost, than never loved at all"

to adapt to trading: "tis better to have made X million and lost it, than never to have made X million at all"

true or false? discuss

Quote from Steelhead:

anyone thats been through it and survived is a better man for it

 

[Turok]

ROFLAO (not at you RM).

I have a parallel to Rearden:

Jan 3, 2001 was my first day EVER of trading real money (had been paper trading previously) I was doing the safe newbie thing and just trading in and out of CSCO 100 shares to learn about order routing -- wasn't trying to make (or lose) money.

After about 5 longs in and out, I did my first short -- again 100 shares CSCO. BANG!!!! -- 10 seconds later all hell broke loose with that cut announcment and BAM I was down like 250 bucks in just a few seconds. Scared the shit out of me cause I had no clue what was happening.

Anyway, I share about 1/10,000ths of your pain RM. It was a bad day for me too. lol

JB

Quote from Rearden Metal:

January 3rd, 2001.
A day that will live in infamy.

Market was acting weak, and I was short heavily in all my accounts. Suddenly the fed cuts interest rates by half a point. WHAT THE FUCK? I let out a loud blood curdling shriek. There wasn't even a fed meeting that day, and this was the first rate cut of the cycle. Spooz instantly pop 50 handles. Instantly I find myself down 2 1/2 mil. Yes, $2,500,000.
I instinctively cover & reverse, ending the day down 'only' 1 1/2 mil.

Of course you don't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either, but it happened.

 

[areyoukidding?]

$250 and 2.5 million and you think you shared his pain. YOu must be joking. I hope you are. I really do.

I made 150K that day.

 

[Turok]

I said:
>Anyway, I share about 1/10,000ths of your pain
>RM. It was a bad day for me too. lol

Yes, $250 and 2.5 million.

What part of 1/10,000ths don't you understand.


JB

Quote from areyoukidding?:

$250 and 2.5 million and you think you shared his pain. YOu must be joking. I hope you are. I really do.

I made 150K that day.

 

[ArbProfit]

You edited your previous post and added in 1/10,000ths, then rag on another poster for missing it, come on.

 

[Turok]

How about you learn to read it right the first time rather than accuse someone of edits?

"Come, on."

JB

PS: check my post time...hour edit time had already elapsed before I even saw/responded to your silly post.

Quote from ArbProfit:

You edited your previous post and added in 1/10,000ths, then rag on another poster for missing it, come on.