S/R Emini Journal
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It's been a long & busy day and my eyes are killing me from staring at these screens. I hope it was successfull for all of you.
Gary: I like your idea about getting to know each other better. I'll add some insight over the weekend.
RE: My best/worst trade. Was 20 yrs ago. 1987 Crash. Will elaborate later.
Alex
Gary: I like your idea about getting to know each other better. I'll add some insight over the weekend.
RE: My best/worst trade. Was 20 yrs ago. 1987 Crash. Will elaborate later.
Alex
Quote from yvberj:
It's been a long & busy day and my eyes are killing me from staring at these screens. I hope it was successfull for all of you.
Gary: I like your idea about getting to know each other better. I'll add some insight over the weekend.
RE: My best/worst trade. Was 20 yrs ago. 1987 Crash. Will elaborate later.
Alex
Great, I look forward to it. I am going to post my worst trade later this evening.
KyivTrader and Brightstone,
Good to hear from you guys. I do appreciate the good words and I know all the regular posters on here do as well. Whether you come here to pick up tips or whatever the reason I hope we are providing what you seek. Feel free to post and let us know how you feel about the markets as well. As I ask everybody just make sure to attach a chart with the posting. Also feel free to ask a question if you have one.
We will keep things very civil but truthful.
Gary
Good to hear from you guys. I do appreciate the good words and I know all the regular posters on here do as well. Whether you come here to pick up tips or whatever the reason I hope we are providing what you seek. Feel free to post and let us know how you feel about the markets as well. As I ask everybody just make sure to attach a chart with the posting. Also feel free to ask a question if you have one.
We will keep things very civil but truthful.
Gary
Alright, I am going to start this off. You guys already know that my name is Gary no big secret there. I also live in the Dallas area. I spent 12 years in the military. 4 years in the Army I was with the 505th Parachute Infantry and 1st Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg NC. Then I spent 8 years in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. 2 of those years were as a platoon doc for the 2nd Marine Division 8th Marines. The rest of the time I was in hospitals. I am very proud of my military career and would not trade it for anything.
My worst trade was a doozy and made me quit trading for about 2 1/2 years. The only reason I started back was because I needed some quick cash and the timing was right. I had built my account up to 66K from 3,500 in about a year trading options.
My trade went like this. You have to remember this was before we had internet access and real time charts. I subscribed to Investors Business Daily for my charts and option prices. I knew IBM was getting ready for a big move down. So I wrote the symbol for the puts, or so I thought. I wrote down the number for the calls. Every morning I would get my IBD and check and just giggle my little butt off as the price was going down. Then one day I get a call from my broker. You know that is not good but I so dumb I thought he was calling to tell me what a genuis I was...LOL...So I called him back and he was just wanting to know if I was alright because I really need to stop that trade. When I asked why because by my calculations my account should have been around 85K he told me that I had lost so much on my IBM calls. I thought he was joking. My account when I liquidated the trade was about 12K. I went from about 85k to 12k with one phone call. The next day I had to drive to Shreveport for a wedding which was not good because it gave me 3 hours of driving alone to think about how I screwed up. I called my broker and had him close the account the next week and did not trade again for 2 1/2 years.
How is that for a blowup. I have always been and still am a very aggressive trader when I feel right about my set up. That is why with a 5k acount just starting out in futures I was trading 10 contracts. When I made enough money to add a contract I did 11 and so on. I usually do this to build up an account and then back off.
Was that a good enough of a blow up story?
Gary
My worst trade was a doozy and made me quit trading for about 2 1/2 years. The only reason I started back was because I needed some quick cash and the timing was right. I had built my account up to 66K from 3,500 in about a year trading options.
My trade went like this. You have to remember this was before we had internet access and real time charts. I subscribed to Investors Business Daily for my charts and option prices. I knew IBM was getting ready for a big move down. So I wrote the symbol for the puts, or so I thought. I wrote down the number for the calls. Every morning I would get my IBD and check and just giggle my little butt off as the price was going down. Then one day I get a call from my broker. You know that is not good but I so dumb I thought he was calling to tell me what a genuis I was...LOL...So I called him back and he was just wanting to know if I was alright because I really need to stop that trade. When I asked why because by my calculations my account should have been around 85K he told me that I had lost so much on my IBM calls. I thought he was joking. My account when I liquidated the trade was about 12K. I went from about 85k to 12k with one phone call. The next day I had to drive to Shreveport for a wedding which was not good because it gave me 3 hours of driving alone to think about how I screwed up. I called my broker and had him close the account the next week and did not trade again for 2 1/2 years.
How is that for a blowup. I have always been and still am a very aggressive trader when I feel right about my set up. That is why with a 5k acount just starting out in futures I was trading 10 contracts. When I made enough money to add a contract I did 11 and so on. I usually do this to build up an account and then back off.
Was that a good enough of a blow up story?
Gary
Yikes!
OK
Here goes.
Deep breath.
I was a data analyst at a ⦠well known cable provider to the retail market. I got into futures because I had always been interested in investing, and I was really good at it. At one point I was setting up portfolios for my friends and associates (for free), and a number of them are still doing quite well.
So I figured, since I got a pretty good handle on the mutual fund game, I could transition over to trading and (with lots of study and research) I could do quite well for myself.
It also helped quite a bit that I was being downsized, so I had a nice amount of cash to work with ($3,500, triple screen computer, $2,500 brokerage account, etc., etc., etc.), along with a night job, I was ready to go! I was also equipped with a membership to a website being promoted by what is known as a âperma-bearâ. Heâs a pretty decent guy, but his soap box didnât help me learn to be a better trader, so I donât use him (or anyone else actually) anymore.
Not two days after getting setup with my computer and basic charting program, the perma-bear guy makes a call for the markets to end on the lows, so I thought it was a good idea to short (youâre gonna love this one Gary) a major upswing with 4 contracts (on a total margin of about $2,200) looking for the fall ⦠of course, that never happened!
I was doing one of those âsit in front of the computer and praying that the market would fall" numbers, (God, I thought I was the only one who knew that move). I tried to close the position (with about $50 dollars left in it) when the market closed and I was stuck in the position overnight. I got a margin call that night (the guys was looking for oh, about $14,000), but I was at work so I didnât respond to it.
I looked something like this.
***
The next day I called the broker and we got me out at +$200 on the deal! (Lucky Me) ⦠and I spent the next 1 ½ years trying to figure the markets out, blowing out a couple of small accounts in the process. I got to the point where I was staring at the face in the mirror and questioning whether I could do this, or not (itâs interesting that they have a couple of threads here from guys who have been through that phase and they decided, "no, they canât" ⦠I think we can all empathize with them).
I eventually took the Traders International course (does that count as another story of the worse thing I ever did?). They got a lot of flack when they came here, but at least I learned how to be disciplined, focused, use a consistent methodology, keep detailed records, etc. ⦠and a year after that fiasco, I came here and really started applying myself.
Now Iâm extremely happy with where my trading is and I look forward to the next week, confident that so long at I adhere to my methodology (and donât get lazy or overconfident) Iâll do pretty well!
Best,
Jimmy Jam
OK
Here goes.
Deep breath.
I was a data analyst at a ⦠well known cable provider to the retail market. I got into futures because I had always been interested in investing, and I was really good at it. At one point I was setting up portfolios for my friends and associates (for free), and a number of them are still doing quite well.
So I figured, since I got a pretty good handle on the mutual fund game, I could transition over to trading and (with lots of study and research) I could do quite well for myself.
It also helped quite a bit that I was being downsized, so I had a nice amount of cash to work with ($3,500, triple screen computer, $2,500 brokerage account, etc., etc., etc.), along with a night job, I was ready to go! I was also equipped with a membership to a website being promoted by what is known as a âperma-bearâ. Heâs a pretty decent guy, but his soap box didnât help me learn to be a better trader, so I donât use him (or anyone else actually) anymore.
Not two days after getting setup with my computer and basic charting program, the perma-bear guy makes a call for the markets to end on the lows, so I thought it was a good idea to short (youâre gonna love this one Gary) a major upswing with 4 contracts (on a total margin of about $2,200) looking for the fall ⦠of course, that never happened!
I was doing one of those âsit in front of the computer and praying that the market would fall" numbers, (God, I thought I was the only one who knew that move). I tried to close the position (with about $50 dollars left in it) when the market closed and I was stuck in the position overnight. I got a margin call that night (the guys was looking for oh, about $14,000), but I was at work so I didnât respond to it.
I looked something like this.
***
The next day I called the broker and we got me out at +$200 on the deal! (Lucky Me) ⦠and I spent the next 1 ½ years trying to figure the markets out, blowing out a couple of small accounts in the process. I got to the point where I was staring at the face in the mirror and questioning whether I could do this, or not (itâs interesting that they have a couple of threads here from guys who have been through that phase and they decided, "no, they canât" ⦠I think we can all empathize with them).
I eventually took the Traders International course (does that count as another story of the worse thing I ever did?). They got a lot of flack when they came here, but at least I learned how to be disciplined, focused, use a consistent methodology, keep detailed records, etc. ⦠and a year after that fiasco, I came here and really started applying myself.
Now Iâm extremely happy with where my trading is and I look forward to the next week, confident that so long at I adhere to my methodology (and donât get lazy or overconfident) Iâll do pretty well!
Best,
Jimmy Jam
Yeah, this actually was a pretty good idea. I mean, in hindsight, these stories are just absolutely hysterical!!!!
I mean, mine is a classic "fools game", but yours has it beat by a mile! At leaset we know we made it through that phase ..., I think the majority of traders go through it, unless they are very talented, very lucky, or have a great mentor who really cares about them.
It's the making it through the "dark night", and out to the other side that ultimately counts in the end.
Have a nice weekend.
Later,
JJ
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