This is what happens when we don't use stops...

Quote from blakpacman:

Haha, yeah. Lot of traders like to talk big when in fact most are pikers.
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I'm starting to learn that.

How the hell did you take $10,000 to $200,000 in a few months anyway?

What were the market conditions? That's Market Wizard material.

The only difference from you and them could be 'luck' or in your case; bad luck.

Did you manage to get 'back in business' so to speak?
 
Quote from Laissez Faire:
I'm starting to learn that.
How the hell did you take $10,000 to $200,000 in a few months anyway?
What were the market conditions?
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I was expecting a recession from a real estate downturn, and I saw that the interest rate markets would anticipate that. So, I started buying something like 9 contracts in late 2007. Every time the market consolidated and then touched the aggressive up trendline I added more, trying to double the number of contracts I had each time. I managed consecutive doubles in number of contracts and amount of equity as the Eurodollars moved higher. When stocks tanked in late December 2007 to January 2008, that's when Eurodollars went vertical. There was one particular FOMC meeting (1/30/2008) I was thinking Bernanke would cut rates by 0.5% and I was considering going balls to the wall with more Eurodollar futures contracts. Eurodollars traded higher overnight, but I still decided to add more before the meeting decision. Sometime before the decision, Eurodollars suddenly had a somewhat of a sharp correction ... I forgot why ... maybe it was some economic news or traders betting Bernanke won't cut 0.50% ... seeing my equity plunge, I was afraid I would be wiped out if Bernanke didn't deliver on 0.50%, so I reduced my contracts to avoid a margin call. Later in the day FOMC does do the 0.5% rate cut, causing the account to soar back higher to a little over $200,000 before dipping to close at $180,000 for the day then dipped sharply the next 2 or 3 days to below $100,000.

In terms of numbers ... with $10,000 I took on 9 contracts when Eurodollars were ~ 95.3 or 95.5. When it moved up 0.5 to ~96.0, I made 0.5 x $2500 x 9 contracts = $11,250, which allowed me to add 10 contracts. When it Eurodollars moved to 96.5, I made another 0.5 x $2500 x 19 contracts = $23,750, which allowed me to add 20 contracts. When it moved another 0.5 to 97.0, I made 0.5 x $2500 x 39 contracts = $48,750, which allowed me to add something like 40 or 45 contracts. Then the Bernanke rate decision caused Eurodollars to soar again causing total value of account to briefly touch over $200,000 intraday before plunging to ~ $80K. That's essentially what I did. I then tried to repeat my ways with shorting the stock market in 2008, but as I tried to short on the way down, each time there was a bailout that caused a huge rally ... first the Bear Stearns bailout in Mar 2008, then Fannie Mae bailout in Aug 2008 caused another strong bear rally. I finally threw in the towel on shorting in Aug 2008 just before a major plunge that would have enriched me, but instead my account shriveled to ~ $30,000 from having to cover my shorts. I continued trading futures a few more years, but finally threw in the towel a couple of years ago.

I have stopped trading futures because I cannot control myself when it comes to the leverage. I'm always too aggressive and blow up the account. Took me over 10 years to know myself that I cannot trust myself with a futures account due to a gambling like addiction to excessive leverage.
 
Quote from RedTankEra:
Error #1
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So, how much are you making consistently from trading futures? All I hear from you are generalities, but nothing specific regarding your own trades or equity.
 
Quote from blakpacman:



... I cannot control myself when it comes to the leverage.
... I'm always too aggressive and blow up the account.

Took me over 10 years to know myself that I cannot trust myself with a futures account due to a gambling like addiction to excessive leverage.
More...

:eek: :eek: :eek:
Does it mean that over 10 years you have been blowing accounts after accounts due to overleveraging?
what do you trade now?
 
Quote from blakpacman:

I was expecting a recession from a real estate downturn, and I saw that the interest rate markets would anticipate that. So, I started buying something like 9 contracts in late 2007. Every time the market consolidated and then touched the aggressive up trendline I added more, trying to double the number of contracts I had each time. I managed consecutive doubles in number of contracts and amount of equity as the Eurodollars moved higher. When stocks tanked in late December 2007 to January 2008, that's when Eurodollars went vertical. There was one particular FOMC meeting (1/30/2008) I was thinking Bernanke would cut rates by 0.5% and I was considering going balls to the wall with more Eurodollar futures contracts. Eurodollars traded higher overnight, but I still decided to add more before the meeting decision. Sometime before the decision, Eurodollars suddenly had a somewhat of a sharp correction ... I forgot why ... maybe it was some economic news or traders betting Bernanke won't cut 0.50% ... seeing my equity plunge, I was afraid I would be wiped out if Bernanke didn't deliver on 0.50%, so I reduced my contracts to avoid a margin call. Later in the day FOMC does do the 0.5% rate cut, causing the account to soar back higher to a little over $200,000 before dipping to close at $180,000 for the day then dipped sharply the next 2 or 3 days to below $100,000.

In terms of numbers ... with $10,000 I took on 9 contracts when Eurodollars were ~ 95.3 or 95.5. When it moved up 0.5 to ~96.0, I made 0.5 x $2500 x 9 contracts = $11,250, which allowed me to add 10 contracts. When it Eurodollars moved to 96.5, I made another 0.5 x $2500 x 19 contracts = $23,750, which allowed me to add 20 contracts. When it moved another 0.5 to 97.0, I made 0.5 x $2500 x 39 contracts = $48,750, which allowed me to add something like 40 or 45 contracts. Then the Bernanke rate decision caused Eurodollars to soar again causing total value of account to briefly touch over $200,000 intraday before plunging to ~ $80K. That's essentially what I did. I then tried to repeat my ways with shorting the stock market in 2008, but as I tried to short on the way down, each time there was a bailout that caused a huge rally ... first the Bear Stearns bailout in Mar 2008, then Fannie Mae bailout in Aug 2008 caused another strong bear rally. I finally threw in the towel on shorting in Aug 2008 just before a major plunge that would have enriched me, but instead my account shriveled to ~ $30,000 from having to cover my shorts. I continued trading futures a few more years, but finally threw in the towel a couple of years ago.

I have stopped trading futures because I cannot control myself when it comes to the leverage. I'm always too aggressive and blow up the account. Took me over 10 years to know myself that I cannot trust myself with a futures account due to a gambling like addiction to excessive leverage.
More...

Thanks for sharing.

At least you've got an awesome story of Market Wizards proportions.

When reading those books, I can't help but think that many of these guys were simply lucky and could just as well have blown up.

Being an aggressive trader, obviously can go both ways. Leverage is a double-edge sword. But it shows the potential of what's possible.

Are you trading now?
 
Quote from Laissez Faire:


How the hell did you take $10,000 to $200,000 in a few months anyway?
More...

10% of your profits will come from your system, and 90% will come from your money management, you should know that by now :p

Here our friend Blakpacman took $10.000 and turned it into $200.000 in a few weeks via a money management technique called pyramiding, as described above.

Let me tell you that it takes a LOT of guts and nerves of steel to do that.
 
I love this video. Watched it in 2008. What a newb i was. I did the same thing as that guy, but unfortunately (or fortunately) didnot videotape my near blowups.
I was laughing so much.:D

This guy was know from the defunct blog "High probability Trading"

lol

whenever somebody used the buzzword "High probability Trading", be cautious
 
It's a great video.

so is this one

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ppEJ8r7bQ2o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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