It's better to try and fail and be sorry, than not to try and regret.That, right there - that's why you shouldn't be trading with real money - let alone with borrowed money.
Worst thing is not trying.
It's only money after all...
Took out a loan to transition to full-time trading. 24 years old.
- Thread starter wabu27
- Start date
Worst thing is not trying.
It's only money after all...
I hear you, but there are also ways of learning how to try without money; for most people it's better to go through that process first, and use money only at a later stage after you can be confident that you've minimized the risks of "going down big".
Here's "the point": long-term profitable trading isn't about profit-mazimixation: it's about risk management, and this thread has - by most people's standards - been a very long (and surely at least somewhat traumatic?) lesson in not yet having learned that.
The OP's losing money heavily without apparently even learning "the main point" in the process. That's sad, isn't it?
I see that back on page 4 of this now-46-page thread, I said "The word breathtaking comes to mind, to describe the plan of someone who has $9k and is planning to borrow $11k at a huge interest-rate (giving him a total of $20k, otherwise known as "seriously undercapitalised" for that objective) to give up his job and trade for a living on the basis that the only time he's ever previously traded with real money, he lost money." I still think that.
(I know that he hasn't actually given up his job yet, and that's obviously a relative plus.)
Absolutely no offense meant to the OP, but it is what it is.
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Hm...
Well, I’m tired of repeating a lot of things I previously mentioned in this thread so I won’t go ahead and argue couple missed points in Xela’s post. But one thing everyone got right was taking out loans to trade is ridiculous, and I agree as I thought it was ridiculous when I was applying for those loans.
Well, we all know the results of what happened so I really don’t have room or excuses to defend myself. Yet, if I may say one thing regarding my failure, I only started going downhill when I started bending my personal trading rules that I developed for myself. When I was following my rules, making profits was easy. Money, greed, and endless possibilities really got to my head and I didn’t know I wasn’t ready to handle the big rewards.
Going forward a year after my big failure, I’m trading again, this time with a much smaller account. Hey, after just over a month, I’m up over 93%.
I’m working on really cutting losses small and letting profits run as the past month wasn’t the smoothest ride I want to have for years to come.
I think the past year of working hell hours with multiple jobs is somewhat helping with the discipline. I still (yes, still) get cocky as hell but am really trying to humble myself, knowing it’s the reason I have a fixed expense of $2,500 every month and I have no life. This keeps me focused on trying to follow my personal rules at all times.
And for training before trading, I personally think even if you become a master at virtual trading, it’s a whole different game in real accounts. Virtual trading was a joke for me and I thought I was King when I was making ridiculous returns. However, that wasn’t enough to prepare me mentally when I tried trading live, with size. 10% loss in virtual account was funny. 10% loss in real account requires a cigarette break..no matter how confident I am that I can make it all back up.
Well, I’m tired of repeating a lot of things I previously mentioned in this thread so I won’t go ahead and argue couple missed points in Xela’s post. But one thing everyone got right was taking out loans to trade is ridiculous, and I agree as I thought it was ridiculous when I was applying for those loans.
Well, we all know the results of what happened so I really don’t have room or excuses to defend myself. Yet, if I may say one thing regarding my failure, I only started going downhill when I started bending my personal trading rules that I developed for myself. When I was following my rules, making profits was easy. Money, greed, and endless possibilities really got to my head and I didn’t know I wasn’t ready to handle the big rewards.
Going forward a year after my big failure, I’m trading again, this time with a much smaller account. Hey, after just over a month, I’m up over 93%.
I’m working on really cutting losses small and letting profits run as the past month wasn’t the smoothest ride I want to have for years to come.
I think the past year of working hell hours with multiple jobs is somewhat helping with the discipline. I still (yes, still) get cocky as hell but am really trying to humble myself, knowing it’s the reason I have a fixed expense of $2,500 every month and I have no life. This keeps me focused on trying to follow my personal rules at all times.
And for training before trading, I personally think even if you become a master at virtual trading, it’s a whole different game in real accounts. Virtual trading was a joke for me and I thought I was King when I was making ridiculous returns. However, that wasn’t enough to prepare me mentally when I tried trading live, with size. 10% loss in virtual account was funny. 10% loss in real account requires a cigarette break..no matter how confident I am that I can make it all back up.
Are you now using stop losses?
System may go down
You may lose control
You may have to use the restroom
Prices may move faster than you can stay on top of everything
Most.. but not every single one.. use stop losses
Day 23
+5.48%
Decent trading throughout the day. Stayed out before release of the oil report. Played a little after the report. Went in for a nice drop but stopped out short just in case... oil goes up because the graph looked a little weird. Dropping some more right now and feeling uneasy because I was too scared to go in for the ride.. and i'm missing out.. so I'm done for the day.
+5.48%
Decent trading throughout the day. Stayed out before release of the oil report. Played a little after the report. Went in for a nice drop but stopped out short just in case... oil goes up because the graph looked a little weird. Dropping some more right now and feeling uneasy because I was too scared to go in for the ride.. and i'm missing out.. so I'm done for the day.
Well.. most.. but not all.. winning daytraders use stops. They can be canceled and moved if you like.
Reading your posts it seems you blew up your first account, as many who became successful did:
I urge you to occasionally revisit the idea that placing stops "may" help you. They can rest on your server rather than in the market, if you prefer.
However, there is no way for me to absolutely say that your way is not better for you.
Please examine your no-stop trading from time to time, just in case.
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