Watch a Newbie Blow his account

Quote from traderdon56:

You haven't answered the question that befuddles me.

If you were doing so well with equities, why are you trading futures?

Most people would kill for 50% a year, and you tripled your account in a matter of months with stocks, amazing.

My advice, take your real money and go back to equities, start trading futures with a demo account.
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At this point I can't. My account is under 25K. Maybe if I get it back over I may go back to stocks.

I also feel like I've become so twisted with all I've "learned" that it will take some time to become a "dumb" profitable trader. I used to trade very simple strategies from a distance aggressively and with a lot of confidence. Now I trade while looking at too many indicators second guessing myself too many times. I know what needs to be done.
 
Quote from IronFist:

How do you do 15 trades a week in a $12k stock account? Didn't you trigger the PDT rule?
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Thats an average. The first 4 months I swing traded 1-3 days then the last 2 months when I was able to day trade I traded about 40 times a week. I'm averaging over all 6 months.
 
Making that much in a few months in a bull market is nothing special. If you gave $20k each to 50 people and 10 barnyard animals of various trading experience, you would find that at least 10 of the group would make over 100% during a bull market. For a portfolio to be highly profitable you only need 1 big winner (ie, luck).

Make money consisently for 10 years -- in every type of market -- and we'll talk.
 
why are you trading 6 contracts with 17k account,trade 1 contract till you become profitable every week then trade 2 contracts.
 
Quote from flipflopper:

I made the switch to futures since I started trading full time after being laid off from work at the end of march. I was making close to six figures... about $140K including benefits [/B]
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IBM ?
 
flipflopper,

You do have some options:

* Stop trading futures and close your trading account.

* Trade what you were making money in even if you felt it was luck.

I'm talking about stocks.

* Give your money to charity.

Simply, you have the wrong attitude to be a futures trader and the thread title of this journal is a big clue about your attitude.

Another way to look at it...trading is either a game or a business.

Those that treat their trading like a business will have a better chance than those that treat their trading like a game.

Trading to you is like a game.

Mark
 
During your stock trading stint did you ever make over 25% on a single trade?

If you did not it was clearly not luck that enabled you to triple your account.

What was the median % gain of the winners over the 300 trades?
 
The consequences behind blowing an account goes beyond simply losing money. You also lose *time*. The time you spent trading, the time you spent in making the initial capital in the first place, etc. You also lose all the things that could have been purchased with that cash such as a trip across asia or europe, a new car or a nicer apartment or house to live in. You could have spent all the time trading and placed it in a new job, getting an education or simply around buddies at the bar.

As well, when you blow an account, you are being unfair to your future family (if you want to have a family). That cash could have easily been placed in a mutual fund or savings account for a better use in a future period.

Its important to understand all of the consequences behind your actions. Its not just losing a few dollars, it goes way beyond. . .

Why not stick with what works rather then experiment in a place where you could lose all your capital?
 
This is got to be a f--king joke.

Let me see if I get it:

1. You had a job that make 6 figures and you tripled your money trading stocks last 6 months.

2. You got layoff so your life if depend on full time trading. Which is not bad consider you triple your money last 6 months.

3. You switch to future to destroy your trading account when you have no other source of income. And you were making money with stocks.

Base on these events, I would say you either go back to doing what you know, or should I tell you that you are too stupid to trade?
 
Quote from deviltrader:

Making that much in a few months in a bull market is nothing special. If you gave $20k each to 50 people and 10 barnyard animals of various trading experience, you would find that at least 10 of the group would make over 100% during a bull market. For a portfolio to be highly profitable you only need 1 big winner (ie, luck).

Make money consisently for 10 years -- in every type of market -- and we'll talk.
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Yeah, About 60% of my trades were short.

But thanks for the comparison.
 
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