What were your lowest moments?

I have lost all my dedicated trading capital several times over the years. My lowest times is when I shared my Journey here in ET.

Not that I have not had high times here.

I have survived and own a home without mortgage payments and no credit cards and a wife that has tolerated this over 31 years.

Es
 
orbit23 said:
I have to admit the replies are nothing like i would've expected. I guess the experience is different for everybody.

For myself it was very dramatic. My hair started falling out during the period of high stress, i was in a shock multiple times, eg. my hands were shaking and i also got physically sick once or twice shortly after the big loss. On the mental side it happened much more often, it was like very very strong depression, like a self-perpetuating mental state that is very hard to get out of. Not pain, but horrible feeling where everything loses it's meaning, you feel completely empty and you just wish you could end it all. I am not suicidal(and never were), but when you see a truck coming by you just wish it could be it. But that'd be an easy way out.

All of this is a result of highly leveraged trading and losing soul crushing amounts of money in a short period of time. Easy come, easy go.

I blew many times, when i did not expect something to happen and yet it did, i did not have stop loss set and ended up getting liquidated several times, also adding to losers and hoping for a reversal. It's hard when you keep losing, it's hard when you are right and still lose money due to poor execution, but the hardest hit comes when you think you have have it and when you are slowly but consistently making money for several months and then you blow it all in one moment.

It's not only about the losses, but also about the potential profits you could've had, had you had a plan and didn't act emotionally and out of frustration. When you actually had it but then you bailed out, only to see your position would've been up a dozen K by the next day. It's slightly easier if you can blame it on the lack of experience - you didn't know, you'll get it next time. But still...

I do not wish those feelings for the worst of my enemies.
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If your trading capital is a few part(less than 20%) of all your available money, and you have others sources of income, that stress is not possible and you can learn and enjoy the journey.
 
Real Money said:
I'll give you a simple story. Saved up $10,000 and started trading FX. This was a series of compromises due to the usual suspects (underfunded, time constraints, not enough knowledge). In other words, I didn't want to trade FX but decided that I had no choice because I needed leverage to make any money (I prefer scalping/very short term trading).

I have a math degree. I have an ability to anticipate immediate volatility and direction due to massive amounts of screen time and knowing the reasons why indicators will work or won't work.

I ended up suffering a string of losses and the account drew down 5% and I closed it out.

Fast forward 4 years later I've got ten times that in capital and massive edge now.

It probably was the worst feeling though losing over and over. Nothing like hard earned money just vanishing right in front of your face in seconds :D. I remember I even pounded my fist on the table.

Takeaways,

Be smart enough to admit when you are wrong. And If you're underfunded and forcing trades then you have already lost. Get an EDGE.
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If you have a maths degree and can anticipate vol changes then trade options.
 
ZBZB said:
If you have a maths degree and can anticipate vol changes then trade options.
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Basically, I meant immediate vol. Things like, shorts are about to cover; contracting range will occur at this level; this range and level are about to be abandoned; trend will increase in strength and narrow range. This kind of things.

I spread index futures and daytrade index futures.
 
lindq said:
Lost 120K selling puts in 2000.

Lesson: If you don't respect the Black Swan, she will bite you in the ass.
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Exactly what i learned. Anything can happen.

The markets will go to the highs you would've never expected and then to the lows you would've never thought of.
 
Lowest moment came twice,it was not about money,only about not being able to find any meaningful trading method.I was set on mechanical method from the start.
I read all the books i could find,took a leave from employment and spend days and night on this,slept very little,ate little and it ended up i was forced to stop from sudden health problem i could not eat for few days.I quit for two years,then i came back fresh and started all over again.All this time i never traded live,because i was always of opinion that this will render ineffective any creativity and i thought being creative is a plus.Again i hit the wall,read quite a lot of game theory books,analyzed results from roulette tables etc.
This time i went to casino and bet 10K on a single a roulette spin and i lost.This had a profound effect on me,i started to view everything around me in different way,quite often opposite to what i knew to this point,i started to question everything,but i was not searching for any trading method.This time i went back to work and took it easy,socialized,enjoyed company of people i knew,often went to cinema etc.
One day i was in the park on Saturday morning and this elderly Chinese lady was practicing Chinese martial arts, like Shaolin style.
I was watching her for maybe one hour and from that day i started reading anything that was said or written by successful people in trading,there are few,just very few.I thought they will make a mistake and say something that will be a breakthrough.One of them did,or maybe two.And this lady thought me a lot, first that the difference exist,that very few can do ordinary things difficult to most and that the ability to see it will not come by force,it can not be learned,it has to be stumbled upon by pure chance and it will take time,long years.

So the first time i could not quit to the point that i was sick and second time came from putting on a bet which i lost.Losing 10K was not much of an issue,only the fact that i was wrong that i failed spectacularly,i did not want to be wrong like that ever again.This meant a lot to me,it broke my ego into pieces.
Every step of the way came with new grey hair.
 
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