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Why most traders are losers
- Thread starter tomsmith
- Start date
I got stopped out on the PETD pullback at my BE of $17.02 so that was a no gainer, I sold July 15 calls on UNG for $1.65 so my BE on that is at $13 and I will hold UNG at least until the end of the year. My BE on COP is $39. 75 with the short LEAPS and with the current dividend I'm content to hold COP at that price for a long period of time.
I guess you could look at these as losers since I could have taken $2 profit on PETD and didn't, $1.50 on UNG and didn't, and $6 on the COP. But I'm content with the prices on each I'm holding.
I guess you could look at these as losers since I could have taken $2 profit on PETD and didn't, $1.50 on UNG and didn't, and $6 on the COP. But I'm content with the prices on each I'm holding.
No Plans, No Rules, No Success.
I believe what you wrote and congratulations to the success.
I would guess it is getting much harder for you to repeat your success as options are much more expensive than few years back. OTM calls are very expensive now.
You have been very patient on your trading, and my gut feeling is you have be more patient from now on. Finding a 20X bagger is very hard, unless you are willing to take more risks.
I would guess it is getting much harder for you to repeat your success as options are much more expensive than few years back. OTM calls are very expensive now.
You have been very patient on your trading, and my gut feeling is you have be more patient from now on. Finding a 20X bagger is very hard, unless you are willing to take more risks.
Quote from tomsmith:
Took $50,000 from my IRA and it put into a trading account. Watched the market start to come off itâs bottom in 2003 AND WAITED for a HIGH PROBABILITY TRADE.
1st trade- Day after Memorial weekend Iâm watching the screen at the open and the QQQâs go from red to green within minutes and start to run up (.20 to .25 to .30 on the bid on SP 29 calls Iâm watching) . No, I donât know if the Qâs have a flaming doji or an inverted hammer coming out of their arse on the stock charts or not, but I know that if the price is going up that fast there is a HIGH PROBABILITY I can make money buying. I buy 1000 of the near month 29 strike price calls for .30 and immediately pull up an order to sell 10,000 Qâs at market if the trade suddenly turns and I want to make money on the drop. Well the Qâs run all that week and Mon-Thurs of the next week and I cash out with the calls at $275+ and over $250,000 profit.
Perhaps you could clear up a small detail for me.
You say you opened an account with $50,000. With this you bought some calls....$30,000 worth.
Your plan you say is to short 10,000 Qs against those calls.
So here is my question: let's say the Qs were trading at $25. Shorting 10,000 Qs at $25 would take $125,000 or so on margin. And what you got left is $20K in the trading account.
Perhaps you could clear this detail up. What am I missing?
OldTrader
Quote from OldTrader:
Perhaps you could clear up a small detail for me.
You say you opened an account with $50,000. With this you bought some calls....$30,000 worth.
Your plan you say is to short 10,000 Qs against those calls.
So here is my question: let's say the Qs were trading at $25. Shorting 10,000 Qs at $25 would take $125,000 or so on margin. And what you got left is $20K in the trading account.
Perhaps you could clear this detail up. What am I missing?
OldTrader
The punch line!
Regards
Johno
You're not missing anything. It was my 1st trade and I would have gotten a quick lesson in margin requirements. That order would have been rejected and I would have had to take a .07 loss, which I was willing to risk when I entered the trade. You would have had to been watching the screen then to realize just how fast the Q's were moving to understand my willingness to jump on the trade like that. That fact that they ran for 10 days was just pure luck, I was just hoping to make .20-.30 on the contracts.
I find it interesting that people think I'm full of shit because I say that IMO most people who try to make a living trading a retail account willl evantually lose from a slow bleed . People here think I'm conceited because I say " I realize I can't beat beat the market on a regular basis by enough to make it worth my while, but believe that if you are patient and observant you can jump in and out occassionally with substantial gains."
I think the people here boasting how they have figured out a system to beat the makets are more conceited.
I find it interesting that people think I'm full of shit because I say that IMO most people who try to make a living trading a retail account willl evantually lose from a slow bleed . People here think I'm conceited because I say " I realize I can't beat beat the market on a regular basis by enough to make it worth my while, but believe that if you are patient and observant you can jump in and out occassionally with substantial gains."
I think the people here boasting how they have figured out a system to beat the makets are more conceited.
Quote from tomsmith:
I got stopped out on the PETD pullback at my BE of $17.02 so that was a no gainer, I sold July 15 calls on UNG for $1.65 so my BE on that is at $13 and I will hold UNG at least until the end of the year. My BE on COP is $39. 75 with the short LEAPS and with the current dividend I'm content to hold COP at that price for a long period of time.
I guess you could look at these as losers since I could have taken $2 profit on PETD and didn't, $1.50 on UNG and didn't, and $6 on the COP. But I'm content with the prices on each I'm holding.
Those trades are boring. Even if you had sold those position as you wished, how much could you make? Those would be ordinary gains that day traders make everyday. It is not the same type of home run trades you reported in your first post.
What was you last home run trade? I mean 10X bagger?