Disliked{quote} Thank you Swingman and RobinHood - may I please have your brains! I was trading ES and fell asleep on the keyboard as I also get up for work early in the morning - lost $1600 last night when I know that the SPX500 is bullish for SPX . I did the wrong thing... The market is so charming and versatile. I worked so hard this year for my salary and lost them all... RobinHood and SwingMan, may I ask you a favor to check that are I using the right indicators to trade the SPX on the 30 minutes time frame? {image}Ignored
He said that I had failed to close the position (or place a stop) from the previous day. I knew that it wasn't true but there was nothing I could do about it. This was back when you called in your orders over the phone. As you can imagine, I was sick to my stomach about it for a long time. He was a self-employed broker on the floor of the CME. He simply ripped me off, and I knew it. After that, I started tape recording all of my orders that I gave him.
Not that it will make you feel any better, but you will get over it eventually, and hopefully not ever repeat the mistake again.
Now for what you did wrong, you obviously did not place a Stop. ALWAYS place a stop, UNLESS you can handle whatever the market throws at you.
And it sounds like you may have had on too big of a position for your account size, lots of newer traders do that. I don't want anyone to take this as bragging, because I am not, but I do need to make a point.
I day trade the SPY, currently it's at $531/share, I only ever trade 100 shares, even though my account size is large enough that I could trade many, many more than that. And, currently, on my stock trades that I hold overnight, in total, I am only using about 15% of my account balance.
So if every stock I have (which is currently 17) went to zero, it might hurt, but it wouldn't kill me. No trading loss ever really upsets me because I KNOW what my risk is going in, and I EXPECT to lose on some trades.
Always keep this trading saying in mind...
"Amateurs Focus on How Much They Can Win, Professionals Focus on How Much They Can Lose"
This whole game is MOSTLY about Money Management and controlling your emotions.
Always a Student, Never a Master - Emulate What Works
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