How and Why I lost over 75% in 2 days and what I’ve learned

As you loose 75% in two days . I loose 50% of my capital in just one trade in one hour. I try trading in gold with only $300 in my account . It was a blunder that ruins me . I learn that I should improve my trading and risk management to avoid loss.

Most of the people replying to your post are forex addicted. The forum is a place for you to come for washing yourself of your bad trading experiences but not only.
You lost a lost because you're psicologically weak now. A normal trader is always considering a R:R (risk reward) on every trade. You cannot loose 75% of your account on 2 days. I'd like you to stop trading for 1 week.
You'll feel better, believe me.

Hi
My inputs if its worth anything.
Real money is on longer TF daily and weekly!Let this sink in deeply.Vast day traders lose because of randomness factor of Forex.
Try imagine a battle.Too close and you can't see the terrain and enemy movements and chances of ambush is great.You must must must step back see the overall image and get an overview of the currency.
LTF allows low gearing position size trading that can become extremely profitable.Basically you add to winning position until trend is over.
I did not read anything about your methods on your PDF but you were over-trading obviously to lose so much in such short time.
Fix that and be patient.Allow the trade to build up.
That's it.

Hi there. It does not matter how many times you trade per day. Your (true) probability of success is the unknown to you and constant! For example, if your probability of success is 50%; win, win, win, win, win, loss may give you a false sense of security but it does not change the 50%.
So, unless, you develop a sound method of trading, you can trade once per year and still go RED!!!!!!!!

I'm guessing then, that you've never heard of over trading ???

You seem to be contradicting yourself here. If my probability of success is unknown and constant,
why would, or how could I, develop a sound method of trading ??

Or maybe I missed something.... I'm good at that

the problem with these type of threads is the subconscious negativity we inherit from constantly reading how impossible forex trading is,95 % loosers ect.

when i first joined ff in 2009 my trading was steady in realistic gain.3 months of reading so much negativity had an effect on my trading i started to doubt myself and if this forex was infact possible.i had to be very selective in what i read and not allow negative threads into my mind.i got back on track but be carfull the subconscious is very powerful.

having said that there are some very good positive threads here which can help to train the mind to believe

thats my gripe of the day got hangover

But we need these retailers to feed their money to the profitable traders.

Same. I'm sorry but there is no place in any sensible literature for religion and its fallacies.

Hey man, your thread caught my attention, if you're serious about continuing with trading pm me for a Skype and let's chat. Fk all this shitty advice. Hope to hear from you... If not then nothing gained nothing lost..

Ps; I'm not sorry you lost... What I love most about trading is that we get precisely what we deserve... There's another side to the sword that's cut you.

I'll leave it with ya.. Of course I'm not selling anything

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C073q-PLYqE

Oh my God it is a big loss of you but always try to do good trade and with complete concentration and an other thing that can also leads to failure is always put out your profit from your trade that can help you to prevent your loss

The best advice I can give ... Read "Mastering the Trade" by John Carter.

... See what I mean ..

You can agree to take only 1-2 losing trades per day. What if those losing trades took away 30% of your account on average?
The point is: unless you have a sound system - a sound money management system - to counter the fact that you will never know your true-probability-of-success, you will still go red!!!!

Ouch!

Should be more posts like this to help everyone avoid the pain of living through this.

Just this month I lost my entire June profits on EURUSD and GBP/USD Trades because I was to stubborn to accept the loss. Not quite 75% of my account but enough to kick myself for not getting out when I knew the tides had turned.

Thinking of writing a manual EA to help me monitor my trades and keep me honest with my exits/recovery trades.

This is not new thing in fore x. Most of the traders loose their first investment very quickly in forex trading because they had low experience and not having any plan to manage risks. In beginning they are much happy to d o trades in real market want high profits . So they loose their amount.

Blame broker game? Does anyone force anyone to use the leverage available? Do you need a stick in a form of external regulation?

Limit yourself to trading 2 minis on a 20k account and you will have no leverage at all.

Brokers require margins to ensure prompt settlement of trades to counter-parties, but the rest is up to you.

The practice of placing 1-2% of account at risk is nothing more than a method of allowing you make more trades and time to recover. However if your trading style is flawed even that limitation will not help. Eventually, you will empty your account.

Okay firstly, you have / had maybe 100K+ account, 1% is fine, do you really need $1000 per day pushing yourself that hard day after day is going to lead to errors and greed and down days turning into revenge days and huge losses.

Wish I had that kinda money to lose, I think I'd be being sick for a few weeks after that kinda loss though, ecccksss!!!

You'll enjoy this thread.

Hey Everyone. I apologize for not checking this sooner! I literally haven't checked back here it since I posted this and I'm surprised at so many replies. I'm glad to see some of you got benefit from it and that it may have provided reinforcements for the good habits of the rest. I think if I helped even one person learn from my mistakes than this is a worthwhile exercise.

(On the Jesus comment, just replace his name with a trading guru you like and you'll be just fine! If you read past that part you'd see that I'm really not religious, but seriously... Jesus is my homeboy.)

The fact is, this pdf represented me at the lowest I've ever been in my trading lifetime and I have since taken some time to really think about what I was doing, why I was doing it before I started back up again. I was playing a very small game with myself and in order to play a much larger game I needed to become a much larger, more accountable and complete person.

I've actually started to incorporate stock trading again. I find the risk/reward on stocks in play very attractive, as well there's always something going on that has a solid risk/reward. I used to think Crude Oil moved fast, but there's stocks that move way faster and with even better liquidity and risk/reward parameters! Beware of the marketing that tells us that FX, or Futures, or stocks are the way to go or not go, do your own home work!

One could say the main thing I learned is that the basics, everyday routine, the thousand little things we do or don't do account for our results before the game begins.

Somewhere I let myself stop loving trading, really enjoying it and I'm now back to that state of enjoying every minute of it and enjoying my life. Accountability is key in this journey, and trading results mirror the life of the trader. How I do anything is how I do everything.

I now approach trading from a fully prepared state, and when I'm not in that state I just don't trade, or I get into that state quickly through meditation and proper preparation.

We only fear what we don't understand so fearing the outcome of trading or trades is a sure sign we simply aren't prepared *big lesson!*

If it wasn't for this experience I wouldn't have been able to properly recognize when to trade or not to trade, and I wouldn't have been able to recognize fully where I fell short in this competitive environment. No top professional approaches their arena half prepared, and here I was showing up to the game without very basic stuff in place!

Specifically, when I said I will not trade again until everything is set up to level the playing field I meant:

1. Automated risk management (Daily Stop losses, Loss from top limits, max size limits as examples, max losing trades in a row). This should be automated so the trading software halts trading if these rules are violated. This will save even the best traders from their worst two losing days of a month/year etc.
2. Size matters! Proper capitalization is an edge in itself. One should be able to take 3 or 4 lots (lots being the minimum size tradable) very comfortably, and have that be a fraction of the overall daily stop loss, WHILE being able to reach objectives. The minute fear of loss moves in it's over!
3. Full devotion to the craft. For example, if one must trade and also hold down a full time job than ensure he/she is trading a time frame that allows for the time available, such as swing trading. In my example, day trading was simply too much to handle along with my full time job. This is also where proper capitalization comes into play. To be able to justify trading full time it takes considerable capital and resources which we will have in place and I wouldn't have it any other way.
4. Trade in a professional environment with a team of successful traders around, via internet or in a physical office. Either way be connected with a successful team. 1 bad trader, who is also negative can ruin the vibe of a trading floor, or chat room. Steer clear of Debbie downers (My mum's name is Debbie and she's a real downer!). The mind is in need of constant protection from outside shit that takes away from the creative process.
5. Invest in and use the best software available if your account size allows. It seems simple but one of my biggest tasks has been to find and learn the best trading programs available that suit our needs.
6. Ensure The trading plan is written down, well defined and conceptualized. Why does it work? When does it stop working? When does it work best? Does it suit me and my beliefs? (I now trade several very simple setups that I believe in and track, rather than getting sidetracked) Send it to friends (good traders!) who can scrutinize and keep filling in the blanks until happy.
7. Do I know why I am trading? What are my objectives? Strengths, Weaknesses? Bottom line is trading my passion!?!?!?!
8. Don't talk to people about your positions unless they are successful traders, even then ensure you aren't bragging about your positions or defending them. Sharing ideas is one thing, but traders need to think and act independently. No two traders are alike IMO. Share the idea and get back to trading.
9. I stand by my opinions on trading software and tools, most are garbage that appeal to the biases of losing mentality.
10. As an example on risk, the risk% taken should be able to be basis points and still meet profit objectives. As an example, if $500/day is needed to live comfortably on than exceeding that as a daily objective should be the simple bi product of several low risk, high reward potential trades where none of them had a chance of stopping the day out. There will be some losers in there, but the winners will more than make the day. I hope that makes sense, if not I'm happy to elaborate.
11. Get balanced. Live a well balanced life, make friends, take risks, be adventurous. I used to view trading as a means to an end, but the end is always out of sight. Live life to the fullest Now, trading results mirror life results.
12. If your fellow traders are more successful than you than your in the right place.
13. Develop a daily routine. Mine is now very extensive but nothing less than would be expected of a pro athlete. If you don't realize by now that trading is competition than the same mistakes I made are on their way!

My routine includes,

1. getting up 2 hours before the market open with at least 7 hours of sleep
2. I'm already mostly prepared for the day from the night before. I know which stocks I am most interested in and I'm searching for fresh ideas from overnight news, etc.
3. Know and understand the fundamental driving themes and beliefs of the majority of the market participants for the macro market
4. Know and understand the fundamental driving themes, news and at least be able to explain what the stock represents
5. Know and understand who the main competition is.
6. Ensure I'm trading stocks in play (or markets in play) this means they need to be setting up several 5-1 risk/reward opportunities per day on great volume so I can manage my risk with minimal slippage. We only need one good market that's in play per day. I believe that being too narrowly focused on the market we trade opens up room for problems with boredom. If I'm always trading a stock that trades ideally for me than I'm always in a space where I can compete at my highest level. Ignore the others. For FX traders, stick with what you know but ensure that's actually a market that actually moves enough to get good 5-1 risk/reward.
7. Ignore the shit. Stay out of the shit. Don't go flopping around in the mud soldier! Take a dry path to your objective. Stay vigilant and keep sharp.
8. Clear mind of clutter through meditation.
9. Visualize the successful trading day. This is more than just hocus-pocus it prepares the mind, builds neural networks and ensures everything is aligned for the days objectives.
10. Use IF-Then statements for trading setups. An example of a successful IF Statement "If TWTR has strong buying into the open wait for the first 4 bar pullback and then enter on momentum placing the stop loss below the swing low and 1st target at or near the recent swing high. Trail the rest of the position below the up trend-line".
11. Periodic rest, refreshment. Check in with self and know what the score is and the go right back to focusing on the next good trade.
12. Recap like any good Athlete or professional does. Watch video of the days trades, or recording of the days data played in fast mode. Make screen shots of the best trading setups you enjoyed from the day/week/month depending on time frame and build the Playbook of your best trades. Doing this I noticed a pattern of really only 3 setups that work best for me, that I trust and can consistently follow. This is scaleable, this is trading!
13. Be grateful for the outcome of each trade, trading day/week, set of results, reporting period... Just be grateful. Trading successfully can be one of the best careers and lifestyles in the world. Be happy if you're at the consistently profitable stage.
14. This ones been said many times but never stop working on being your best self, and your best trader will follow

This journey has quite miraculously led me to be working with a group of successful traders here in Calgary to set up a professional environment where no stone will be UN-turned when it comes to empowering all of us to be the best trader/person we can be, it's been an extensive project including a trip to Manhattan @ 17 hours one way... We are working hard to be able to launch March 31st and planning a big kick off party that weekend.

We are building this trading environment as a team and will act as a team, stronger than we would be on our own and I believe that's what sets apart the successful 5% from the rest. They treat it like a profession, a passion that consumes them and is an extension of who they are.

To the guy that said he sounds like my mum he was right because Mum market is the best teacher!

If anyone wants to join our Calgary team we communicate via email and during the day for now until our office is up. We have already maxed out the proposed office space but are open to expanding our group with remote traders. We plan on having everything in place for passionate traders to succeed, and I mean everything including capital etc. I think anyone who read my pdf and can relate knows what one thing left out can mean. We will trade all markets, all time frames (What suits the trader best) and use the best technology, hardware, education, team, and be set up in an amazing environment. Above all having tonnes of fun!

The 70% loss I believe was the lowest I will ever get from here.

I may not check back here for another long time so I apologize but if anyone wants to email me directly my email is [email protected]

Please add any other key ingredients to this list above that you believe is essential to success. I think to sum it up: Either go pro or do something else!

Also please continue to share stories of mistakes and failure but include the how and why and don't curse the market!

Nice story. What makes me to wonder whether anyone would give the guy any money to trade now that he is so experienced.