In the Beginning...
This is a brief history of my stock / option / day trading to provide some background for future posts.
My very first exposure to the stock market was in October of 1987 - do you remember that date? Someone convinced me that I should buy stocks, because the market will "never go down" or something similar. At that time, people were mortgaging their homes to buy stocks! My trade lasted about 2 weeks and of course I lost it all, small as it was. I never invested again until the mid 90's...
Somehow I got it into my head that I was not just going to earn a living trading commodities, but that I was going to get rich! I think I responded to an ad that said I could do that quite easily just by checking the charts in the Investors' Business Daily once a week. Before I knew it I had bought several "systems" (all of which were sure-fire winners); the most expensive charting package at the time (TradeStation); and I also installed a satellite feed from eSignal (trading online was not available then).
I also bought a book called You Can't Lose Trading Commodities and believed every word in it! Needless to say, by the time I decided to quit (mostly because I couldn't sleep at night because of all my margin calls), I was many thousands down the drain. In the interests of sanity and my marriage I vowed never to "invest" again.
I know now what I didn't know then: that I knew nothing!
My next post will discuss my trading "revival" and what I've done recently. Thanks for staying with me so far.
Cheers,
Terry
www.TraderTerry.com
My very first exposure to the stock market was in October of 1987 - do you remember that date? Someone convinced me that I should buy stocks, because the market will "never go down" or something similar. At that time, people were mortgaging their homes to buy stocks! My trade lasted about 2 weeks and of course I lost it all, small as it was. I never invested again until the mid 90's...
Somehow I got it into my head that I was not just going to earn a living trading commodities, but that I was going to get rich! I think I responded to an ad that said I could do that quite easily just by checking the charts in the Investors' Business Daily once a week. Before I knew it I had bought several "systems" (all of which were sure-fire winners); the most expensive charting package at the time (TradeStation); and I also installed a satellite feed from eSignal (trading online was not available then).
I also bought a book called You Can't Lose Trading Commodities and believed every word in it! Needless to say, by the time I decided to quit (mostly because I couldn't sleep at night because of all my margin calls), I was many thousands down the drain. In the interests of sanity and my marriage I vowed never to "invest" again.
I know now what I didn't know then: that I knew nothing!
My next post will discuss my trading "revival" and what I've done recently. Thanks for staying with me so far.
Cheers,
Terry
www.TraderTerry.com
posted by Terry at
8:31 PM
2 Comments:
it is interesting how you overcame (?) your treshold of risk - you mentioned you couldnt sleep at night because of the margins yet you still engaged in these trades.
By
yasser, at July 08, 2006 2:36 PM
Yes, staying in a losing trade is a common problem, especially for new traders.
It is an emotional issue, and most people let it happen to them because they are either [a] ashamed to admit they're wrong, or [b]hoping the trade will turn back their way.
I had that problem, and sometimes have to check myself for being tempted to do it even now.
By
Terry, at July 08, 2006 2:45 PM
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