# What's your biggest single stock loss?



## barnz2k (2 June 2008)

Yep, whats one of your biggest blunders?
Whats the biggest loss you have had on a single stock?

Have a few close to 50% down now, but one in particular 75%, ouch (none sold though yet)


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## nioka (2 June 2008)

It is not hard to lose 100% of a particular stock. I've done it a few times and will again in the future. FNT looks like the next. The last was Gympie gold. My first was Hauraki Whaling around about 1959. If you dabble in specs it will happen. Gympie gold was not even a spec but a mine collapse followed a few months later with a fire in the coal mine sent them packing. Just spread the risk and it's bearable. Remember if you lose the lot you can at least get a tax write off.


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## ta2693 (3 June 2008)

CNP bought at $1.8 sold at $1
Learnt a lesson in a hard way "never catch a following dagger".


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## barnz2k (3 June 2008)

nioka said:


> If you dabble in specs it will happen.




hmm good point, bigger risk/reward.

ta - 'falling dagger' maybe? - yeah im learning a few too!


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## MichaelD (3 June 2008)

It's scary that the majority response at the moment is ">30% - Whats a stop loss?".

Think about the sheer mathematics of this game, folks;

Pick 1 x 100% winner.
This will pay for 10 x 10% losers
This will pay for 3 x 33% losers
This will pay for 2 x 50% losers
This will pay for 1 x 100% loser

You can have many, many small losers and still be highly profitable. You can't have many big losers before you cannot play any more.

It's not about being right. It's about being profitable.

(ps I've never lost more than about 2% even with slippage on a single position - most of my losses are 0.5% - 1% in size)


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## Synergy (3 June 2008)

I think it's very realistic to have a 30% loss as a trader. For my system that would likely happen once a year or so. Gap downs can hurt you.

But i think that even if the majority of people have had a loss greater than 50%, it's probably paid for itself by now. Most people learn from mistakes, especially if they're big ones. I'm not sure it's a bad thing to have a big loss when you first start out. If you start by throwing a bit of spare cash at a few random shares, with not much idea about anything, you'll soon learn about money management when you have a big loss.


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## Sean K (3 June 2008)

Had two stocks go into administration.

Fun!


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## cuttlefish (3 June 2008)

yeah I've had a couple go into receivership as well (back in the early 90's - have learnt some lessons since then so hopefully likely to avoid a repeat, but never say never).


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## refined silver (3 June 2008)

MichaelD said:


> It's scary that the majority response at the moment is ">30% - Whats a stop loss?".
> 
> Think about the sheer mathematics of this game, folks;
> 
> ...




Sorry not true.

Like Noika said it totally depends on what you are playing. If they are real speccies a 30% loss is nothing and a 100% gain is nothing. Your maths are incorrect for speccies, (but maybe totally correct for what you play)

In the last few years I've had a 20 bagger, quite a few x10, and many x5 or better. I've also had a 90% loss, one which lost 96%, gained 600% (meaning I was still down 60%) I sold then, and yet it came back to where I bought it from, meaning a 1600% gain from its lows then it stabilised there, I was already out of course. I've had quite a few losses greater than 50%, some realised some still holding. I hold over 30 stocks. 

I am in a slow process of trying to work out where to put stops for the type of stocks I trade, at the moment 40-50% is looking like the most profitable point. To make it too much tighter, I would have missed out on many large gains.

Speccy maths. - a real example from 6 months ago.

Bought 4 speccy oil stocks, one a producer, two with defined resources, one w. very good prospects

After 4 months:

1. +500%
2. -20%
3. -40%
4. -60%

Overall result - after $2k in each, started with $8k, now around $13.5k or 60% gain. If you get one good winner in speccies, it can more than pay for 3-4 to lose 80%. As for stops, the 500% winner, dropped 40% before it took off. 

All the above stocks are treated as investments rather than speculation, I will still sell quickly if situation warrants it, but holding for a while is the norm.

Just wanted to show another side of the coin.


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## Who Dares Wins (3 June 2008)

Stop Losses aye?

Let me tell you a sad story. Go back about 18 months maybe when MMX was at $1.10 to $1.25 for quite a while. It went up and down in this bracket for some time. It got to about $1.30 at one stage and I put a stop loss on at $1.18 and went away for 2 weeks.

When I came back the price had dropped to like $1.17 the day after I left, the stopper activated, and then the stock ran away up. When I returned it was already way up in price. Everyday I looked at it and thought it wont go anyhigher...but it did. 

I haven't stopped kicking myself yet.


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## Who Dares Wins (3 June 2008)

Oh yeah, biggest single stock loss


LKO - Lakes Oil

Bought in at 7 cents and now what are they worth about .00000001 cent.


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## wildkactus (3 June 2008)

*MST*, it was a dog with fleas over 60% loss


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## bergers_n_fries (3 June 2008)

ZFX...around 40% loss...from $16 to $10.40

useless stock


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## adobee (3 June 2008)

FMG I bought $5k at $3 and sold out at $11 equivalent price today is $110 before the ten for one break up ie $185,000 loss.. and even worse I sold cause i read so many negative comments on the FMG thread saying it had run its course and the gains had already been had etc etc...

Real loss ZFX i still think this is cheap but dont have the time to sit and hold it ..


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## Romeo75 (3 June 2008)

ERG - I only spent around $1,500 back when I was having a little dabble on the stock market & had no idea what I was doing.  My holding is worth around $10 now, if that  We live & learn.


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## Dukey (3 June 2008)

I had a few rippers early on - companies into receivership - TMS and Chemeq were the worst I think. Lost a few thousand on each.

Also lost a heap with the BT 'time' fund in the dot com crash so - be aware not only direct held shares can come tumbling down. Fund managers fall into the same traps as the rest of us.

- There was also a thread about a year back called 'your worst investment blunders and lessons learnt'  which gathered a few nasty stories...  (I remember cause I started that thread!!)

I think the most important lessons I learned were
1. don't get attached to a particular stock.
2. Cut your losses off and let your winners run. - whether you do this by stop losses or other means probably depends on your investment style. 
-dukey

oh yeah - 3. punter psychology/ market sentiment is just as powerful as any other influence on the market ... maybe more... maybe its everything?? ... sometimes.......  comments?


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## mr_delta (3 June 2008)

Biggest loss (unrealised as I haven't sold out yet) is in BRO atm...

Bought @ 1.1c average and presently @ 0.02c...

Bought a decent parcel of BRO because it declared a maiden profit (for the quarter) and announced spinning off a mining division...the sp slide hurts so much now that I do not even feel looking at my holding overall as it shows this massive red figure...feel like buying @ 0.02c as it can bring down the average to a  respectable figure but haven't got the spare cash to top up now...


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## AnDy62 (3 June 2008)

Ahh I've had a few nice ones;

HTA, bought 41c, sold 13c
MSC, bought 13c, sold around 4c
AVX (a current one), bought at 80c now 28c (though I've averaged down.. as it was a small parcel)
EXM is getting there too, 3.5c to 1.9c (purely a small bottom drawer deal)


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## barnz2k (3 June 2008)

Some interesting reads and poll ! Glad im not the only one 

Dukey - ahh I tried to search for a similar one first but didnt see it. 

My worst, down 75% is VBA - Bought around 2.53 and now 0.62. They had recently been noted as the 2nd most profitable airline, passengers up and expanding into aus-us market. But other factors brought it down and then TOLL scrapped its sell offer which saw it tumble 22% in a day. 

Other baddies are BNB, currently -57%!! But this at at least has a chance to makeup ground, and GTP down 46%


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## netbank (3 June 2008)

barnz2k said:


> Other baddies are BNB, currently -57%!! But this at at least has a chance to makeup ground, and GTP down 46%




I feel your pain.. I'm down 45.7% for BNB.. my only holding atm. At this price it is a good opportunity to buy more BNB but all my cash spent on home reno.


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## son of baglimit (3 June 2008)

ceoo - c@ options - expired march 2008.
bought the story in 2006 - not a big loss, but probably the loss i had to have.


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## So_Cynical (3 June 2008)

NTC - NETCOMM LIMITED

Lucky for me i got divorced so was forced to sell (settlement) and took a 40% loss...if i was selling today it would be about 75% loss.


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## traydor (3 June 2008)

hi all i brought 5000dollars of fmg at 62 cents sold out at 3.20 oh well ...........


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## livid (3 June 2008)

Great topic given the current climate. Im new to this, started my sharemarket investing about mid 2007 (ie just before the s...t hit the fan). Some of my biggest losses (on paper as I hadn't bothered with stop losses) are:

QAN - bought at 5.44 (I dont even want to work out the percentage loss on that)
CGF - First bought at 5.59, the again at 3.22, and lastly at 1.75 (happy about that one so far)
SUN - bought at 20.30
MGR - 5.75 (that hurts - come on property turnaround)

Glad Im in this for the long term. All I need now is the oil price to nosedive, credit crisis to be official ruled over, and the property sector to go nuts. Hope Santa is on this forum


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## AnDy62 (3 June 2008)

livid said:


> All I need now is the oil price to nosedive, *credit crisis to be official ruled over*, and the property sector to go nuts. Hope Santa is on this forum





Lol  'The credit crisis is officially over, as of now' wouldn't that be nice. Ahhh... to dream.


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## tulasi74 (3 June 2008)

If you are talking percentage loss then Sons of Gwalia.  100% loss.  If you are talking $$$, then I have a hell of a lot of unrealised losses.  

Haven't picked many winners either but as long as you keep learning and improving, it will turn around.


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## nioka (3 June 2008)

tulasi74 said:


> If you are talking percentage loss then Sons of Gwalia.  100% loss. .



 Sons of Gwalia!!!!! That is one I got out of easily. I sent the MD an email after they put out a good report but ended the report with a statement that there would be no dividend that year. I accused him of paying the directors an increased payment but paying the shareholders nothing. His reply was that if I didn't like the way the company was run that I should sell my shares to someone who did.  I sold the day I got the Email and put the funds into Sally Malay. You win some and you lose some.

 It must be around 2 years since they stopped trading. Did they ever get wound up so that the loss was a taxable deduction?


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## Broadside (3 June 2008)

bergers_n_fries said:


> ZFX...around 40% loss...from $16 to $10.40
> 
> useless stock





that's nothing I made a 100% loss on Pasminco when it went into admin...I bought it when it was already in stress so no problem.  Had plenty of options expire worthless in various ventures.  Have had plenty of big losses and plenty of big gains and am well ahead...I am with refined silver and nioka on that one.  You take the risks with the rewards, part of the game.  So long as you learn from mistakes, they're valuable.  I seem to be getting wiser....slowly.


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## Go Nuke (5 June 2008)

AnDy62 said:


> Ahh I've had a few nice ones;
> 
> HTA, bought 41c, sold 13c
> MSC, bought 13c, sold around 4c
> ...




Ah similar story for me too Andy,

AVX at 96c to take advantage of the rights issue which was 52c i think....now 34c after a good run today

CUV bought at about $1.00 now about 28c. At least with Bio stocks they tend to be long term stocks imo.

And of course good old ERN. 
Bought at 58c. Since then its had a low of 6.6c I think a couple of months back.

Still hold all these as I explained for the bio stocks. As for ERN. It was one of the first stocks I ever bought. So a few lessons learned.
I also remain bullish on uranium long term.....so guess it isnt a loss till i sell  lol

Oh and EXM..yes bought at 3.5c.
Even BMN. Topped up at $3.47, now they are -$2


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## tarlox (6 June 2008)

abs bought $7.20 sold $1.56


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## rub92me (6 June 2008)

BDG - Bought at 80 cents just after they did a big capital raising and then they announced that they stopped production. Gapped straight through my stop loss to 30 cents. Ouch. Got my revenge though by trading the bounce straight after and got most of my lost money back. Taught me not too put too many eggs in one basket. Stop losses are good, but beware of black swans.


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## the barry (6 June 2008)

Six years ago I got the opportunity to invest every cent i owned into an ipo for a stock called mwc which had technology which was going to "change the world." Today I am waiting for the case to go to court. I invested 6 figures into it and expect to see very little in return. Whilst the technology didn't change the world, it certainly changed mine. lol

Disclaimer, whilst i would never invest all my eggs in one basket, the tolly group tested the technology and released a report stating the technology worked. It was after that point I dived in head first. Live and learn.


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## golfmos123 (6 June 2008)

About to close a 100% loss on LAF when the administrators finally issue the notice that shareholders will get nothing back.  Sad part is I only got on board 4 days before it ceased trading on the back of some advice from someone who I will not take advice from again.  I guess I failed to DMOR!!!


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## TheAbyss (6 June 2008)

MFS/OCV Bought in at 1.02 thinking it had gone as low as it could. Ouch, looks like i am going to lose 100%. Only a small % of total portfolio howver the words falling knife make a lot of sense now.

Lesson learned.


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## adobee (6 June 2008)

mr_delta said:


> Biggest loss (unrealised as I haven't sold out yet) is in BRO atm...
> 
> Bought @ 1.1c average and presently @ 0.02c...
> 
> Bought a decent parcel of BRO because it declared a maiden profit (for the quarter) and announced spinning off a mining division...the sp slide hurts so much now that I do not even feel looking at my holding overall as it shows this massive red figure...feel like buying @ 0.02c as it can bring down the average to a  respectable figure but haven't got the spare cash to top up now...




did you get some free shares or options in the new mining company though ??


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## dum3886 (6 June 2008)

MQG 86---> 55 (although i havn't sold ride it out hehe... was at low 40s b4 wasn't very happy when that happened)
CTX 23 ---> 12

and yes this was when i was very new.. like VERY... i just put into random stocks... and well boom there goes ur money. Makes u realise making money in the stock market isn't all that easy... must do ur own research and not just pray that the market will remain bullish.


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## ShareDevil (6 June 2008)

BOL - Boom logistics... more like BUST logistics! 
290 >>>> 110

Lucky I made some elsewhere so the tax write off eases the pain a little :aufreg:


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## eddyeagle (6 June 2008)

Very interesting thread indeed!

I think the key point is that everyone is going to have losses. They are inevitable. Even the best fund managers get it wrong occasionally. 

I had Henry Walker Eltin go into Administration a few years back and lost the lot on that...wrote it off against my capital gains... 

At the moment i have a couple of dodgy ones in my portfolio of 15 stocks. Dio is down 50% and AUW down about 30%

It's interesting to read about people's different approaches to stop losses. I think how you approach stop losses depends on the type of stocks you invest in and also your time frame...

I invest in a lot of speccies myself and these stocks tend to have wild swings, especially in volatile conditions... They can easily fall 30% without any of the fundamentals changing...But given that my investment horizon is usually several years, I am happy to ride out the 30% if I can still see a positive future for the company. However, if the future does not look so rosy and the company announcements get ugly, that is when I will be happy to sell and take a loss.


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## prawn_86 (6 June 2008)

Yeh good thread people.

Although i would like to hear from those "who never lose"! LOL


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## Julia (6 June 2008)

BKN (Bradken).  Had been doing well and then fell 40% in half an hour on profit downgrade.  Waited expecting a recovery.  Didn't happen.  Sold with greater than 50% loss.


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## Pager (6 June 2008)

nioka said:


> It must be around 2 years since they stopped trading. Did they ever get wound up so that the loss was a taxable deduction?




You could claim the loss in the same tax year as that went belly up, Ferrier Hodgson were the administrators and they organised it some how, anyone still holding should check there website or contact them for the letter, unfortunately it came in handy for me as i was one of the poor bast@rds who owned a parcel


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## tigerboi (6 June 2008)

*Re: Tigerboi's Saturday race tips is how you win..*

All you unfortunates go get on a few of my tips every week & get some of your money back tomorrow,no -100% over there trendsetters...talk about baggers the tb gives out 10-20 baggers & its for free unlike the shonky dickwads giving advice to the average hard worker...

if some of you had been following those tips you would be laughing,i got a 200/1 shot running tomorrow at the odds now of 16/1...if he gets a run..

eagle farm qld derby...no 7.moatize...2/1 & will win...tb(im having plenty on him..)


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## Lucky_Country (6 June 2008)

MON bought at ~ 30c 2 years ago currently trading at around 28c.
Umm not to bad you say problem is they did a 3 for 1 consolidation  !


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## Miner (7 June 2008)

Nice thread to cough up lessons learnt
Bought BYL at $1.26 and sold at 30 cents
Bought IRL at 40 cents and sold at 12 cents
Bought MOL at $5 and sold at $3 
Bought GCR at 5 cents and now paper loss at 3.5 cents - did not sell yet

Two more times I will have loss and then I will conquer like the spider of Robert Bruce who tried six times to get success

Cheers


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## MichaelD (7 June 2008)

Let's try the maths again shall we?

(To satisfy the speccie crowd)

Pick 1 x 500% winner.
This will pay for 50 x 10% losers
This will pay for 10 x 50% losers
This will pay for 5 x 100% losers

(For those playing in the ASX300 or so)

Pick 1 x 100% winner.
This will pay for 10 x 10% losers
This will pay for 3 x 33% losers
This will pay for 2 x 50% losers
This will pay for 1 x 100% loser


Bottom line: Are YOU trading with a positive expectancy?


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## Sean K (7 June 2008)

MichaelD said:


> Bottom line: Are YOU trading with a positive expectancy?



Michael, like a few here, you have assumed that 'trading' is all that people do. Some 'invest' also, and/or combine the two. At the minute I am seeing some incredible _investment_ returns that would far exceed the maximum 100% loss from trading. But in the end, how is anyone going to compare with fidelity? No chance! 

Bottom line is: this probably isn't a TA 'traders' question...


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## MichaelD (7 June 2008)

kennas said:


> Michael, like a few here, you have assumed that 'trading' is all that people do.



Not at all.

The principle underlying profitable behaviour is the same; the winners you get MUST more than pay for the losers. There are many ways to achieve this, but at their heart they ALL have something in common; winners are held and losers are cut.

If you chose to accept 100% losses in your trading plan, you MUST have winners which more than make up for 100% losses or you will go broke.

Unfortunately, most people will hold their losers and cut their winners short.


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## refined silver (7 June 2008)

> MichaelD said:
> 
> 
> > The principle underlying profitable behaviour is the same; the winners you get MUST more than pay for the losers. There are many ways to achieve this,
> ...


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## njc.corp (7 June 2008)

Just some ? for you people out their-

just say for one example u were down 10%-why not pull out-even though 10% is to high in my books-(take it on the chin and move on-even if it was a top stock like bhp)

i am not having a go at anyone-

just want to know where this thread is going-

or is thread on how much mistakes u made when u started and have learnt from it now-

all i  got when i search this forum was 2% loss this and that-how come no-one even done it?

by all means i am not having a go

surely no one still operates like this in todays day and age-

Thanks

Nick--(melb)


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## nioka (7 June 2008)

Had another 100% loss confirmed this week. Permodrive, an unlisted local company, brought down by the collapse of an American company which was to commercialise its technology. Went from a value of $1.80 one month to 1.8c the next, now to go into liquidation, I only had $3,000 invested, luckily. Invested to support a local invention that has promise. The company that will be taking it over for practically nothing will eventually be listed and I will buy back in and recoup the loss as it is a worthwhile invention. Watch this space as they say.


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## Broadside (7 June 2008)

njc.corp said:


> Just some ? for you people out their-
> 
> just say for one example u were down 10%-why not pull out-even though 10% is to high in my books-(take it on the chin and move on-even if it was a top stock like bhp)
> 
> ...




I've never used stop losses and in my early days I had my fair share of stinkers and large % losses and also took profits too soon on my successes.  Now I am getting smarter or luckier and cut duds sooner (not a fixed price, just intuition or experience, call it what you will) and average up on winners.  If I had set tight stop losses on my specs I would have been stopped out a number of times when they get shaken out on an upward trajectory.  My "rule" is don't use leverage because your hand will be forced at the worst possible time, especially in specs, but as we saw this year, even blue chips can be highly volatile.  I am sure stop losses are wise esp when using leverage, but it doesn't suit my personality, I think you have to use a system (even if it isn't formal, just intuitive or whatever) that works for you.

But I'm not really a trader, I guess stop losses are musts for those type.


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## MichaelD (7 June 2008)

MichaelD said:


> The principle underlying profitable behaviour is the same; the winners you get MUST more than pay for the losers. There are many ways to achieve this, but at their heart they ALL have something in common; winners are held and losers are cut.






refined silver said:


> Not true.
> 
> Many people's losers here were either options that expired worthless, or companies that folded. Sometimes hard to predict and happens very quickly.




No, completely true. It baffles me that posters in this thread completely miss the point of what I'm trying to get at here. I use technical analysis to trade, but I'm not foolish enough to believe that my edge comes from my analysis and I'm not foolish enough to believe that my way of doing things is the only way of doing things which makes a profit. There are lots of ways to extract money from the markets, but they all share the one common principle.

100% losses are OK if what you're gunning for and getting sufficiently often are 500-1000% gains (so long as you're sufficiently diversified whilst doing it).

The point is that you ARE holding on for the big gains. If, on the other hand, you're taking a 10% gain and running whilst holding onto the losers down to zero then you will blow up.


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## jonojpsg (7 June 2008)

HI all,
Don't know if this is kosher, but if we are talking about biggest $$ losses, then look no further than AEDBlunder on the AED thread.  There's a classic example of when you SHOULD set a stop loss...or face a $300k+ loss!!!!!!

My worst was Gullew Gold back in the mid 90s, bought first lot at 20c odd then averaged down (the stupidest strategy ever know to man!) until it got to a point where it was ridiculous.  Sold out last year to balance out my capital gains (returned $250 from over $5000 invested) 

I'd like to say we live and learn, except I then lost about $10k on AED as well although after I did average down again to an average price of about $2.50, sold at $1.18 *just* before the price bounced back up over $2.50.

What a life hey - at least it's interesting though


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## vishalt (7 June 2008)

jonojpsg said:


> HI all,
> My worst was Gullew Gold back in the mid 90s, bought first lot at 20c odd then averaged down (the stupidest strategy ever know to man!) until it got to a point where it was ridiculous.  Sold out last year to balance out my capital gains (returned $250 from over $5000 invested)
> 
> I'd like to say we live and learn, except I then lost about $10k on AED as well although after I did average down again to an average price of about $2.50, sold at $1.18 *just* before the price bounced back up over $2.50.




Averaging down works on big caps or small caps that you rely on though? 

I mean if you bought BHP @ its $47.30 high and kept averaging it down to $31 - it jumped back up to $50 again? Averaging Woodside down from its $49.50 peak as its lumped to $33 would've worked as well, and SANTOS, Wesfarmers, Woolies etc. 

The 20c companies are speculative, have very risk and probably have less than desired corporate governance than the bigger companies.

For small caps I'd rather own a lot of them than average them down. I'm pondering what to do with Beach Petroleum and Neptune Marine Services if they keep falling.


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## MichaelD (7 June 2008)

vishalt said:


> Averaging down works on big caps or small caps that you rely on though?




You should try averaging down;

1. HIH Insurance
2. Barings Bank
3. OneTel
4. Enron


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## vishalt (8 June 2008)

MichaelD said:


> You should try averaging down;
> 
> 1. HIH Insurance
> 2. Barings Bank
> ...



Awesome, you should also have one stock in your portfolio..

Not everything will be a winner.


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## MichaelD (8 June 2008)

vishalt said:


> Not everything will be a winner.




Precisely why averaging down is a wealth hazard.


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## NZTurtle (8 June 2008)

Back when I thought it was easy... I was using a selection service that had performed well for a long time. Selected a unit trust in the UK and watched it slip by 50%. Then had to go away for 4 weeks. Came back to find it down 94%. I still have it in my portfolio - its living proof!

While I can only loose 100% of a share value and there is no cap, as someone said earlier, you need huge increases to recover a share that has lost 94% of its value to break even...

Now I do both fundi and techie research and have stop losses. If the market says I got it wrong, I'm out and waiting until my techie selection methods support my fundie view and then get back in again.

Cheers T


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## barnz2k (8 June 2008)

NZTurtle said:


> you need huge increases to recover a share that has lost 94% of its value to break even...




Yeh forget this sometimes.. If your share goes down 50%, it needs to go up 100% from that level just to even again! getting the 50% back will only get you to 75


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## chrissyoscar (10 June 2008)

I was new to the market and got in on Ecorp, remember them they were an internet company that Kerry Packer Had.
He floated 20% of it on the market.
Well I rode it from $1 to $8 and thought how easy is this, well I also rode it from $8 down to about 30c.
Finally it looked like it was coming good and was making some good money but wouldn't you know it that's when Packer decided he wanted it all back and paid us an amazing! 55c for the stock.
Floats it at $1 then buys it back at 55c.
From memory Ecorp owned Etrade, Wizard, 50% of Ebay Australia and a lot of other stuff.
They were now making money and Packer wanted his 20% of the company back.
That's the side of the share market I hate.
If I buy a stock and don't want to sell it then I shouldn't have to no matter how the vote goes!


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## DavidB1 (15 June 2008)

loss 7k on rhg


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## cordelia (15 June 2008)

netbank said:


> I feel your pain.. I'm down 45.7% for BNB.. my only holding atm. At this price it is a good opportunity to buy more BNB but all my cash spent on home reno.





PEM took a huge position based on a broker recommendation at 3.40 sold at 1.92...it was a trade that represented everything you possibly do wrong....I lost half my capital.....

then when it went lower ai bought back in..talk about a sucker for punishment....BNB is not a good opportunity ATM....it could go a lot lower


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## Neutral (19 June 2008)

DavidB1 said:


> loss 7k on rhg




I had a 50% loss on RHG before I decided to cut and run. Since then they have lost another 25%. This was one of the first shares I ever bought and was only back in Feburary this year. Letting it go for a loss was initially very hard! Breaking the psychological barrier is something I am still learning. As has been said, often times I have sold at a considerable loss, and on the flip-side taken profits too early because I got excitied or set up my just acquired stop loss tolerance too low! lol

Another blunder was Reeltime Media (RMA). Bought at 1.1 cents after they announced Video Ezy was interested in their partnering, to only find out 2 weeks or so later they went into administration. 

Something I have learned from both of these shares I lost heavily on... don't take tips from other people!  My only profitable shares have been the ones I have done my own extensive research on. 

Trading continues to be an ongoing learning process (usually from my mistakes) for me.


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## all$andnocents (25 June 2008)

my accountant said i should get some shares to claim the franking credits.

that was in January. I bought in Feb.

lets just say that i think the value of the franking credits has now been offset somewhat by the $11,500 LOSS since february!!! 







hence my user name...


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## Atma (25 June 2008)

Lost

$65K in BMN shares
$15k in CSL warrants
$13k in WBC warrants
$10k in MBL warrants
$6k in BNB shares
$8k in NEC
$5k in PGM
$7k in HLX
$8k in MOL
$2k in BSL warrants
$2k in RIO warrants
$5k in MAK(paper currently riding)
$5k in NOD(some riding , about half)


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## Miner (26 June 2008)

Atma said:


> Lost
> 
> $65K in BMN shares
> $15k in CSL warrants
> ...




Dear Atma (soul)

You have gutts to open the secret
I am having similar story but afraid to open it out
Probably both of us should join the same club
I will consolidate the actual losses and post it later

Regards


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## pepperoni (26 June 2008)

Wanted to sell UGL at about $20 but held on for tax reasons .... $40k down now and wishing I had that bigger tax bill that goes with bigger incomes and capital gains.


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## bennib0i (27 June 2008)

ahh sold out of cnp two days ago at a 60% lost..
then it shot up yesterday and today!


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## Goldmann (27 June 2008)

AnDy62 said:


> Ahh I've had a few nice ones;
> 
> AVX (a current one), bought at 80c now 28c (though I've averaged down.. as it was a small parcel)




never doubt the peoples champion... never

bill gates is going to fight HIV ( and i reckon ATC is his windows platform)...

lots of long term holders around!!!!!!!!! gold...


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## Goldmann (27 June 2008)

well its all about honesty...

DIO is hurting... but i refuse to sell...


but'

im the ****wit who sold out of SDL at .30, now its back up to .37.

i can handle AVX and LGL being down, cause they will be back... but... dare i mention it.. any other gold lads here???

VRE

**** you ****s


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## Sakk (27 June 2008)

Goldmann said:


> well its all about honesty...
> 
> DIO is hurting... but i refuse to sell...
> 
> ...




Looks pretty good......upside down


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## Goldmann (27 June 2008)

you have made my day.legend..  i will forward that to the dick who tipped me on it. ta...


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## natashia (27 June 2008)

*WLWORTHS WARRANTS... 
WAS DOING OKAY UNTIL FLIPPING RUDDY :evilburn:  SBN* 
I knew I should have left stocks alone that had  represented the word "bi"  grrrrr..

: : LOL


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## subaru69 (2 July 2008)

The week before the Dot-com crash, I held a bunch of tech stocks (can't remember which) and had made about 20% on them.  Rang my broker and said I wanted to sell them all and buy NAB (I think it was $19).  He told me I was stupid and that techs would only keep going up and that NAB would never get over $20...

Hence I have never used a broker since.

Can't remember the $$ lost but it was all I had when I was 20 and still a student.

Still bitter, but a lesson worth learning sooner rather than later.


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## xyzedarteerf (3 July 2008)

Atma said:


> Lost
> 
> $65K in BMN shares
> $15k in CSL warrants
> ...




I admire your honesty here's mine.

$10k+ mix ordinary shares
$2k CBA warrants
$5k BHP warrants
$2k Rio warrants
$2k CSL warrants
$3k NAB warrants
$2k WPL warrants

although I won back around 40% of the loss.


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## BraceFace (4 July 2008)

Pre-subprime crisis I had significant holdings in Allco, Babcock and Macquarie Bank.

Anyone who knows a thing or two about these companies would understand the pain I am feeling.

I dropped about 60 grand on Allco and sold out. Would have lost even more if i still held now. This was a broker recommended stock when it was around 12 bucks a share. It's now about 40c.

I still hold Babcock and an sitting on a unrealised loss of around 20 grand. Last week's wipeout on BNB felt like Allco all over again. Kind of like getting hit twice by lightning within 6 months.

Macquarie I fortunately bought ages ago when it was around $55 per share. So at it's current prices I only sitting on a loss of around 10 or 15 grand. I expect to get this back in due course and will take the dividends in the mean time.

My only redemption is that I didn't take a pal's advice to by into ABC Learning at last year when they were flying.


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## fenis (4 July 2008)

I bought ZFX in march for $10.68 and they continued to get hammered down to $8.20 so I'm sitting on a 30% loss for them. However, I'm very bullish about OZ Minerals and plan to hold the stock for at least 5 years so I'm not too fussed about being in the red atm.


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## Seneca60BC (13 July 2008)

xyzedarteerf said:


> I admire your honesty here's mine.
> 
> $10k+ mix ordinary shares
> $2k CBA warrants
> ...




Hi

How did you lose on those warrants - were they call warrants ?


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## bluecheese101 (4 August 2008)

Hey im fairly new to the stock market. I've been watching and trading a small bit in the last 12 months. When it comes to losses, i was heart broken over seeing the shares dive in a company that i invested in - and work for. 

However my loss was $4K and i thought that was really bad - although i have yet to sell the shares. Looking at some of the above stories just shocks me the massive losses some of you guys take. How do you get over some of them??


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## korrupt_1 (4 August 2008)

Biggest realised loss was when I didnt believe in stop losses.

About $35K on a $25 CFD Aussie200 contract....

Now with good discipline (about 80% of the time) max loss is $1k


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## Nicks (4 August 2008)

I lost a lot on Sigma. Disappointed with the under performance of Sigma.


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## Muschu (5 August 2008)

OK who are the smarties who answered 0%?  Either they've never traded or are natural born geniuses and zillionares. Consultations available?


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## bryaneasy (5 August 2008)

Yeah those are some big losses, but I think a man's strength is tested on how quickly he can get back on his feet again - and it will happen It is just in human nature to do so.  Sadly I do think the stock market is finally coming into appropriate levels of value.

I've lost quite a bit, invested at the wrong time (should of realised a stock market at 5700 was over inflated), probably hitting 13k pure losses , but thats a big lesson for not doing my research before investing.

I had a lot in BBP before the gas island explosion (just bad luck that one I guess) and I listened to some stupid recommendations for PEM and DES - absoulute dud stocks.

None the less I have had gainers AWB most notably, bought at $2.06 now $2.90 plus a dividend.

I bought quite a bit of MRE today at 1.50 they are a stock that I have followed for a long time (when I was 17 years old I liked the stock), they are very volatile but should be valued at around $2 (I think they got hit by the short seller's hammer today).

But not to worry a long-term outlook is always good!


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## nunthewiser (5 August 2008)

lost 100% on NDCO .... was naieve on oppies  and expiry dates  blessem was a long time back and now im a superstar


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## Wysiwyg (13 April 2015)

Largest loss, $24000 on Tamaya Resources which elected to fold up at the depth of the GFC. Dumb for holding when it kept falling. Didn't think the market would be so cruel but really, it doesn't care about anyone's welfare. Hardened up somewhat from that nasty experience and learned the value of cutting losses before they get out of hand.


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## Triathlete (13 April 2015)

Wysiwyg said:


> Hardened up somewhat from that nasty experience and *learned the value of cutting losses before they get out of hand*.




A Trading rule everyone should use in there kit bag!!


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## Miner (14 April 2015)

AGO - expecting $23,000 loss


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## Value Collector (14 April 2015)

Miner said:


> AGO - expecting $23,000 loss




Only $23K?

by what you were writting in the Ago thread I thought you must have lost a couple of hundred K.

You will recover from that in no time $23k is nothing, think of it like a speeding ticket, learn you lessons and move on.


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## jbocker (14 April 2015)

I looking at around $20,950 from ILH / IAW. 
Hip.. Hip... for backing Lawyers and ex pollies.
.. and for stupid investing decisions.


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## Miner (14 April 2015)

Value Collector said:


> Only $23K?
> 
> by what you were writing in the Ago thread I thought you must have lost a couple of hundred K.
> 
> You will recover from that in no time $23k is nothing, think of it like a speeding ticket, learn you lessons and move on.



Dear Value Collector - I sold off most of AGO shares at 80% loss and balance left as dead scrips. I did not count that loss amount in $23K to prove I am a super idiot. *I never hinted couple of hundred $ as loss towards AGO *. Kerry Packer used to loose millions in casino and was nothing for him. But some Tom Dick and Harry losing few thousands on gambling when they are not seasoned gamblers would be great loss. I gambled in Las Vegas casino and only lost $1000 and was great loss for me because I am not  a gambler. AGO was most expensive gamble the way it now looks but let us call it a day. 

Don't know about your resistance level or financial capacity. Nether want to know. By just sharing my frustration in ASF  forum did never mean I was asking for any  one to shed tear for me either.

 For me AGO loss was significant specially when I should and could have arrested it. I hope we have to consider that not every one's risk taking capacity is equal. However as a gentleman  *I never  sprinkle  salt on mine or others wound* .

Thanks again. I would not participate in any more AGO topic as I already stated that I am moving on.


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## So_Cynical (14 April 2015)

Value Collector said:


> Only $23K? - $23k is nothing.




23K is something, if its nothing to you please consider the reality of many many people, Around 70% of the world population has a net worth of 10K US or less.



jbocker said:


> I looking at around $20,950 from ILH / IAW.
> Hip.. Hip... for backing Lawyers and ex pollies.
> .. and for stupid investing decisions.




ILH / IAW = $4200 for me, maybe im just spreading my finds thinner...holding 35 stocks across my 2 portfolio accounts, Super would be another 20.


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## Value Collector (14 April 2015)

So_Cynical said:


> 23K is something, if its nothing to you please consider the reality of many many people, Around 70% of the world population has a net worth of 10K US or less.



I understand it may be a lot to some people, I guess it just doesn't seem much to me because my portfolio fluctuates more than that on a daily bases, probably twice a week I log on and my account can be up or down more than that.

but my main point was that it's not something that you can't come back from. I mean it's not like it would wipe most people out, it hurts a bit offcourse, but in time it's a speeding ticket.


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## jbocker (14 April 2015)

So_Cynical said:


> ILH / IAW = $4200 for me, maybe im just spreading my finds thinner...holding 35 stocks across my 2 portfolio accounts, Super would be another 20.




I am more heavily invested in a few ASX50 stocks, but ILH/IAW was one that I added to over the years since IPO. I didn't dream of a bunch of lawyers going belly-up! If I should ever need a lawyer in the future one of my first questions of their CV will be, if they were ever involved in this 'integrated group' in any way. If they were I will recommend them to the opposing party - they will be sure to lose.

I am holding about 25 stocks.

I have a couple of others potentially kicking my bum. WHN being one, I think about 15 000, and CFU for about 5000. These are offset by 22K (+divis) as free-held stocks. Freeheld are those bought and sold and kept the profits as shares. It was one of my earlier strategies, it is like having placed money in the bank and withdrawing it, but afterwards you still get some ongoing interest.


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## jbocker (15 April 2015)

jbocker said:


> I looking at around $20,950 from ILH / IAW.
> Hip.. Hip... for backing Lawyers and ex pollies.
> .. and for stupid investing decisions.




It would be very remiss of me not to state what I have learned from this 'lesson' since I have paid +20K in tuition fees. 
I have now have what I call the *'Shepherd's Rule'*.
when the stock has been mauled by 10% then its *Time to Get The Flock Out of Here*!!


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## luutzu (15 April 2015)

paper lost don't count right? 
If the lost is big enough, it's "I'm in this for the long haul" for me. haha

---
Lost some $17K on ABC Learning. 

Man, I work so hard with so little capital, did quite well I thought but weren't enough quantity-wise to write home about... so better get a real job.

Saw nothing interesting and read about ABC... all those "sophisticated" investors piling in, including the Singaporean sovereign fund... and it's a childcare centre operation right? How really bad could business be?

But lucky I put the rest into BHP and RIO, haha... genius.


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