Online trader begs for help after his short goes south

[shouldaindex]

Being naive about it, is it considered that their 1 in 1000000 success was because of skill / system and not luck?

 

[Valued]

Being naive about it, is it considered that their 1 in 1000000 success was because of skill / system and not luck?

Skill basically but a bit of luck never hurts. Luck presents itself in many forms, such as having the right candidates for analyst positions walking through your door (as a hedge fund manager) or happening to stumble on some information you might not have otherwise found.

 

[CanOz]

Definition of luck = Skill + Opportunity

BTW, this Marty Schwartz book I'm reading is really good, "Pit Bull". If you want to read how one New York securities analyst turned into a spectacularly successful technical trader and was among the first to really make the new S&P500 futures work for them, this is the book.

Back on topic, from what I've read over the weekend, this chap that got himself in this spot of bother, didn't have a stop...

 

[Quant]

Definition of luck = Skill + Opportunity

BTW, this Marty Schwartz book I'm reading is really good, "Pit Bull". If you want to read how one New York securities analyst turned into a spectacularly successful technical trader and was among the first to really make the new S&P500 futures work for them, this is the book.

Back on topic, from what I've read over the weekend, this chap that got himself in this spot of bother, didn't have a stop...

Love Pit Bull and reread it for the 5th time just the other night , me and Marty are kindred spirits

I am at about this stage ( page ) of Martys career , I had aspirations of running a fund but reading ' Pit Bull ' turned me of it . I had spent a couple years strategizing and developing mandates and skills to fulfill this dream , skills that wont be wasted though

 

[grah33]

just read the first couple of posts. scary stuff.. might alter the leverage of my account so it's 2X max. worried i might accidentally buy a stock using 20X and if it goes against me, what then... i guess they'd liquidate my whole account to pay it all off. but what if it gapped, would i end up in crazy debt too? seems like only the really liquid stocks i can get 20X on, but still, 7X leverage for dangerous stocks is a lot. the thing is, though unlikely, one can still end up in debt rather than the broker just liquidating their whole account to pay for the loss. and that's scary. from a typing mistake unlikely, but it's still scary.

 

[CanOz]

just read the first couple of posts. scary stuff.. might alter the leverage of my account so it's 2X max. worried i might accidentally buy a stock using 20X and if it goes against me, what then... i guess they'd liquidate my whole account to pay it all off. but what if it gapped, would i end up in crazy debt too? seems like only the really liquid stocks i can get 20X on, but still, 7X leverage for dangerous stocks is a lot

Why use any leverage to increase position size?

Why not use the leverage to increase some of your exposure instead, trade more positions. That will increase portfolio heat, but it spreads out your risk.

 

[baby_swallow]

The CEO of Kalobios Pharma (KBIO), Martin Shkreli, 32, has been arrested by the FBI for fraud charges.
Shkreli runs a hedge fund that target companies that are easily manipulated and KBIO is just one of them.

KBIO has been the darling of short sellers but when Shkreli took over the company last November, short sellers
were squeezed and forced to cover. KBIO share price increased by 1800% in just three days.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ma...-a-month-after-squeezing-out-bears-2015-12-17

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-martin-shkreli-securities-fraud/

 

[grah33]

Why use any leverage to increase position size?

Why not use the leverage to increase some of your exposure instead, trade more positions. That will increase portfolio heat, but it spreads out your risk.

i'm not using leverage to increase position size. the broker just happened to give me a cheap deal with CFDSs, and at that point in time i was considering learning how to short. but yeah, i will do that (use leverage so i'm exposed fully even if capital runs out -13% for now). Thanks again Canoz. You're such a great help to everybody.