What was your biggest ever mistake?

[TulipFX]

We all have them. Barry Crockers, bloody shockers, trades we wish we had the TARDIS to correct.

What was yours?

Mine was the usual, in my early days of trading I thought I could predict the market - the fundamentals said that the EURJPY should rise. So I took a hugely over-leveraged position and blew my account. As it turned out Keynes was right when he stated that the market can be wrong for longer then I could stay solvent. My account was gone before the market did move in the direction I anticipated, but it was too late.

Luckily it was only a small, learning account of a couple of thousand, not fatal. It did learn me a huge lesson - it pushed me towards both technical and automated trading as well as better risk management.

What lesson did you learn from your mistake?

 

[tech/a]

The first wife.
The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.

 

[TulipFX]

The first wife.
The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.

LOL. I was referring to trading mistakes techhy.

 

[tech/a]

LOL. I was referring to trading mistakes techhy.

Sorry sense of humour got the best of me.
Even though for many it is true!

 

[luke256]

I bought a mitsubishi magna some years ago......that was a big mistake


For trading probably when I started out, I remember entering a long trade with a stop loss with an intitial risk of 2% then as the price moved against it i moved the stop down until i exited with around 10% loss.

I later realised i could have taken a 2% loss then put the other 8% towards 4 more trades.

 

[TulipFX]

I bought a mitsubishi magna some years ago......that was a big mistake


For trading probably when I started out, I remember entering a long trade with a stop loss with an intitial risk of 2% then as the price moved against it i moved the stop down until i exited with around 10% loss.

I later realised i could have taken a 2% loss then put the other 8% towards 4 more trades.

If that was your biggest ever trading mistake than you have done well!

 

[Vicki]

Being gullable enough to be sucked-in by 'Planet Wealth' & their rediculously dangerous mantra, that the "proffessionals" are just plain wrong, & that it's O.K. to risk up to 50% of your capital on put-spreads...[shudder].

It was like handing children a 'gerry-can' full of petrol & some matches, then saying,
"You-all have fun now!"

Vicki

 

[1nvstor]

Being gullable enough to be sucked-in by 'Planet Wealth' & their rediculously dangerous mantra, that the "proffessionals" are just plain wrong, & that it's O.K. to risk up to 50% of your capital on put-spreads...[shudder].

It was like handing children a 'gerry-can' full of petrol & some matches, then saying,
"You-all have fun now!"

Vicki

Mine was when I bought NTU for 28 cents and accidently triggered them for 26

 

[skc]

The biggest mistake is often the opportunity missed.

Selling AVB for 2.2c in early Sept was one.

Not allocating more money to my most profitable trading strategy was another.

The first wife.
The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.

Lol. The wedding was the entry. The devoice was the stop loss. Your stops were too wide!

 

[prawn_86]

Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87

 

[tech/a]

skc
Prawn

A common theme by many and I would have joined you years ago.
Watch list with entry strategy attached to the chart does the trick.

You have to work at this job of trading both on and off the screen.

Sure it takes 10 mins a day to get up and running but its "Behind" the scenes that often makes the $$s.

Not enough room here to list my biggest mistakes
.
But I will say they ALL had to do with POOR RISK MANAGEMENT.
Business/Property/Trading------

They only happen once---that's why they are called mistakes!

 

[TulipFX]

That's it Techhy. Never make the same mistake twice

 

[nomore4s]

The biggest mistake is often the opportunity missed.

Selling AVB for 2.2c in early Sept was one.

Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87

Maybe the mistake wasn't exiting but not re-entering at some point?

But we have all had the should've, would've, could've moments in trading, in some regards it is the hardest part to deal with - missed opportunities. I've had too many to list

But like Tech my biggest mistakes all relate back to one thing - POOR RISK MANAGEMENT

 

[Market Depth]

For me the biggest mistake was probably the 1987 CRASH!! I was young and nieve back then, and didn't really understand the mechanics of the market, where was Hong Kong? I didn't really care. What was computer trading? What the hell was liquidity all about? I was paying someone quite a bit of money at them time, to tell me where I should put my money. And then to make matters worse, after the fall, and I lost about half of my coin, he kept telling me to BUY MORE!! "Why didn't he just wait until the market fell, then tell me to buy?" Is what I kept saying to myself, but of course I know better nowdays. I've now spent the next 20+ years working towards trying to Answer that very simple question, I asked myself all those years ago. The answer is far from simple.

 

[TulipFX]

Don't forget to keep telling us your story in the 'one thing you could do better' thread Market Depth

 

[forexdiscussion]

We all have them. Barry Crockers, bloody shockers, trades we wish we had the TARDIS to correct.

What was yours?

Mine was the usual, in my early days of trading I thought I could predict the market - the fundamentals said that the EURJPY should rise. So I took a hugely over-leveraged position and blew my account. As it turned out Keynes was right when he stated that the market can be wrong for longer then I could stay solvent. My account was gone before the market did move in the direction I anticipated, but it was too late.

Luckily it was only a small, learning account of a couple of thousand, not fatal. It did learn me a huge lesson - it pushed me towards both technical and automated trading as well as better risk management.

What lesson did you learn from your mistake?

My biggest mistake in forex trading all this while is there is no proper money management. All this while my thinking in fores trading is to get quick and big money.
Now I realise the money management is the most critical success factor in order to survice and successfull in forex trading.

 

[Market Depth]

Don't forget to keep telling us your story in the 'one thing you could do better' thread Market Depth

Been working on it today Tulip The markets down, so I'm only going through my 'TO BUY' shopping list, and wait til Monday me thinks

 

[Julia]

Selling CPB at 28.61: now 39.50

 

[Buckfont]

Last one was selling BDR mid August for 0.27c. Bought at 0.19c.

0.775c just now

 

[Market Depth]

I protest I don't think that taking a profit constitutes a mistake. With hindsight it does, but we can't trade hindsight, OH how we all wish we could we trade for profits.