Traders' Roundtable

This could also be called, “meaningful enlightenment from a painful experience.â€

I remember being sick as heck back in Dec 1994 and trading the S&P. I recall that I was short 2 contracts, and I called in to go flat. However, I told the broker to sell 2 at the market. He paused and said did you say sell? I spoke with great authority and urgency and loudly proclaimed, "Sell two at the market!". I got my fill and hung up the phone. I went to lay down in bed, and about 20 minutes later I realized that I was short 4 since I screwed up. It cost me a good bit, but at the time it was pre-system trading and pre-serious-plan trading, so an error like that was bound to happen under stress .

I traded the Singapore Stock Index for the first time several years ago. After doing my numbers I placed the order for 10 contracts and at the time thought it was a lot considering it was a stock index. I was filled by the broker but come late afternoon I seemed to get cold feet and exited the trade early. I am a trend follower so this was strange activity for me. The next morning whilst reviewing my trading statements I realised I had incorrectly calculated the tick value and had about 10x the risk I should have. Whilst it was a nasty loss I think more of the fact that I had this "cold feet" inclination to exit without being conscience of my error.

In February of 2001, I caused a five-car accident (yes there were lawsuits pending that lasted a year), and I went to the hospital because I contracted a really bad illness. It took a while to recover phsyically form both situations, but I lost about 60% from March to November, 2001.

It's amazing how any imbalance outside of trading manifests itself a 100-fold in trading.

Edward